Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-06-11
Strangling the Pirates

Much more important than the spectacular u
boat raid along the North Atlantic coast is the
nouncement from Washington that Allied and
American naval forces have destroyed sixty per
cent of ali German submarines constructed This
good work has gone forward without fanfare or
boastfulness. Few OF its incidents have been pup
lished. though they comprise, we may be sure, a
wealth of sea romance. But its effectiveness is
witnessed rot only in the heavy toll that has been
taken of the Prussan pirates but also in the COM
parative safety which is beng secured for ship
ping. The loss of Allied vessels has been cut in
half. and is continCally being reduced While this
is due partly to vigilant conveys. it is largely
result of aggressive war upon the U-boats. What
with destrOyers. depth bombs, hydrOplanes and we
know not how many other devices, all engaged in
the hunt. the seas become more and more dangerous
for the German sharks 1t is mild statement of the
case to say that sixty per cent of all the submersi-
bles thus far constructed by the Central Powers
have been destroyed, because the present rate of
destruction is far higher and is constantly mount
ing. Indeed there is good reason to suspect that
we sinking U-boats far faster than the
Germans can replace them.
At the same zine we are building merchant
ships faster than the Germans sink them In
April alone England and the United States pro-
duced forty thousand tons more shipping than the
enemy destroyed. while accelerated methods of re-
pairing damaged craft added some five hundred
thousand tons a week. American ship launching
in 1iay set new record; seventy-one hulls total
ling more than three hundred and forty thousand
put into the water thirty-nine being steel
and thrty-two wood. Deliveries were proportion
ateIy large. An idea OF the speed with which we
can fabrcate ships now that our facilities are fair
" organized may be had from the case of the
TuckGhoe, a ffty-ive hundred ton steel merchant
man built at Camden, N ]. This ship was laid
launched, completed and delivered to the Govern
ment all within thirty-seveI days. Commenting
on this performance. the St. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat remarks that if the other seven hundred and
twenty-nine shipways in the United States do half
we'll the new lightweight tonnage for the year
will reach seven million, three hundred thousand
"or more than twice the conservative estimate of
a few weeks ago and twenty per cent more than
Mr.. HurIey's most optimistic promises" We are
reminded furthermore that 1Ir. Schwab has prom
ised two ten-tkousand ton ships 4 day by October;
ard Mr.. schwab is not of light words.
This STEADY thwarting and strangling of the
submarine is OF the utmost Importance in its effect
upon German morale as well as in its bearing upon
the purely military and naval aspects of the war.
With all her staggering pretense, Won Tirpitz and
his colleagues in FTightfulness cannot conceal their
alarm over feeling their sole weapon gradually
crumble to impotence. The German people cannot
forget the words OF their Imperial Chancellor
spoken two winters ago: I'VE stake all Creferrng
to unrestricted submarine warfare) and shall
win" Nor can they forget the Kaiser's own sol
eu,n assurance than in six months at the longest
England would be starved into submisson and
would surrender to C-boat blockade. Nearly
eighteen months have elapsed. and instead of that
triumphant blockade there is ever frightening
roll OF U-boats that never come back; there are
ever increasing numbers and power in the Allies
merchant fleets; and there IS ever swelling tide
Of man-power from America rolling to the fields
of France, with the doom Of Prussanism ringing
from its human waves.