Critical Front

The German submarine campaign had by last week made the Atlantic seaboard one of the most critical combat areas in the world. Navy men, scouring the waters with surface and aircraft, knew it well. So did the National Maritime Union, which numbers its losses at sea in the hundreds. So did men on the production front, officials like Shipping Tsar Rear Admiral "Jerry" Land, and shipbuilders who had suddenly had a strange goal set before them: produce ships faster than the Jerries can sink 'em.

The Navy needed more destroyers, more sub chasers, more blimps, more of other craft that could be used to convoy coastal shipping until the subs were knocked out. Until it got them it could only stand by and watch traffic be hamstrung by overnight dashes into sheltered harbors, by limited convoys, by other makeshifts that sadly slowed the pulse of United Nations commerce.

Last week the situation was made worse by the arrival of bland May weather bringing smooth Atlantic seas. It was ideal for Axis U-boatmen, who could spot the smoke smudges of their quarry a long way off, and fire their tin fish with accuracy when they closed for the kill. The menace of the submarine in U.S. waters was likely to get more serious before it was liquidated.

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