Admiral von Capelle in a supplemental statement before the Reichstag, May 11, in discussing the naval estimates, said:

The reports for April are favorable. Naturally, losses occur, but the main thing is that the increase in submarines exceeds the losses. Our naval offensive is stronger today than at the beginning of unrestricted submarine warfare. That gives us an assured prospect of final success.

The submarine war is developing more and more into a struggle between U-boat action and new construction of ships. Thus far the monthly figures of destruction have continued to be several times as large as those of new construction. Even the British Ministry and the entire British press admit that.

The latest appeal to British shipyard workers appears to be especially significant. For the present the appeal does not appear to have had great success. According to the latest statements British shipbuilding fell from 192,000 tons in March to 112,000 in April; or, reckoned in ships, from 32 to 22. That means a decline of 80,000 tons, or about 40 per cent. [The British Admiralty stated that the April new tonnage was reduced on account of the vast amount of repairing to merchantmen.—Editor.]

America thus far has built little, and has fallen far below expectations. Even if an increase is to be reckoned with in the future, it will be used up completely by America herself.

In addition to the sinkings by U-boats, there is a large decline in cargo space owing to marine losses and to ships becoming unserviceable. One of the best-known big British ship owners declared at a meeting of shipping men that the losses of the British merchant fleet through marine accidents, owing to conditions created by the war, were three times as large as in peace.

The Admiral's Statements Attacked

The British authorities asserted that Admiral von Capelle's figures were misleading and untrue. The losses published in the White Paper include marine risk and all losses by enemy action. They include all losses, and not merely the losses of food ships, as suggested in the German wireless message dated April 16. Even in the figures of the world's output of shipbuilding von Capelle seems to have been misled. He states that "something over 2,000,000 gross tons were built annually in the last ten years, including allied and enemy countries." The actual figures are 2,530,351 gross tons. He further states that the entire output today can in no case be more, owing to difficulties in regard to labor and material. The actual world's output, as shown in the Parliamentary White Paper, excluding enemy countries, amounted to 2,703,000 gross tons, and the output is rapidly rising. Von Capelle tried to raise confusion with regard to the figures 3,000,000 and 2,000,000 tons and the actual output for 1917. The Admiralty says no forecast was ever given that 3,000,000 tons, or even 2,000,000 tons, would be completed in that year. Three million tons is the ultimate rate of production, which, as the First Lord stated in the House of Commons, is well within the present and prospective capacity of United Kingdom shipyards and marine engineering works. The exaggerated figures of losses are still relied on by the enemy. The average loss per month of British ships during 1917, including marine risk, was 333,000 gross tons, whereas Secretary von Capelle in his statement bases his argument on an average loss from submarine attacks alone of 600,000 tons per month. The figures for the quarter ended March 31, 1918, showed British losses to be 687,576 tons, and for the month of March 216,003 tons, the lowest during any month, with one exception, since January, 1917. With regard to steel, the First Lord has already assured the House of Commons that arrangements have been made for the supply of steel to give the output aimed at, and at the present time the shipyards are in every case fully supplied with the material.

The American production of new tonnage reached its stride in May, and the estimate of over 4,000,000 tons per annum was regarded as conservative. It was estimated that the total British and American new tonnage in the year ending May, 1919, would exceed 6,000,000, as against total U-boat sinkings, based on the record of the first quarter of 1918, of 4,500,000.

OFFICIAL RETURNS OF LOSSES

The following was the official report of losses of British, allied, and neutral merchant tonnage due to enemy action and marine risk:

Period.British.Allied
and Neutral.		Total.
1917.Month.Month.Month.
January193,045216,787409,832
February343,486231,370574,856
March375,309259,376634,685
—————————————
Quarter911,840707,5331,619,373
April555,056 338,821893,877
May374,419255,917630,336
June432,395280,326712,721
—————————————
Quarter1,361,870875,0642,236,934
July383,430192,519575,949
August360,296189,067519,363
September209,212159,949369,161
————————————
Quarter952,938541,5351,494,473
October289,973197,364487,337
November196,560136,883333,443
December296,356155,707452,063
————————————
Quarter782,889489,9541,272,843
1918.
January217,270136,187353,457
February254,303134,119388,422
March216,003165,628381,631
————————————
Quarter687,576435,9341,123,510

The Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping stated that the tonnage of steamships of 500 gross tons and over entering and clearing United Kingdom ports from and to ports overseas was as under:

Period.
1917.Gross Tons.
October6,908,189
November6,818,564
December6,665,413