Evening star., 1940-12-11
By RALPH INGERSOLL.

BY RALPH INGERSOLL.
The bad news in Great Britain
while I was there was not Of the air
war, which was daily perfecting its
defensive and offensive technique,
but of the less publicized submar-
Inc war. 1t was generally known
amongst the informed that losses
from submarine action were too
high" serious" This was before
losses from the German raider were
reported.
Ronald Cross, who is the Min
lister for Shipping, told me that
what he thought Great Britain
needed from America was not planes
but small, fast cargo ships. Small,
so that there could be lot of them.
Fast, so that they could get away
from submarines. The submarine is
very successful in stalking a con-
voy moving at II knots or less. 1t
can locate its prey without coming
up, maneuvering under water TO
within striking distance.
Within striking distance a big
convoy is easy prey for a submarine
All it has to do is to loose all Its
torpedoes one after another in a
straight line across the convoy
path. Some of the torpedoeS are
bound to hit some of the ships.
MANY informed people in Great
Britain suspect that the submarines
are using bases in Ireland. 1here
are many stories of submarine crews
being seen in the cafes in Dublin
out of uniform Whether German
submarines do or do not use Ireland,
they have nevertheless reversed the
disadvantage they were under in the
last war.
Widely Separated Bases.
Then German submarines entered
the Atlantic through the narrow
channel The British surrounded
this opening and the British in turn
had a wide base for their own ship
ping across the Atlantic, being able
to sail to and from any port IN the
British Isles. Now this position is
exactly reversed. British shipping
must enter the Atlantic from mar
row base-the ports on the west
coast of England. Whereas the
Demonstrating Ireland out OF 1t
can operate their submarines from
widely separated bases, all the Ger
man-held coast being available.
The English still try to mine up
the German submarines, of course,
and the English shipping can hardly
be said to be bottled up as the Ger
mans were in the last war. But
broadly speaking the tables are
turned and the small German sub
marine fleet is making the most OF it.
Members of the air force thought
that when they were richer in Amer
lean reconnaissance planes they
could cut down these submarine
losses by wider and wider patrols.
But as of this writing I consider
submarine warfare the most sue
cessful and dangerous of all the
Facists' various operations against
Great Britain.
Industrial Damage Small.
A number of industrial establish
ments producing military aircraft or
parts were severly damaged during
the first two weeks in September.
Other industrial properties, military
and non military, were also damaged
at this time Since the last of the
successful mass daylight raids on
September IS, German bombers have
done very little damage to industrial
plants. The damage done in the
early part of September has been
repaired, so that there is agreement
that military production in England
is again at or within a few per cent
of production at the beginning of
September.
It is hard to say whether this is
good news or bad. Great Britain
had been increasing its production
steadily until the first of September.
But for the bomb damage then its
production would be much higher
now. But on the other hand, the
September damage has been repaired
and production is now increasing
steadily.
/ 1OunQ no eVQlence LlldJ any Ha-
terial news of industrial damage was
currently being suppressed - al
though there is no doubt that in
September the British did minimize
the effects of a very severe blow
dealt to them then.
Spoilers Stationed on Roofs.
One device by which the British
are currently maintaining and in
creasing production is by the train
ing and stationing of spoilers on
the roofs of factories engaged in "a
hour production. With trained
spotter on the roof-a spotter who
can distinguish his own from
enemy aircraft and who is familiar
with the ways of bombs and bombers