The Government measures against the U-Boats menace were first described by Mr Churchill on September 26th 1939. We Produce below further reports to the House of Commons, by him and by the Prime Minister, as week after week the campaign against the raiders intensified.
Mr Chamberlain, in the House of Commons, October 3rd 1939.
Trade is flowing to and from our ports in an ever increasing volume. As I speak, hundreds of vessels are moving over the great ocean routes.
They are protected both by convoy and by the unremitting and relentless action of our anit submarine forces.
Between September 11th and 20th, 1,485 vessels of a gross tonnage of 3,679,000 tons entered or cleared the ports of the United Kingdom.
During that period only 1.25 per cent of these ships and 1.75 per cent of the total tonnage was lost by U-Boat attacks or by mines.
No ship has been lost in convoy, between September 20th and 24th three British ships, of an aggregate tonnage of 7,627 tons, were sunk by German Submarine action. Since then that is to say, for a period of over a week, no British ship has been reported sunk by enemy submarine action. This may in part, be due to the fact that the U-boats at sea at the beginning of the war are now being relieved by others putting out from German ports.
But there is ample evidence that submarines are still operating round our coasts.
The absence of sinkings therefore is in the main, due to the successful measures adopted by the Navy.
The U-boats are being hunted from home waters, where our shipping must inevitably congregate, and where in consequence it is most vulnerable.
German submarines therefore in their efforts to avoid our warships are being driven to operate in far distant waters….
Another and more sinister development of the U- boat warfare is the announcement by Germany that she will regard every vessel of the British Merchant Navy as a warship.
If this means anything, it means that she will pursue an unrestricted submarine campaign. The right to arm merchant ships for self defence is one of the well established principles of international law.
Since the war commenced our merchant shipping has been subjected to attack without warning or in circumstances which put their crews in jeopardy by forcing them to take to the boats, often miles from land or rescue, a procedure directly contrary to international maritime law.
These illegal attacks only serve to underline the importance of providing our shipping with adequate defensive equipment, and we are pressing on with this with the utmost dispatch.
Further evidence of unrestricted submarine warfare is to be found in the number of neutral merchant ships Germany has sunk.
Since the outbreak of war the total of these sinkings amounts to seven ships with a gross tonnage of 27,765 have been sunk by mines or bombing.
H.M. THE KING IN A Message To the Commander- Chief, Home Fleet, October 8th
I am very glad to have had this early opportunity of visiting a portion of the Fleet and its Auxiliaries at the Northern base.
Having visited representative ships and establishments, I have been much impressed by the keen and cheerful spirit that unites you in a determination to bring the war to a successful conclusion.
Your task may be long and arduous, but I have every confidence in your ultimate success.
Please convey to all those under your command my high appreciation of their efforts and my sincere good wishes for a safe return to their homes.
Mr Churchill, In the House of Commons, October 17th
Towards the end of last week the U-boats warfare, which had for a fortnight been mainly directed upon neutrals, became again intensified.
Four ships, including two French ships, were sunk upon the western approaches during Saturday and Sunday, and three others were attacked but made their escape.
The British ships sunk aggregated 13, 000 tons. On the other hand, it should not be supposed that all the losses are on one side.
The Admiralty have hitherto refrained from giving the figures of the slaughter of U- boats which has been proceeding and is still proceeding with increasing severity.
On Friday last, for instance four U-boats were certainly destroyed, including two of the largest and latest ocean going U-boats in the Germany Navy.
Nothing like this rate of destruction was attained at any moment in the last war.
During the last week for which I can give figures, that is to say, to the end of the sixth week of the war, seven U-boats were sunk.
If we look back over the whole period of six weeks since the war began we may estimate that 13 U-boats have been sunk, and several others damaged.
These figures are probably an understatement. Besides this two-thirds of the U-boats which have been out raiding have suffered attack from depth- charges.
Germany’s Loss of Skilled Crews
We believe, therefore that out of about 60 U-boats ready for action at the beginning of the war about one third have already been sunk or seriously damaged ,and of the largest and latest ocean going U-boats the proportion is at least one-fifth.
We actually hold survivors from the crews of three vessels of this highest class.
We may thus take stock of the general position reached in the six weeks of the U-boat war against British commerce.
Something from a third to a quarter of the total U-boat fleet of Germany has been destroyed, and the gaps made in the skilled officers and crews cannot be speedily replaced.
On the other hand, the British Mercantile Marine of 21,000,000 tons has experienced a loss of 156,000 tons through mines or accidents, total 174,000 tons.
During the same period we have captured from the enemy 29,000 tons, and have been refreshed by the arrival of new ships amounting to 104,000 tons.
It will be seen, therefore that while our mercantile marine remains practically unaffected by the U- boat warfare, and losses have been inflicted upon the enemy which, if continued, could certainly not be endured.
I cannot close my examination of the first phase of this severe sea struggle without inviting the House to realize the intensity of the effort and devotion which has been required from all the ever increasing hunting craft and from those engaged upon convoys, not only in narrow waters but amid the storms of the oceans, and the constancy of the merchant officers and seamen who face all hazards with buoyant and confident determination.
I feel we may commend this part of our war business with some confidence to the House.
MR Chamberlain, in the House of Commons, October 26th
In the war at sea there has been an intensification of the German submarine campaign.
This intensification we have always expected, but I can assure the House with confidence that the situation is well in hand.
In spite of one or two strokes of good fortune, the enemy have not been able to attain the rate of sinking which they attained at the beginning of the war.
Their submarines have been driven to operate farther and farther from their bases and farther and farther from the focal points where trade is bound to congregate.
Finally, the destruction of enemy submarines is being maintained at a sufficiently high rate to encourage us to believe that this menace to our trade will eventually be overcome.
One feature of the enemy’s U-boat campaign to which I must call attention is their growing lawlessness, it seems now to have become the rule for merchant ships to be sunk without warning.
Frequently passengers and crew have been turned adrift in small open boats in stormy seas to suffer from cold and exposure…..
No words are strong enough to our detestation of this cowardly form of warfare
