Remarking how strange a thing it was for him to sit at the Admiralty again after a
quarter of a century and find himself ‘* moving over the same course against the same
enemy,’’ Mr. Winston Churchill on 26th September gave the House of Commons
this spirited and highly encouraging account of the anti-submarine campaign.
R. CHURCHILL began by saying that the war at sea opened with some
intensity. Then he reviewed in masterly fashion the various aspects of
the campaign, extracts from his speech being printed here.
All our ships were going about the world in the ordinary way when they were set upon
by lurking U-boats carefully posted beforehand. In the first week our losses in tonnage were
half the weekly losses of the month of April, 1917, which was tho peak year of the
U-boat attack in the late war.
That was a very serious proportion. We immediately replied in three ways. First. we
set in motion the convoy system. This could be very quickly done for all the outgoing ships, but
it took a fortnight to organize from the other end a convoy of homeward-bound ships. This
convoy system is now in full operation both ways.
The convoy system is a good and well-tried defence against U-boat attack, but no one can
pretend that it is a complete defence. Some degree of risk and a steady proportion of losses
must be expected
There are also other forms of attack besides U-boats—attack by surface craft and attack
from the air—against which we must be upon our guard. Every precaution is being made to
cope with such attack, but we cannot guarantee immunity. We must expect further losses.
Arming the Mercantile Marine
Our second reply to the U-boat attack is to arm all our merchant vessels and
fast liners with defensive armament both against the U-boat and the aeroplane. For a
fortnight past armed ships have been continually leaving the harbours of this
island in large numbers. Some go in convoy, some go independently.
This applies not only to the United Kingdom but to our ports all over the world.
Thus, in a short time, the immense mercantile marine of the British Empire will be armed.
As we usually have 2,000 ships in salt water every day, this is a considerable operation.
All the guns and equipment are ready at the various arming stations, together with a pro-
portion of trained gunners to man them and give instruction ...
Our third reply is, of course, the British attack upon the U-boat. This is being delivered with
the utmost vigour and intensity.
A large number of attacks have been made by our flotillas and hunting craft. There are, of
course, many false alarms, some of them of a comical character, but it is no exaggeration to
say that attacks upon German U-boats have been five or six times as numerous as in any equal
period in the Great War, when, after all, they did not beat us.
The Prime Minister mentioned last week the figure of six or seven U-boats destroyed. That
was, as he said, probably an under-estimate, and since then we had some fruitful days.
One-Tenth of U-Boat Strength Destroyed
But even taking six or seven as a safe figure, that is one-tenth of the total enemy sub-
marine fleet destroyed during the first fortnight of the war, and it is probably o quarter,
or perhaps even a third, of all U-boats which are being actively employed. All these vessels—
those sunk and those which have escaped—have subjected themselves to what is said to be the
most trying ordeal any man can undergo in wartime. A large proportion never return home,
and those who do have grim tales to tell.
The British attack upon the U-boats is only just beginning. Our hunting forces are getting
stronger every day. By the end of October we expect to have three times the hunting forces
which operated at the outbreak of war, while at the same time the number of targets open to
U-boats upon the vast expanse of the seas and oceans will be greatly reduced by the use of
convoys, and the U-boats’ means of attacking them will become heavily clogged and fettered.
In all this very keen and stern warfare the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm have
played an important part, both in directing and hunting destroyers upon their quarry and in
actually attacking it themselves,
It was to bridge the gap between what we had ready at the beginning and what we have
ready now that the Admiralty decided to use the aircraft carriers with some freedom in
order to bring in the unarmed, unorganized, unconveyed traffic which was then approaching
our shores in large numbers . . .
In the first week our losses by U-boat sinkings amounted to 65,000 tons, in the second to
46,000 tons, and in the third to 21,000 tons.
In the last six days we have lost 9,000 tons...
Meanwhile, the whole vast business of our world-wide trade continues without appreciable
diminution or interruption. Great convoys of troops are escorted to their various destinations.
The enemy ships and commerce have been swept from the seas. Over 2,000,000 tons of German
shipping is sheltering in German or interned in neutral harbours.
Our system of contraband and control is being perfected, and so far as the first fortnight
of the war is concerned we have actually arrested, seized and converted to our own use
67,000 tons more German merchandise than have been sunk in ships of our own.
Even in oil, where we were unlucky in losing some tankers, we have lost 60,000 tons in the
first fortnight and have gained 50,000 tons from the enemy, apart from the enormous additional
stores brought safely in in the ordinary way.
Again I reiterate my caution against over-sanguine deductions. We have, however, in
fact got more supplies in this war, this afternoon, than we should lave had if no war had been
declared and if no U-boats had come into action. I am not going beyond the limits of prudent
statement when I say that at that rate it will take a long time to starve us out.
Hard and Bitter U-Boat War
Now I must speak about the character of this warfare. From time to time the German
U-boat commanders have tried their best to behave with humanity. We have seen them
give good warning and also endeavour to help the crews to find their way to port.
One German captain signaled to me personally the position in which the British ship was
sunk, and urged that rescue should be sent. He signed his message ‘‘ German submarine.”’
I was in doubt at the time to what address I should direct the reply. However, he is now in
our hands, and is treated with all consideration.
But many cruel and ruthless acts have been done, continued Mr. Churchill. There was the
“Athenia” .... There was the “ Hazelside,” 12 of whose sailors were killed by surprise gunfire
in an ordinary ship, whose captain died in so gallant a fashion, going down with his vessel.
We cannot at all recognize this type of warfare as other than contrary to all the long-
accepted traditions of the sea and to the laws of war to which the Germans have in recent
years so lustily subscribed. . . .
In all the far-reaching control that we ourselves are exercising upon the movements of
contraband no neutral ship has ever been put in danger and no law recognized among civilized
nations has been contravened. Even when German ships have deliberately sunk themselves
we have so far succeeded in rescuing their crews.
All the more we respect the resolute spirit of the officers and men of the mercantile marine,
who put to sea with alacrity, sure that they are discharging a duty indispensable to the life of
their island home.
