THE WHITE HOUSE
                                
                                 WASHINGTON
 
MEMORANDUM                              April 17, 1942
 
          TO:            THE PRESIDENT
 
          FROM:          MR. LUBIN
 
          SUBJECT:       SHIPPING LOSSES
 
                          March, 1942
 
              Losses of British and United States merchant vessels, 
on which notification was received during the month of March
reached an all-time monthly high record of 1,023,000 DWT tons.
This figure exceeds February losses by almost 300,000 tons.
 
     Of the ships lost, 564,000 tons were cargo and 458,000
tons were tankers.
 
     During the month, U.S., U.K., and Canadian construction
of new ships aggregated 350,200 tons. Of this total, only 28,000
DWT tons were tankers. This is equal to about 5 per cent of the
total tanker tonnage lost during the month.
 
     The net loss (losses minus new construction) for the 
month of March were 672,400 DWT tons. At the end of the month,
the combined merchant fleets of both countries had declined by
242,000 tons of cargo ships and 430,000 tons of tankers. Table
No. 1 attached shows the breakdown of the construction and losses
by type of ship.
 
             Losses for the Quarter Ending March 31
 
     Gross losses of merchant shipping under U. S. And U.K.
control for the first quarter aggregated 2,366,000 tons. If this 
rate  were continued throughout the year, the gross loss for 1942 
would amount to close to 10 million DWT tons.