Evening star., 1942-05-25
Our Shipping Losses

WI SusPkUuS 6SSSSS
The announcement Of the sinking
In American waters Of the 211th
merchant ship since Pearl Harbor
followed by two days the Presidents s
assertion that the problem presented
by marauding Axis submarines of
our Atlantic coast is being solved
In the light Of this record Of sink
ings. it becomes highly pertinent to
inquire in just what manner the
problem is being solved.
Mr.. Roosevelt was speaking on the
occasion of Maritime Day and he put
considerable stress on the near
miracle" of ship building which is
being accomplished in this country
He said that American shipyard ca
pacity, which is not quite the same
thing as production, has been in
creased more than 500 per cent, and
that "our ships are going through
and will continue to 60 through In
growing numbers"
Yet these accomplishments, i'm
portant though they are, fall far
short Of solving the submarine prob
lem. Nineteen Allied merchant ships
were sent to the bottom last week
and two others were damaged. If
nineteen new ships, or twice that
many, had been launched during the
same period of time we would still
be failing to solve our problem
When ship is sunk at sea, not only
the vessel but the cargo as well Is
lost. And in most cases some of the
members Of the crew go down with
the ship. The loss Of life in the
sinkings last week has been put at
185, and about 101 men are missing
AS long as we continue to suffer
losses such as these, 1t is dangerously
misleading to assume that the prob
lem Is being solved because our out
put of ships is increasing or because
we will continue to get ships through
the blockade in increasing numbers
The hard fact of the matter is that
the problem has not been solved and
will not be solved until we have
perfected some method Of dealing
with the submarine menace so that
our ships can navigate American
waters with some reasonable degree
OF safety and with assurance of ade-
quate provision for the rescue Of the
crews from those vessels that in
evitably will be sunk while the wal
lasts.
On this subject the President re-
manned silent, although he eau
toned that we are still confronted
with serious ship shortage because
Of the heavy toll" that has been
taken by submarines. Other official
spokesmen, despite occasional opti-
mistic assurances that we were max
ing headway in the anti-submarine
war, have been equally reticent in
divu1ging any specific information as
to what is being attempted and
what is being accomplished on this
vital front.
About all the public knows is that
enemy U-boats are becoming bolder
attacking in the Gulf Of Mexico, the
st. Lawrence and the mouth Of the
Mississippi, and that they are taking
a toll OF Allied ships which shows
no sign OF abating. Without doubt
some of these raiders are being sunk,
but certainly there is nothing to
indicate that our rate Of destruction
is greater than the enemy's capacity
to make good his losses and enlarge
the scope OF his operations.
So long as the counter-measures
that we are taking are shrouded in
official secrecy, 1t is impossible for
the layman to gauge the adequacy Of
what is being attempted or to ap-
praise the degree Of efficiency with
which the equipment available for
nti-submarine warfare Is being
used. While we continue to lose
ships at the present rate, however,
no special information is required to
know that the submarine problem
is not being solved, or to understand
the danger of falling into a COM
placent attitude with regard to it.