Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-01-24
Submarine Warfare
Delaying Victory
By OUen L. Scott.

| slowly have been gaining an edge over
ship sinkings. This edge, which still is
| small, has been gained not so much
| through a reduction in the volume of
| shipping sunk by German submarines
as to gain in the volume of shipping
built in American shipyards.
| 1t still is true that for the period from
| December 7, 1941, to date a much greater
| tonnage Of ships has been sunk by sub
| marines than has been created through
| building. 1t also is true that If sub
marine Sinkings continue at the rate set
during the first year of war and if
| American shipyards build the tonnage of
ships they are scheduled to build the net
gain OF ship tonnage in the second year
OF war will do little more than offset the
net loss of the first year of war.
The hard fact is that German sub
marines. to date, have been winning the
sea war in the Atlantic They have
bested both the British and the Ameri-
can Navies. They have scored far more
heavily in this war than in the last war
and the net loss of shipping in the first
year Of this country's participation in
the present war as compared with the
last is very many times greater.
A great deal of confusion over Ship
ping losses as compared with ships built
grows from the fact that losses are re-
ported in one measure and ships built in
very different measure. Ship losses
are reported in the British measure of
gross tons That measure is in terms of
ship cargo space. Shipbuilding is re-
ported in the American measure of dead
weight tons. This measure is in terms of
water displaced by the ship. Ten dead
weight tons equal only about 66 gross
tons. Thus, if 1000 900 lightweight tons
of ships are constructed in one month
and 100000 gross tons are sunk, one lust
about offsets the other.
Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy,
vehemently denied published reports
that submarines have been sinking
about 100000 tons Of shipping a month
on the average. That report was passed
by the censor. The report did not
specify the type of tons used as measure
ment. And that obviously gave Secre-
tary Knox the ground for his denial. If
the report had said that 1,000,0 900 dead
weight tons or 100000 gross tons had
been sunk there might have been the
same sort of denial
With ship sinkingS as great as they
have been and still are several things
are clear. One is that this country prob
ably will not be able in l943 to move
overseas an Army as large in size as it
mad expected to move. Another Is that
the full weight of this country's vast
armament production is not going to be
felt in this year, as planned, because a
STABLE proportion of that armament is
paving the Atlantic. A third is that the
war may be several months longer than
1t might have been had the British and
the American Navies shown greater abil-
tty to deal with the submarine.
Because of censorship, the facts of this
situation in detail have not been made
known to the public. Since the facts
have not been known there was not the
public pressure on the Navy to adopt
more energetic measures in anti-sub-
marine warfare. There also has been
Navy in its effort to induce Donald Nell
son as WPB administrator to permit an
important shift of vital equipment from
synthetic rubber to anti-submarine YES
sells. All the pressure has been on the
side OF speed In getting the public more
tires.
In the face of submarine warfare and
shipping troubles, the Army has estab-
lished rather remarkable record of &C.
complishment.
during the first year of war the Army
moved overseas nearly 100000 men. That
is under the 100000 men mentioned by
President Roosevelt because it does not
take into account men overseas when
war broke out or those in the Navy and
Marine Corps or those moved in the 18th
month Of war. That is not far from the
wo-and-one-half times the number
moved in the first year Of the World War
Likewise, the Army has moved about
10000, 900 tons of Army cargo to overseas
areas. That is six times the volume of
cargo moved in the First World War dur
ing the same period. Furthermore, the
distances from this country to scenes
of action in this war are twice those of
the last In that war, too, the United
States drew 40 per cent of all of its sup
plies overseas from its Allies. In this
war We are supplying those Allies and
are drawing little from them.
This suggests that good use. on the
whole, is being made of the shipping that
is available. 1t suggests that the sub
marine problem will not be solved merely
by making more effective use of the ships
that remain after the submarines get
through sinking them. The fact is that
the record shows that ships under Army
control are being loaded near to capacity
and are being handled in port as ex-
peditiously or more expeditiously than
other ships
Rather, the big present problem is to
md an answer to the submarine. To
find that answer it may be necessary to
strike with more force at the places were
submarines are based and built. That
calls for heavier air attack, but Germans
now have had time to build great con-
crete sheds for their submarines. It
appears that anti-submarine warfare to
date has been rather badly muffed by
both the British and the Americans.
Sweden and War