Columbia's Oceans

By the end of 1943 the U.S. will have a seven-ocean Navy.

This was what Navy Secretary Frank Knox meant last week as he did some unqualified spread-eagling:

At the end of last year, the U.S. had a Navy second to none. Within another nine months, said Frank Knox:

> The number of warships, exclusive of auxiliaries, will be doubled.

> Construction in 1943 will concentrate on airplane carriers and destroyer escorts. This year's carriers will "multiply many times" the total carrier force in 1942; escorts to be built will equal the total escort force at the end of last year.

>Combat planes will more than treble.

To build this fleet, Congress had appropriated $67,000,000,000 since July 1940. Last week Franklin Roosevelt asked for $24 billion more. The U.S. was creating a striking force unparalleled in world history.

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