Evening star., 1940-12-08
British Need Is More Vessels
To Escort Conveys, Eliot Says
Right to Fire Bases Seen as One Big Aid
To England During Dark Winter Months

chester, the other and larger
straight up the Channel to Plym-
outh. Southampton and London. with
third and smaller branch, between
the other two, into the ports of the
British Channel bristol, Cardiff,
Swansea. The northern approaches
were around the north of Ireland.
heading for Belfast, the ports Of the
Clyde, and perhaps Liverpool.
But today 1t is largely by the
northern approaches that the Brit
ish Isles may be reached. The IA
nous western approaches are so
commanded by German air and sub
marine raiders based on the French
coast as to be extremely dangerous,
if not impossible. The Channel
ports and the ports of the east coast
of England are used only by coast
wise shipping; those of the east
coast of Scotland get few conveys
coming north-about Scotland, but
not many. 1t Is upon the ports of
the Clyde and the Mersey, with some
diversion to those of the British
Channel, that Britain chif1y de-
pends for the flow of her life's blood
the food and raw materials from
overseas.
Nazis Task SimpliRed.
This, Of course, immensely simpli-
fies the task Of the German raiders.
No matter what ocean course the
conveys may steer, they must at
last come to the focal point OF the
northern approaches, between Scot
land and Ireland; and German sub
France or Norway may here inter-
cept them, while German aircraft
aid in the attacks and steer the
U-boats to their prey.
To meet this menace, the British
must take a number of measures.
First. of course, would be an in
crease in the number of ships avail
able for convoy escorts. For this
purpose, destroyers are the most
useful because of their speed, handi-
ness and powerful armament of all
types. Escort vessels are inferior
to destroyers in speed and have no
torpedo armament; otherwise, they
have similar characteristics. Smaller
craft such as armed yachts, motor
launches, trawlers and so forth, have
their value, but are restricted by
their fuel capacity to work nearer
the coast. Britain probably has for
service in the Atlantic at this time
about 180 destroyers and 10 escort
vessels. The destroyers include the
so recently acquired from America.
1t may be assumed that at any
given time from 10 to 20 per cent of
these ships are laid up for repairs
or overhaul. The operating total of
destroyers and escort vessels for the
Atlantic may therefore not exceed
200. Increases may come from COM
pletion of new ships. and from addi-
tional purchases abroad and from
release of ships now serving in the
Mediterranean by a change of the
situation there. But none of these
sources promise any large immedi-
ate increase, while the conveys must
continue operating. The tendency
therefore will be toward larger con-
voys and toward overworking the
escorts. 1t must be remembered that
there are many tasks beside con-
voy escorting to which the ever USE
full destroyer must be put.
AS for defense against aircraft,
obviously this cannot be given for
a larger, scattered convoy by the
guns Of the escort. AS far as pos
sible each merchant vessel must
have anti-aircraft armament. In
addition there must be Seaplanes