The Navy roust be congratulated on the fact that only
one
large merchantman was sunk last week by enemy mine or sub- marine, as compared with six the week before, whereas the weekly average for October was almost thirteen. Five smaller vessels were sunk and five were attacked without success. The volume of traffic was much the same as usual, so that the enemy did not fail for want of targets. If we lost no ships at all, we should still be very short of mercantile tonnage to meet the needs of our Allies as well as our own needs, so that the checking of the submarine, whether temporary or permanent, must not be allowed to lessen the national effort to be thrifty. As a matter of fact, it may well be temporary. It is quite likely that the Germans have withdrawn many submarines for the time being in order to prepare for some novel action.
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