WAR AT SEA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1942, Page 3

WAR AT SEA

OUTLOOK IN ATLANTIC IMPROVING FEW CONVOYED SHIPS LOST. SINKINGS OUTPACED BY NEW BUILDING. LONDON, August 22. The director of the public relations office of the United States Navy said in Washington today that only five ships have been lost out of 2000 which have been convoyed in the Atlantic coastal zones since May 14, when the convoy system was instituted. The American shipyards, he added, produced more ships in July than were sunk in that month. “Though the battle of the Atlantic is by no means won, the sinkings have decreased sharply, and the Navy hopes for a further improvement,” says the New York “World Telegram.” It adds: “Since Pearl Harbour there have been 356 announced attacks on Allied ships in the North Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and off the South American coast. “Almost all the vessels were sunk, including eight in December, 42 in March, 53 in April, 61 in May, 78 in June, 68 in July, and 19 so far in August.

“The improvement is due to the increased convoying by warships and searching by aeroplanes and trained personnel,” the newspaper says. It points out that submarines in the last war could submerge only 100 feet and were easier to depth-bomb than now, when they can descend 600 feet in order to escape from the destroyers’ “ash cans.”

There has been an unofficial report from South America that a surface raider which is operating in the South Atlantic is the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. It is stated officially in London that the Prinz Eugen is still in dock in a German port and that repairs to her stern, which was torpedoed by the submarine Trident on February 23, have only just been completed.

United States planes are continuing the campaign against the enemy submarine pack in Brazilian waters, and sank another U-boat off Fortaleza. A German submarine which'had exhausted its fuel was captured by Captain Silvio Fontoura, of the Brazilian Air Force, and was escorted by a submarine to Fernando Noronha Island, off Cape San Roque. By recently sinking two Japanese supply ships in Far Eastern waters, a Dutch submarine has scored against all the Axis partners. The submarine previously operated in Norwegian waters and the Mediterranean. JAPANESE LOSSES. A United States Navy communique reports the following results of operations in Far Eastern waters: —Two large cargo ships sunk, one destroyer damaged and possibly sunk, one large transport sunk and one medium-sized cargo ship damaged. These actions, it is reported, were not related to the operations in the Solomons. A submarine has reported sinking a large Japanese merchantman in the Aleutian area. These actions were not announced in any previous communique. Up to July 15 this year the British naval and air forces in the North Sea and English Channel had sunk over 1,000,000 tons of enemy shipping. Two hundred and twenty-three supply ships were sunk or captured and 135, including warships, were severely damaged. The majority of successful attacks were off the Dutch coast and the second best area was the coast of Norway. The British Admiralty announces with regret that the submarine Upholder has been lost. Commenting that it is seldom that their Lordships draw a distinction between services rendered in the course of naval duty, the statement says that the Upholder, under Liutenant-Commander Wanklyn, V.C., D. 5.0., deserves special mention. The Upholder was for long employed against enemy communications in the Mediterranean, where the daring displayed was an inspiration to all others.