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Show Recent Allied Success in Undersea War Is Result of Coordinated Campaign Improved Weapons, Better Use of Old, Defeating Subs "The submarine was utterly utter-ly defeated in May," Prime Minister Churchill stated triumphantly tri-umphantly in a recent address. ad-dress. The first lord of the admiralty amended this by announcing that the British navy had set a new record in that month for U-boat sinkings, sink-ings, and that losses now ex- . qjjiii . ' " v " " ' v . ' " "H t Is ' WTf.. Llk4iA Xw i., i Vw.' ' Hj A HELICOPTER LANDS Settling slowly on the space marked out as its landing "field" on the deck of a Victory ship, this helicopter makes a perfect per-fect landing. This peculiar aircraft can rise and descend almost vertically, and can hover over the water, spotting submarines. Crash panels must now be put into every door, by coast guard regulations. regula-tions. These are sections of thin wood within every door, that can be smashed out by trapped crewmen, leaving a space big enough to permit per-mit escape. To preserve the nerve centers of a ship as long as possible, the pilot house and radio shack are covered with reinforced concrete and steel capable of withstanding submarine shelling. Latest In Life Boats. Finally, when seamen have to abandon ship, the latest and best to life-saving equipment comes into play. By orders of the coast guard, the life boats are always kept swung out and clamped against canvas-cov-erpri rnshinns Thp rnnps hnldin? ceeded German production. Thus the gravest threat to Allied success, the submarine campaign against shipping, is being answered, as it was in World War I. Success Is coming faster than anyone dared hope a little while ago. In April Admiral King of the U. S. navy predicted pre-dicted that the submarine danger would be brought under control within with-in four to six months. Secretary of Navy Knox a few days later said that the increasing numbers of destroyers de-stroyers now guarding convoys would soon have their beneficial effect. ef-fect. The peril to the "bridge of ships" carrying war supplies to Europe and the Orient is not being met by any one "secret weapon." Destroyers, airplanes, cannon, radar, 'helicopters, 'helicop-ters, balloons and many other war machines are being employed in combinations best adapted to the task. The change for the better has come rather suddenly. Only last January the tremendous losses in chipping tonnage were causing extreme ex-treme concern in Allied war councils. coun-cils. Almost a million tons a month was being sunk last year. Charles E. Walsh, chief of the maritime procurement pro-curement division, has revealed that over 11 million tons went down in the first year of war. The Merchant Mer-chant Marine reports that nearly fj.OOO men have been lost in the last 20 months. Until very lately, there was little light through the dark clouds. Ships Getting Through. Now the great fleets of merchant ships are arriving in Allied ports with small losses. The protection devised by the navy is succeeding. A convoy, which may consist of hundreds of ships carrying ammunition, ammu-nition, food, plane parts, oil and thousands of other war materials, as well as troops, offers many tar- the boats are secured by a single "pelican" hook which can be tripped by simply releasing a catch allowing allow-ing the boat to be lowered into the water in a minute or two. At the same time a boat is lowered, low-ered, a life net, kept rolled up against the side of the ship just be- does not have its speed or maneuverability. maneu-verability. Then there is the aircraft air-craft carrier, which is accompanying accompany-ing large convoys lately. Planes from the carrier can patrol a wide circle and prevent any enemy surface sur-face craft from surprising the convoy. con-voy. That new marvel, radar, can locate lo-cate enemy planes and submarines with amazing accuracy, to fogs or at night. Destroyers are being equipped with radar now. Listening Listen-ing devices to detect submarines by the pulsations of their propellers, have been in use for some time, so the officers in charge of the defense de-fense of a convoy have several means of knowing when the enemy is approaching. Only about 500 miles of the voyage voy-age between the United States and British ports is beyond the range of land based aircraft, according to Secretary Knox. The patrol planes of the Allies can protect shipping within an arc six or seven hundred miles in radius. Ships Mount Heavy Guns. Convoys are so large, however, that despite all sorts of armed guardians, some ships will be attacked, at-tacked, and perhaps damaged or sunk. Often too, a single merchant ship has to travel without escort to enter a small port off the regular fun, or for a number of other reasons. rea-sons. Merchant ships have long been accustomed to mount some cannon in wartime, but against modern enemy en-emy craft, ordinary seamen have little chance to use their weapons effectively. The maritime commission commis-sion has ordered every American ship to carry a five-inch gun. A crew from the navy mans the piece, which is deadly to enemy submarines subma-rines