THE NAVY AND NORWAY Sut,—Bombing at sea should evidently not
be feared by our ships, because the Admiralty's Monday communique says that "the determined attempts to render the waters of the Norwegian coast untenable" made by all German sea weapons, including bombers, "have been attended with but slight results." "Attempts to render" the waters of the Skagerrak " untenable" would also have "slight results" which should be faced.
Yet the fear of even the air bombing risk is prolonging the war by letting German soldiers and supplies pour into Norway by sea at Oslo, to fight our soldiers. Our battleships and cruisers should accept bombing with other and greater fighting risks. Our warships are built to be risked in battle, and their crews are spoiling for a fight.
Our surface warships should go into the Skagerrak to cut off the Germanic flow at the main, before it lands in Norway ; as It would be cut off before landing in England, despite all bomb- ing. Who is preventing this?
German soldiers and supplies are flowing into Norway almost as easily as if there were no sea between Germany and Norway. Who commands the sea, Germany or England? The ultra-air- minded would answer: "Neither Germany nor England, but Goering with his bombers." The Admiralty's communiqué tells the ultra-air-minded that they are diametrically wrong.
Our army risks and suffers losses, while our great navy is not allowed to risk being scratched, not even to save army losses ! If allowed to do it, our Navy could defeat, in the Skagerrak, Germany's invasion of Norway. Many German troopships and supply ships are now passing to Norway through the waters of the Skagerrak, laden with soldiers and weapons to kill English- men. ' No German ship should pass there. The navy should be fully used to save our soldiers. The Harwood fighting spirit is needed in our strategy of the Skagerrak.—Yours faithfully,
GEOFFREY BOVVLES.
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