AMERICAN NAVY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 February 1942, Page 3

AMERICAN NAVY

TAKING WAR TO ENEMY’S FRONT DOOR EVERY SHIP AND MAN UTILISED STATEMENTS BY ADMIRALS & COLONEL KNOX. 1942 TO BE A TOUGH YEAR. NEW YORK, February 2. “Every ship and every man in the United States Pacific Fleet, afloat and ashore, is now being utilised to the fullest extent to bring the war to the enemy’s front door,” said the commander of the Fleet, Admiral Nimitz, in a broadcast from Honolulu to the United States. He added that the fleet’s spectacular assault on the Japanese concentrations in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands was in accordance with the tradition of the United States Navy to seek out the enemy and destroy him, and it provided the answer to the question which was uppermost in the minds of the American people: “Where is the Fleet?” The Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Knox, explained to the Senate Appropriations Committee some of the United States’ present naval difficulties. He said: “We are trying to fight a two-ocean war with a one-ocean navy. It is going to take time to build up our strength.” He added that a large number of small-type vessels were being used to keep the communication lines open to Britain and Russia. Supplying and maintaining a fighting force in an active theatre required large merchant tonnage. Admiral King gave a warning that 1942 would be their tough year, after which they would begin to gather the strength to do more. ASSUMED LOST CAPITAL OF DUTCH BORNEO. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, February 2. A Batavia communique says that the Japanese occupation of Pontianak, capital of Dutch Borneo, can be assumed from various unconfirmed reports. It was earlier stated that the Dutch forces had destroyed everything of Value in the district. Guerilla forces are still in action round Minahassa, at the northern end of the island of Celebes. A Dutch naval flying-boat shot down a Japanese fighter.