Evening star., 1943-07-11
james
Continued From First Page.)

sidered a fine, modern fleet seem
likely to lie in harbor until they fall
into Allied hands.
Japan, on the other hand, con-
tinues to make free use OF her
cruisers and destroyers in the Pa
cific, undeterred by her heavy
losses. The most serious of these
was the destruction in the battle of
Midway of the aircraft carriers
Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu. This
blow, added to the previous sinking
of the Ryukaku, has imposed a
handicap which in the long run
may well prove to be fatal to
Japan's naval aspirations.
Of the American naval program,
James says:
Though full details are not avail
able of the enormous expansion of
the United States Navy, Fighting
Ships has been able to secure suff1-
cient data to show the rapid strides
that are being made with its war
construction programs. All six
ships of the Washington class are
now in service, and the 45,000-ton
Iowa and New Jersey are to be COM
missioned in 1943.
War Losses Large.
&c. 49, Every exertion is being made
to press on with the many new air
craft carriers that are in hand.
80 far four carriers of the Essex
Glass C25,000 tons) and six of the
Independence Glass 10000 tons)
have been launched, and several of
them are believed to be in commits
sion. The progress on new cruisers,
destroyers, submarines and smaller
vessels is scarcely less remarkable"
The war loss section Of the new
book compared with the 1941 volume
shows substantial losses by all ma
jor belligerents. In most cases, the
books point out, the losses charged
against enemy fleets are likely to
be much lower than they actually
are, since the publication pursues a
conservative policy in listing losses
Where the 194l volume showed
japanese losses of one battleship,
no aircraft carriers, seven cruisers,
ii destroyers and six submarines,
this one gives two battleships, %
cruisers (plus seven more torpe-
doed) 81 destroyers and 10 subma-
rines, exclusive of "midgets."
Britain Worst Loser.
The 1941 issue listed the battle
ship Haruna among the Japanese
losses, but the new volume carries
a note saying that "the American
Army claim to have destroyed the
battleship Haruna by air attack on
December 10, 1941, cannot be sub
stantiated."
The list of losses of the United
States also is heightened beyond
anything yet experienced in the
Nations naval history. No more
capital ships have been added to
the two lost at Pearl Harbor, but
the aircraft carrier category went
from none to four, cruisers from
none to eight, destroyers from four
to q, submarines from one to six
and miscellaneous craft from five
to 46.
Britain, however, continued to be
the top loser of all the nations.
There was no increase in the toll
OF five capital ships, but the loss of
the Eagle and the Hermes pushed
the carrier listings to five, although
1t is possible that the Indomitable
and others of her class may have
gone into service to restore the car
rier strength. Cruiser losses rose
from 13 to Is, destroyers from So
to 100, submarines from 35 to so
and miscellaneous craft from 232 to
314.
Germans Weaken U-boats.
Illustrative of the conservatism
shown by the reference work are
the figures on German submarine
losses, which are given as Al as
against ii in the previous volume.
German destroyer losses are up from
13 to 80, but the cruiser Leipzig,
previously listed as sunk, was re-
moved from the loss list.
OF German U-boats, Fighting