The Curves Must Cross

Ship replacements are still behind sinkings. So declared cold, careful Admiral Harold H. ("Betty") Stark, who commands U.S. naval operations in European waters, in London last week. Said Admiral Stark: "When the curve of new construction of ships crossed the curve of sinkings [in World War I], we felt the war had been won--and the same must be done again."

Ships were still being sunk at an unhealthy rate. That they were being sunk in unhealthy places was indicated in a Navy Department announcement late last week. Three medium-sized U.S. vessels had been torpedoed in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, where fast submarines (about 20 knots surfaced) had popped up for the first time. Total of Atlantic sinkings off the Americas for the week was 18.

The U.S. schedule of ship production promises some 750 new ships in 1942. But sinkings this year, unless sharply whittled down by increased protection, may outdistance last year's rate of 2,500,000 tons in the first six months. If so, Admiral Stark's war-winning curve of new construction will not, cannot cross his curve of sinkings in 1942.

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