Evening star., 1942-05-22


the first WORD David Lawrence.
been broadcast concerning the battle
of the Coral Sea than the Japa-
nese promptly claimed that they
had sunk battleship and a cruiser
as well as sunk or damaged two
aircraft carriers The American
Navy Department has been silent
as to how much or what was lost
and the only official word given was
that our losses were relatively"
light compared to those of the Japa-
nese.
Within the last "a hours. the
Japanese have grown impatient
again. They brushed aside the
thrilling story of the accomplish
ments of Gen. Doolittle and his
aviators who raided Toxic and de-
clared that this was but a smoke
screen to hide the losses of two
American aircraft carriers - the
Saratoga and the Yorktown.
And still the American Navy De-
partment maintains silence, which
Is as 1t should be. 1t might be
asked why are the Japanese so
anxious to know. Well, aircraft
carriers constitute about the most
important of all naval vessels at the
moment because there are so few
of them. Sinking of an aircraft
carrier is vital blow and, to a
certain extent, so is the damaging
OF such a vessel If the aircraft
carrier is damaged, how badly has
1t been hurt? How long before it
will be back in commission? Can
It be repaired in nearby ports or
must 1t 60 elsewhere?
Affects Strategy.
The entire strategy Of the enemy
navy will in some respects be
affected by knowledge OF what the
strength of our aircraft carrying
fleet happens to be. If the United
States had two aircraft carriers in
the battle of the Coral Sea or four
or flve-no announcement has been
made about it and no information
is therefore availa ble-the japanese
would like to know it so they can
mobilize their fleet for the next
action.
The Japanese plainly do not
know where our battleships are.
They sent out feeler recently by
way Of Berlin or Vichy reporting
two American battleships in the
vicinity of Madagascar. Again they
were hoping that the American
government would fall for the trap
and disclose the whereabouts Of our
battleships.
Ship movements are among the
best kept of secrets and certainly
this correspondent has never had
any information about them and has
never heard of any one else outside
of few persons inside the service
who know such things. This Is as
1t should be.
But the game as it is being played
by the radio broadcasts from Toxic,
Berlin and Vichy reveals definitely
that the enemy doesn't know the
American naval strength in the
Southwest Pacific and is trying by
means OF claimed losses to stir up
the families Of the possible victims
In the hope that indirectly enemy
agents may find out just where the
ships happen to be and whether
they are sunk, damaged or unhurt.
Hardship on Families.
A rather long time has passed
since the battle of the Coral Sea.
Conjectures are natural, but until
ships reach their ports or some other
strategic location where they are
assigned after a particular engage
ment it is not discreet to tell about
losses.
This is hard on the families OF
the sailors but it is such an integ-
raj part of the war strategy that 1t
must be accepted as one of the
hardships OF war itself.
The Japanese got walloping in
the battle of the Coral Sea but they
do not know how much damage
they inflicted on our ships. The
japanese aviators do not know our
vessels any too well and they do
not find it easy at the heights at
which they are compelled to fly to
get a good look at the vessels below.
Many mistakes have been made
by aviators in reporting losses in
this war, and this is understandable
because of the great difficulty of
accurate detection. Occasionally
special cameras are carried which
can photograph what happens be-
low, but in the battle of the Coral