Evening star., 1941-06-27
u. 5. Flying Boats
Winning Atlantic
Fight, British Say
Credit for Reducing Loss
Of Ships Is Given to
Catalina Planes
BY DREW MIDDLETON.

LONDON, June 27-With the aid
of increasing numbers of mass
produced Corvette patrol boats, and
American-made Catalina flying
boats, Britain slowly is winning "one
of the wars most decisive battles
in the Atlantic Ocean," 1t was de-
clared here today.
Extended American naval patrols
have aided the British, but a source
here said the real credit for reducing
British tonnage losses goes to the
Catalina planes and sturdy Cor
vettes because they now are scouting
sea areas the Germans formerly
considered safe for submarine op-
erations.
One result of what were called
"unspectacuiar but emphatic tri-
umphs" has been to force the Ger
mans to forego their tactics of SUBJ
marine rendezvous in mid-Atlantic
with supply ships, it was asserted.
Scouting flights have driven the
U-boats below the surface" this
source said. They no longer are
able to hunt in packs and lie in wait
on the surface for conveys
Corvettes Bear Main Blows.
Another function of the Catalinas
has been to keep German long-range
Focke-wulfe bombers away from
conveys because these Catalina boats
give them a fierce fight and are
said to be death on German Dornier
flying pencils"
The ugly and menacing Corvettes
have borne the main blows in the
Atlantic battle These craft look
like whaler but carry guns enough
to down destroyer and depth
charges sufficient to destroy flotilla
of submarines. They have been
turned out steadily since July, 1910.
Their II or 18 knots have proved
adequate for huting submarines
driven below the surface by flying
boats, it was said, and in q few
brushes with German surface craft
their gunnery was said to have
been enhanced by superior firing
| platforms.
One great advantage to Britain
is the speed with which these boats
are built. Less intricate than de-
stroyers they are built almost like
the produced automobile.
Need 1918 Knot Ships.
what Britain needs as much as
protective vessels, however, is a
large number of merchant ships
between 1000 and 10000 tons with
speed of about l6 or l8 knots" /"
this source asserted.
Some are being built here. others
in the United States. If vital war
materials are moved in them with
adequate surface and air protection
the German threat to our supplies
| will be cut even further"
Invisible" German submarine
losses were said to have been as
great as those recorded by the Brit
ish Admiralty.
IT'S not just the submarines sunk
that count" it was said. But those
which are driven away from con-
voys, those just able to make port,
those whose crews have to be rested
after days of strain under condi-
tions increasingly dangerous, also
are important"
And it was pointed out that by
1918 Allied attacks on German sub
marines had become so fierce that
German crews mutinied rather than
put to sea.
OF the Germany navy's big surface
craft only the 35,000-ton battleship
Tirpitz and 1o,00O-ton pocket bat
tleship Admiral Scheer are available
for sea duty, the British say.
Cruiser Strength Withheld.
The Bismarck, sister ship of the
Tirpitz, has been sunk. The 26,000-
ton warships Gneisenau and Scharn-
horst are believed by the British to
be damaged in Brest OF the pocket
battleships, the Admiral Graf Spec
was scuttled and another, believed
to be the Lubetzow, was reported
struck by British torpedo June 13.