Cecil A. Spring Rice to Woodrow Wilson

Cecil A. Spring Rice to Woodrow Wilson

Spring Rice, Cecil, Sir, 1859-1918

WWP21616

1917 July 10

Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers, 1786-1957

English

Dear Mr. President

With reference to your letter of the 23rd June and Sir Richard Crawford's replies of the 25th and 29th June, I have pleasure in forwarding you the following further information with regard to losses by war risk each month this year which has now been received from London:-

                                                 Total war losses (By British, Allied and Neutral).
                                                  gross tons :

1917.
JANUARY                                     354,917
FEBRUARY                                   519,080
MARCH                                        583,122
APRIL                                          835,242
MAY                                            580,254
JUNE                                           630,000

This gives a loss of 3-1/2 million tons gross (or about 5,800,000 deadweight) for the 6 months ended June 30th. For the period of the intensive submarine campaign the average monthly loss has been about 630,000 tons gross. To this should be added about 34,000 gross tons a month for loss by marine risk, with a considerable further addition, hard to estimate exactly, for vessels damaged though not lost by war risk and put out of commission for considerable periods.

At the rate of loss of the last few months the wastage through all the above causes, before allowing for new building, should probably be reckoned at about 8,500,000 tons gross per annum or about 14,000,000 tons deadweight.

As against this the present rate of building, outside the United States, may be taken at about

1,200,000    Great Britain
  500,000     Other countries

1,700,000    tons gross  or
3,000,000    tons d.w.

i.e. only a little over 1/5 of the loss and leaving a net loss of some 6,800,000 tons gross or 11,000,000 tons d.W.

For further information as to the tonnage position I would refer to the memorandum of Messrs. Royden and Salter forwarded with Sir Richard Crawford's letter of the 25th June. In this memorandum detailed reasons are given for suggesting that, in view of the present wastage of shipping and the fact that the Allies have necessarily had to devote their main strength to increasing their armies, navies and munitions (all of which are now dependent upon shipping) America would be making a unique and perhaps decisive contribution to the war if she could concentrate a special effort, for which her industrial and engineering resources qualify her in a peculiar degree, upon building up to the amount of the net wastage shewn above.

(It may be remarked that 12,000,000 tons d.W. in steel ships would represent about 4-1/2 million tons of steel, i.E. not more than about 11% of the total annual steel output of the U.S.A).

Although it is of course outside the immediate scope of your enquiry, I venture to add that it has been abundently proved that the use of light naval craft is the best available method of defending merchant ships and attacking submarines and that this is a consideration which we must all bear in mind in arranging our programme of ship building.

I have the honour to be with the highest respect,
Yours faithfully,
Cecil Spring Rice

Letter

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924