Evening star., 1942-04-22
United Nations Navies
Spread Thin Over
Vast Ocean Expanse
Coostwise Ship lones
In Western Atlantic Are
Immediate U. S. Problem
BY WILLIAM H. STONEMAN,
war CORRESPONDENT Of The Star and
Chtcaro Daily News

LONDON, April 22--Light naval
forces of the United Nations are now
being overworked in q desperate
attempt to cover vast expanses OF
ocean which until recently seemed
to require only the casual attention
of fighting ships.
While the United States has been
concentrating, for it's part, on the
Pacific routes between the West
Coast and Australia and between
the Eastern seaboard and Northern
Europe, it is now bound to shift as
many light forces as possible to the
coastwise routes Of the Western At
lantic. Losses there continue 10
cause grave concern in Allied ship
ping circles and must be brought
under control at the first possible
moment
Must Guard Indian Ocean.
The British, who have hitherto
been able to concentrate on convoy
work in the North and South At
lantic areas, now must give IN
creased attention to the Indian
ocean. where Jap raiders and sub
marines may appear at any ume-
Where ships formerly were able 10
proceed with light conveys or none
at all, heavy escorts now are IN
order. Due to the vast distances
TO be covered. every destroyer ana
light cruiser that can be scrapeo
together must be kept at work con-
tinuously until the shipyards OF
Britain and America can proouce
reinforcements.
British strategy in the Indian
Ocean Is designed to build up ano
maintain a barrier between lnois
and Ceylon behind which prepars
tions may be made for an ultimate
offensive against the japanese. Fol-
lowing the loss of Singapore. they
must depend on relatively undevel'
oped bases until they are able to I'M
prove facilities They must make
absolutely sure, incidentally, thai
the Axs does not secure any bases
/ in the Indian Ocean itself.
Britain has i3 Indian Ocean ports
outside Australia, and communics
tions lines between those ports anc
across the Indian Ocean to Austria
/ La stretch for a total distance oi
approximately 1880 miles.
] Facilities at Various Ports.
British controlled ports INCLUDE
Cane Town. with a commercial har'
I Dor accommodating all classes O
ships and q dock which can handl'
small cruisers; Simons Bay tnesI
Cane Town. with q naval dockyart
capable of handling cruisers: Por
Elizabeth Cape Colony. which ha!
q good artificial hsrbor: East Lon
don Africa. also with an artificla
harbor: Durham. which has an excel
lent protected harboT for the larges
vessels: Dar- -es-Salaam tTanssnyi
ksl, which can accommodate de
stroyers; Mombasa (Kenya). which
is fueling base and can repai
ships: Colombo tCeylonl. which ha
a commercial port with dock ca
pable OF taking cruisers; T1rncoma
lee ,Ceylonl. which has a nava
dockyard. and Cochin. Bombay, Ks
rachi and Madras. all OF the latte
four in India, being conmercis
ports with considerable facilities 70
repair work.
Indian Ocean shipping route
which must be protected. include tn
run from East London 10 Alden (Re,
Sea port, of 1000 miles: East Lon
don to Colombo, 3.S25 miles; Eas
London TO Fremantle. Australis
1900; Alden to Colombo, 2,094
Colombo To Calcutta. 1.234. and Co
Jumbo 70 Fremantle, 3.17i miles,
tcopyrisht Ia4a, chssso Daily News Inc