Evening star., 1942-09-20
Shipping Called Determinant
For All Allied Strategy in War
Construction Up 12OOeo But Net Tonnage Left
After Enemy Action Will Decide Success
of Military Campaigns
By Felix Morley.

sustrv stands out as exceptional. lhree
wears ago the construction program
called for the completion of so mercnan1
ships a year, rate of approximately one
per week. Last month such ships aver
aging around 10000 tons each, were nelng
completed at the rate of Is per week.
And it is anticipated that well before
the end Of the year our mercnant snip
ping output will attain the almost un-
believable rate of three medium-sizeo
cargo, vessels completed every day.
sinkings Offset Construction.
Whether measured by actual output,
or by percentage increase in produc-
ton. the accomplishment of the Amerl-
can shipbuilding industry is thus seen
to be unprecedented Because of the
urgent need for ocean transportation
this industry ought to be setting an out
standing record. Under the guidance
and direction of the Maritime Commits
sion the shipbuilding industry Is doing so.
Unfortunately 1t does not follow that
the accomplishment, though almost
unique in industrial history, is all that
it should be. Against the splendid pro-
duction record must be set the equally
impressive total Of ship losses. Not
gross shipyard production, but net ton
mage remainder after enemy action, is
the figure which counts In determining
! the success of the American war effort.
| For obvious reasons detailed infor-
| nation as to enemy destruction of mer-
| chant shipping is no longer made public,
even though the record as transmitted
to Axis capitals by its naval and air
commands is undoubtedly substantially
accurate. Sinkings, without particulars,
are nevertheless periodically announced.
And the Associated Press tabulation of
these announced sinkings show that the
total Of Allied and neutral merchant
vessels sunk in the Western Atlantic
since Pearl Harbor has this week passed
470. That is slightly more than the
total of new ships delivered from all the
yards in this country during the same
period.
On the one hand by no means all, in
deed probably only minority OF these
destroyed ships, flew the flag of the
United States. On the other hand that
fact, from the viewpoint of the United
Nations as whole, is immaterial. What
ever the nationality of ships sunk their
replacements is now primarily a re-
sponsibility of the United States. For
only American shipyards can begin to
cope with the replacement of the raw
ages of submarine warfare
1t Is also true that a good many Of
the torpedoed vessels were much smaller
than the 10,000-ton Liberty ships now
coming from our numerous yards with
the precision, and by virtue of the
methods. Of an assembly line. As against
this is the fact that the Associated Press
compilation takes no account of the
many sinkings in waters other than the
Western Atlantic.
Must Step Up Construction.
The crux of the problem is found In
the admission by Washington, perhaps
not yet adequately considered through
out the country, that only very recently
did the curve of ship construction def
nitely rise above that of ship destruction.
Only this summer, in other words has
there begun to be progress in the basic
and all-important issue of supplying the
tonnage whereby the industrial strength
of America can actually be applied to
the winning of the war
For the progressive solution of the
shipping shortage three lines of ap-
proach are possible. One is the more
successful protection of ships in transit,
on which the Navy is concentrating with
at least measure of success. A second
approach is to destroy as many U-boat
construction nests" as possible, clearly a
major objective in the large scale bomb
ing of German industrial centers. The
remaining, and most reliable, line of So
luton is to step up ship construction
even higher than the level already at
, tanned.
In the opinion of Maritime Commits
sion officials this last can be done, so
) far as shipyard accomplishment alone Is
concerned.