Evening star., 1941-11-05
Sea War
Continued From First PageD

Salinas only in order to permit that
crippled vessel to reach safety.
| Asked whther these developments
! the Reuben James and Salinas en-
/ counters, particularly, had in any
way modified the situation in the
Atlantic. Secretary Knox said that
the orders have not been changed
and work is going on as before"
Orders given by President Roose-
welt in mid-September were to shoot
hostile ships on sight.
Secretary Knox characterized as
| speculation an article in the United
States Naval Institute publication
saying that 140 submarines already
have been sunk in the war. He
said that all that could be said
with certainty was that the British
have said that they have sunk "a
very considerable number OF sub
marines"
Germany intends to make the
waters west Of Iceland a major
theater in the battle of the Atlantic
and to fight for decision there with
wolf pack U-boat tactics, informed
sources had reported earlier.
The record Of the last two months,
as far as American interests are
concerned, all points in that direc-
ton, they said, and the intensified
ton Of the sea war in recent weeks
may well herald even greater Nazi
efforts as turbulent wintry seas
give submarines their safest hunting.
Until the Atlantic Fleet began
policing the sealanes with shoot
on-sight orders the gravest under
seas threat to Britain's lifeline was
concededly in the immediate ap-
proaches TO her ports, whose proX-
unity to U-boat bases on the Con-
tlnent facilitated pack operations.
Reports on recent sinkings, how
ever, show that the packs are raid
ing farther westward, particularly
in the few hundred square miles of
ocean that lie south and west of
Iceland, the easternmost of Ameri-
can defense bastions.
Several Ships Sunk There.
1t has been in that limited area
that U-boats have sunk four Amer
lcan-oWned ships of Panamanian
registry and the Reuben James. Ir
| those waters the destroyer Kearny
and the Salinas were damaged by
torpedo attacks, and a submarine
| tried three times without success to
send the destroyer Greer to the
| bottom.
/ The Navy Department yesterday
officially acknowledged the heavy
loss of life in the Reuben James
sinking, announcing that all hope
had been abandoned for the de-
| stroyer's missing-7 officers and SO
men. Counting 2 previously known
dead, this made the official toll 81.
The list, however, was subject to
later revision and the relatives of
at least five seamen who had been
reported lost declared that they
were safe, thanks TO last-minute
transfers which took them off the
destroyer's roster before she was
sunk.
Casualties Now 122.
Officials said discrepancies might
arise temporarily due to such
changes in the crew, but would be
corrected after all late personnel
records had been checked. No re-
! duction in the number of dead was
expected, however, because the place
of transferred men usually is filled
by replacements.
With the Reuben James dead eSti-
mated at 81, Army and Navy losses
in the Battle of the Atlantic have
reached 122. The torpedo attack on
the Kearney took II lives. and IL
Navy men and an Army officer were
lost in patrol crash, Sunday. One
Army officer was killed in a plane
crash last August, and a Naval Off
Ger was washed overheard from a
destroyer. When the tanker Salinas
was torpedoed Wednesday, but not
sunk, there was no fatalities. The
Army officer killed Sunday was Sec
ond 1t. w. P. Robinson, %, of Chi
cago. 1t. Charles Sooy q. g. was
lost from the destroyer October q.