“INITIATIVE OURS”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 March 1943, Page 3

“INITIATIVE OURS”

COLONEL KNOX ON OUTLOOK IN PACIFIC JAPANESE SHIPPING LOSSES HEAVY NET REDUCTION IN MERCHANT FLEET. EXPANSION OF AMERICAN NAVAL FORCES. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) WASHINGTON, March 17. “It, is estimated that the Japanese merchant fleet has lost 1,857,000 tons, or about one-third of its entire tonnage,” said Colonel Knox in New York today. He stated that from now on the Axis would be on the defensive. At the beginning of the war, said Colonel Knox, it was estimated that Japan’s merchant tonnage amounted to 6,369,000 tons, and perhaps half of her estimated losses of 1,857,000 tons had been replaced by the seizure of foreign vessels in Asiatic waters, new building. and salvage. But the total tonnage available to Japan today was probably 14 per cent, less than that with which Japan set out to establish her grandiose “Greater East Asia co-prosperity sphere.” “We have just begun to fight,” said Colonel Knox. “More warships, more planes, and more submarines are going out to join the hunt. It is no secret that our purpose is to destroy the Japanese Navy. “No one in the Navy Department believes we have reached a secure position of affairs. In the Atlantic we are confronted with a menace of formidable proportions. We have vast areas of the world to reconquer. But thanks to the mighty exertions of Russia, Britain, China, and our country, we have reached a point where the conduct of this struggle will be of our own choosing. The initiative is ours.” Referring to the future, Colonel Knox paid a tribute to “English men and women, who did not know when they were whipped, and whose great will has kept their chins up till they could harness their industry and forge new weapons to protect themselves.” With the exception, of escort ships, the production of every type of naval craft is ahead of shedule, and some vessels are coming from the ways one year ahead of the original expectations, according to information which the Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Knox, has given to the Senate Committee. Battleships, aircraft-carriers, cruisers and destroyers are being put rapidly into commission, and our strength is being augumented at a fast rate . Colonel Knox explained the escort craft programme was interrupted six months ago by the production of landing craft.