Evening star., 1941-01-31
British CorVettes
Proving Answer 10
Menace OF U-Boat
Little Worships Getting
Conveys Safely Through
Submarine Blockade
By A. J. McWHINNIE,

BY A. j. McWHINN1E,
London Daily Herald Naval Correspondent.
LONDON, Jan. 81 (NANA., by
Radio The Atlantic outlook is
frightening. For a fortnight have
been sailing thousands of miles out
there, investigating dangers, assess
ing possibilities for the immediate
future and observing changes and
developments in Britain's unceasing
fight against the German U-boatS
across the biggest battlefront of all
British escort forces out there TO-
day are steadily being strengthened.
Ships may still be torpedoed at
times, but the chances of conveys
getting through are better than they
were at the beginning of winter.
There are several developments
which, If even limited at, would be of
vital value to the enemy.
The ships of this particular convoy
had their holds stacked with food
stuffs and war supplies and air.
planes from America. Not ship
was lost throughout the run, but
there is crippled U-boat out there
somewhere. A corvette, one of. the
toughest little warshipS in the world,
did that.
I am the first naval correspondent
to sail in these new anti-Submarine
ships, testing their endurance and
fighting efficiency in northern bliz-
yards, bowling gales and head-on to
the Atlantic rollers. These long
funneled, whale-catcher type of
warships are smaller than deStroyerS
and were the answer to Britain s
prayer when the Atlantic outlook
was blackeSt, when France had caved
in and we had to fight alone.
Crisis Decisions Taken.
There was no time to build de-
stroyers to beat the new, intensive
U-boat blitz. So crisis decisions we're
taken. Today you find corvette
groups operating alongside destroy
ers and sloops with conveys. Their
advantages are these: They can
fight U-boats in the foulest weather
and they can be built reasonably
quickly. I look forward to the time
when from a single slipwav one cor
vette can be put to sea every month.
Shipyards in the dominions as well
as at home are building them.
A corvette costs only fraction of
the cost of a destroyer. Numbers
count in screening convoy from
U-ooatS, so the cost of escort craft
comes down. The range of these
tiny warships is a secret, but they
are fitted with the same efficient
anti-submarine gear as the crack
destroyers, and submarine protec-
ton has recently been further i'm
proved. While not so fast as de-
stroyers, they are fast enough to
pursue U-boatS and that is all the
speed they need for the job for
which they are being built. They
need only so men, a third of the
ships company of destroyer.
The corvette is in herself only a
tiny target, whether she is being
attacked from the air or on or under
the sea. I see no reason why Brit
ain should not have 200 or 300 of
these anti submarine warships
sooner than most people might
think
The corvettes are lively in the
seaway. The men who sail in them
suffer discomfort in even the
slightest swell. When they are bat
Jling through winter gales their
broad beams roll with the sickening
movement of fat goldfish flicking
its tail to jerk over on its side when
somebody bangs its bowl.
Corvette Men Hand Picked.
7 have sailed more than $4,000
miles covering war at sea, mainly
in destroyers, but I have never
known anything like the roll you
get in these Corvettes. Corvette
men have been hand picked for
their endurance and when they
prove they can take it they say they
would not change. They are proud
o. their task.
They had to be in this trip I
made, what with gales, billiards.,
squalls and three days of living on
hardtack. They certainly earn their
money. Outside of submarines
there is not tougher job afoat.
The commanding officer Of the
Corvette in which I sailed is a
royal navy commander who likes
being a small ship man, while his
son is in the biggest warship of all,
the Hood. The first lieutenant was
a luxury liner officer in peacetime.
He was in the Royal Navy Reserve
and found himself in the doomed
armed merchant cruiser PatrocluS.
He chung to tiny raft for seven
and a half hours before destroyer
picked him up. The navigator has
been seven times around the world
in tramp ships and he is only 27.
The sublieutenant is a 21-year-old
baronet.
Down on the mess deck they spin
yarns about their adventures earlier
in the war. Most of them have
been "over the side" and most of
them have had their baptism of
fire at sea. I would back these
Corvette men in a fight against any
U-boat.
n n