6 MARCH 1942, Page 14

WHERE IS THE AMERICAN FLEET ?

SIR,—Why is it that we hear practically nothing of the American Fleet? There seems to be a regular conspiracy of silence on the subject. The United States Navy is supposed to be one of the two largest in the world, and yet the Japanese continue to enjoy almost complete command of the sea in the Western Pacific. Very few ships seem to have been put out of action in the treacherous attack of the Japanese on Pearl Harbour, and it is difficult to understand why the U.S. Navy cannot detail a certain number of small vessels to help us in dealing with the submarine menace in the Atlantic, and send its battle fleet with the rest of its smaller craft to sweep the Japanese from the seas. What is there against this? PUZZLED.