and destroyers, or any vessel with thinner armor than a cruiser. Ships are protected against aircraft air-craft by anti-aircraft guns and .50 caliber machine guns. Expert navy crews also handle these ordnance. Submarines and planes are reluctant reluc-tant to get too close to a ship that can defend herself, and torpedoes, bombs and gunfire aimed from a distance dis-tance are less accurate. A barrage balloon is now being added to the defensive equipment of merchant ships. The balloon trails steel cables when in the air, thereby preventing a divebombing plane from getting too close to the ship, or from running along it and strafing the crew with machine gun bullets. The gas bag is raised and lowered by a cable attached to a winch near the stern. Last month the maritime commission com-mission and the War Shipping administration ad-ministration decided, after a successful suc-cessful demonstration, that helicopters helicop-ters can be employed to give added protection to individual ships. Every Ev-ery new Liberty model ship will carry a helicopter, according to present plans. As these peculiar aircraft can rise and descend almost vertically, they can operate from a small area on the deck of a vessel. ves-sel. Whether the. ship is part of a convoy or sailing alone, the helicopter helicop-ter can hover around, watching for the enemy. Some Sinkings Inevitable. Ships will be damaged and sunk, however, despite all defensive pre- t tjt - t - , ; 1 LIFE RAFT Six research men are shown testing the new rubber life raft under actual shipwreck conditions condi-tions for the Maritime commission. They were "cast adrift" near Cape Fear, N. C, to study conditions of survival at sea, and to report de- ( fects and possibilities for improvement. improve-ment. Merchant ships carry these rafts in addition to the lifeboats. low the boat deck, is released. Three or four men can scramble down this net at the same time. Merchant ships must also carry liferafts, since the boats may be damaged by shells, or the sinking ship may be leaning so far over that It is impossible to lower lifeboats life-boats on one side. Boats Carry Radios. A portable sending and receiving radio set must be included in the equipment of at least one lifeboat on every ship. Water rations on each boat have been increased from three to ten quarts per person. Fourteen ounces each of pemmican, malted milk tablets, chocolate and type C army ration biscuits must be included in every boat for each person. LIKE A DUCK'S BACK The new Morner lifesaving suit keeps seamen dry and warm under all conditions. A Jackknife for cutting away entangling entan-gling ropes, and a red signal light and police whistle for attracting attention at-tention of rescuers are attached to the shoulder. gets for enemy submarines and torpedo tor-pedo planes. Destroyers, ranging along the flanks, and ahead and behind the convoy, are the usual defenders of the slow and helpless freighters, tankers and troopships. But the "greyhounds of the sea" have a lot ef auxiliaries under the new system. One of these is the corvette, a small merchant ship converted to a light warship. It can function much as the destroyer does, although it Rubber lifesaving suits are issued is-sued to each member of the crew. Besides keeping a man dry while in the water, the suits give protection against exposure to a lifeboat or raft. Attached to the shoulder of each suit is a jackknife with which a man can free himself if he is entangled en-tangled in ropes, and a police whistle whis-tle and a red signal light to attract at-tract the attention of rescuers. So the perils to Allied shipping are being combatted successfully by combining all known resources of warships, planes, guns and radio. The war goods are getting through. The ships are arriving safely. But when a ship does go down the brave seamen have a much better chance of living to sail again than ever before, thanks to ever better equipment 1 cautions and efforts. Some are wrecked by storms, or are smashed on rocks or icebergs. Even when in a sinking condition, nevertheless, a ship may sometimes be saved by some of the safety features that are part of a modern ship. If the ship must be abandoned, other emergency emer-gency features help to save the lives of the crew. Many safety devices have been added, and old ones have been Improved. Im-proved. Several have been built into the ship itself. The maritime commission found that men were hurt frequently in the dark passageways passage-ways when the lights went out after a torpedo had struck. Luminous-paint Luminous-paint signs now mark all passageways passage-ways and exits, and directions point to ladders and indicate the switches of emergency lights. FOR SHIPWRECKED SAILORS The boat has built-in air tanks that render it non-sinkable, and there are grab-rails fastened to the bottom, so that seamen can hang on If it over-tarns. over-tarns. A bright red triangular sail Is part of the accessories. Canned food and drinking water, a fishing kit, a first aid outfit, and a machine for making sea water drinkable, are part of the supplies and equipment shown. 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