Evening star., 1942-05-24
Underseu War
Fosters Air Transport
By OUen L. Scott.

than the United States and Great
Britain together have been able to
build. Sinkings are concentrated along
the coast Of this country, all Of the way
from the mouth Of the Mississippi to
the mouth Of the st. Lawrence.
German submarines are travelling
5000 miles to do their present work.
They are operating without the aid Of
| air patrols. Even 30, they are revealed
by ofncial reports to have set new high
records In their destruction of ships.
What. then, is the trouble? The an
swer appears 70 be found in several facts.
One of those facts seems to be that
the United States Navy underestimated
its enemy. Remarks made by Frank
Knox, Secretary Of the Navy. suggests
that American admirals had not been
deeply impressed by the ability Of the
German Navy to carry forward . sus-
tanned submarine offensive in the ship
ping lanes out Of this country. Mr..
Knox reported soon after the German
rines were being driven home after
learning their lesson. Since then. losses
have become very much more serious.
Another difhculty stems from the fact
that this country has been forced to
spread its patrol craft very thinly.
President Roosevelt referred to this diff
fculty. The reason for the thin line
of patrol traces back to the fact that the
German threat was underestimated The
Navy put its emphasis upon other types
Of equipment than that required to do
an effective job Of policing against sub
marines In American waters.
One more cause Of trouble traces to
used extensively, there follows an auto
matte reduction in the amount Of goods
carried, because speed of transport Is
cut to that of the slowest vessel in a
convoy. The return to be realized from
the relative safety of a convoy system is
more than Offset by the resulting reduc-
ton in ship speed. This reduction, in
effect. amounts to loss Of more ship
ping space than is lost by submarine
attack.
There are two ways to deal with the
submarine problem, both Of which are
being used
The first way is to build ships many
times as fast as they are sunk. This
Is q present goal of the United States.
Ship construction Is beginning now to
hit q fair stride and this construction
will gain momentum through 1912 and
1943. Yet. on the basis Of the present
outlook, construction in l942 will not
equal sinkinss. unless sinkings are re-
duced. Merely to build ships as fast
as they are sunk represents no net con-
tribution to the success Of the war effort.
So. the second way Of dealing with
submarines must receive more atten-
ton. This is the way Of submarine de-
struction. Again, the problem of de-
stroying submarines breaks down into
stroyed during the course of their op-
erations or they can be destroyed at
the place where they are built or based.
This country has devoted its attention
to an effort to destroy submarines in
the water around the United States. If
results have been impressive. they are
not revealed by any evidence of de-
cline in submarine effectiveness. Rather,
1t appears that modern submarines are
far less vulnerable to depth-charge at
tack than were World War submarines.
Attack by gunfire against a submerged
submarine is difficult.
The result is that more attention,
both by Britain and by this country.
probably will have to center upon attack
against the center of German submarine
construction and against the bases from
which submarines operate Such attack
would strike at the heart of the trouble
rather than at its distant manifesto
tions.
Shipping Is the key problem Of this
war right at the moment.
AS submarines sink ships in this hemi-
sphere. they force the people OF this
country first to 60 without sugar. then
to cut down on the use Of gasoline in
the East, and then to give up bananas
and after that to sacrifice one imported
product after another. The reason
why Is that the Government is taking
whole fleets Of merchant ships for war
use, regardless OF the effect upon i'm
ports for civilian use, as the demand
for ships grows.
There are other sides to this picture
as well
The demonstration that Hitler's sub
marines are giving Of the ease with
which merchant ships can be dispatched
may serve as an advance warning to the
Japanese. Japan now has her own long
lines of communication, and as time
goes on the already impressive record
Of American submarines operating In
Japanese waters undoubtedly will be-
come more impressive. The Japanese,
like the British, depend upon ships to
bring them the raw materials out Of
which their weapons are fashioned. And
the Japanese, unlike the British, have
no ally comparable to the United States
who can help defend the shipping routes
against submarine attack.
1t is announced publicly that the
United States is planning q fleet Of $50
submarines. This country's submarine
fleet, in fact. Is Of large size at present.
The result can be . portent Of trouble
for Japan that will overshadow the
trouble the United States is having with
the submarines Of Hitler.
Then, too, ship sinkings are forcing
American officials to give serious at
tention to the potentialities Of transport
by air.
The Germans demonstrated in Nor
way and Crete and again In Russia that
troona and AdllinSnent can be carried