Evening star., 1941-05-11
British DEMANDING
Prompt Disclosure
Of Shipping Losses
Public CIumor Is Caused
By Revelation Of Over
100000 Tons Sunk
By the Associated Press.

LONDON, May 10-Certain Sec
tions of the British press and pub
lie tonight received official dis
closure of war losses of more than
100000 tons of British, Allied and
neutral shipping with an uneasy
clamor that the whole truth" about
such reverses be laid promptly,
henceforth, before both Britons and
Americans.
The Admiralty's statistics. in sum-
mary, showed this to be the price
exacted by German mines, air and
sea raiders on British ships and
ships in Britain's service:
Since the war began-1 .443 mer-
chantmen, totaling 5,96l, ,044 tons.
sunk
This did not include an inspect
fed number of ships lost in the Dun
kerque withdrawal from Flanders
last May and June. These totaled
117,186 tons, making the British,
Allied and neutral losses 6,078,330
tons in all.
In the past IL months-1, ,098 mer-
chantmen, totaling 4,734,407 tons,
sunk.
For the first four months of 1941,
January through April-368 ships,
an aggregate of 1,6l7,359 tons, sunk.
Axis Loss Put at 1912 900 Tons.
Losses for last month alone-106
ships totaling 488, ,124 tons-were the
first to be published as monthly
total and were announced early to-
day "in view of reports from Ger
man and other sources"
On the other hand, the Admiralty
declared the Axis had lost 2,912 900
tons by sinking, capture or scut-
Ting since the start of the war and
said 100000 tons of these losses oc-
CURED in the past six weeks. Ger
many, it said, has lost 1,756,000 tons;
Italy, 100000 tons, and another
$4,000 tons useful to the enemy"
has been captured or destroyed.
Some officials joined newspapers
IN q quick demand that the Min
tstry of Information set before
Britain and the United States all
the truth consistent with the Sc
eurity of nation at war.
An editorial in the Evening News,
sharply critical of the information
services, declared that:
THE people of America naturally
want to know, within reason, the
full facts of the situation before
the vital decision on conveying of
Allied cargoes by United States war
ships is made by their Government.
The clumsy treatment of the news
Of shipping losses has given isola-
tionists and pro-Germans in the
United States a useful lever" the
Star contended.
Officialdom Berated.
The Evening News berated what
1t called an officialdom which 'sel-
dom has excelled itself more in in
ertia and stupidity" than in its fall
ure up to now to disclose the grim
lessons of shipping losses.
Official circles attributed release
of the figures chiefly to the an
nouncement by Rear Admiral Emory
S. Land, chairman of the United
States Maritime Commission, that
he knew of only eight British ships
out of 205 sailing from America to
Britain which were lost in the first
quarter of l94l. Official circles here
said the figure was wrong and that
1t would give a distorted picture
even If it were correct.
A breakdown of the 1,443-ship
total lost since September 3, 1899
all but 345 of it in the year since
the Nazi invasion of the Low Coun-
tries-shoWs that 885 flew the red
ensign of the British Merchant Ma
rine and $50 were ships under other
flags helping keep open Britain's
essential supply lines.
In tons, this represented a British
loss Of 3,810,541, and Allied and neu-
trail losses of 2,150,503 since the
outbreak of war.
(The Admiralty's figures do not
cover ships lost temporarily
through damage and the speed
of British requirements is mill
tary secret. Thus, it cannot be
reckoned precisely how many
ships or what tonnage Britain
still has available.
(American shipping men, how
ever, estimated early this year
on a basis then of about $780,
900 tons lost and about 100000
tons acquired from Nazi-con-
quered maritime nations, that
1t would take at least another
year to Whittle Britain's mer-
chant fleet down to its pre-
war total of 21,0OO,OOO tons.
April Losses Third Highest.
April losses were the third highest
Of any month of the war, exceeded
only by June, 1910, when 533, ,302
tons were sunk and last March
when the total was 489 229.
In the April figures, however, the
Admiralty incorporated 187,054 tons
sunk in the recent intensive opera
tions" in the Mediterranean. With
those losses subtracted, the figure
drops to 301 ,070 sunk in other naval
war theaters. This is lower than
IN any month of the past II ex-
cept May, 1910, when the total was
248,65O tons.
Compared with this April figure,
the Admiralty said combined Axis
claims of the toll on shipping space
available to Britain were 1.218.995
tons-"or more than two -and-a half
times the actual losses"