SUNK OFF SANTANDER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 102, 1 May 1937, Page 9

SUNK OFF SANTANDER

REBEL BATTLESHIP

BOMB DROPPED ON STERN

RESCUES BY FISHING

BOATS

MERCHANTMAN'S ESCAPE

Onlted Press Association— By Flectrk T«l»----erapli—Copyright.' •

(Received May 1, 9 a.m.

LONDON, April 30.

It is officially announced at Valencia that a Government aeroplane sank the rebel battleship Espana. Fishing boats rescued members of the Espana's crew. An official account of the sinking of the Espana states that a loyalist squadron went out to assist a merchantman of unknown nationality which made a wireless; appeal for help when it was stopped by the.insurgents. Another account says that the Espana was summoned, by the insurgent destroyer Velasco, which fired twelve shots, at a British vessel, the name of which is at present unknown, when the ship was attempting to enter Santander. Several squadrons of Government aeroplanes calfcd up by the Santander authorities dropped powerful bombs, one hitting the Espana's stern, which immediately submerged. The battleship sank in half an hour.. ■:■■..'■• It is believed that the Espana's personnel included German and Italian officers and gunners. : . •The merchantman, after the sinking of the Espana, returned to Santander. MAGAZINE PENETRATED. A message from Santander states that the bomb penetrated the Espana's magazine, the successful bombing plane being one of Santahder's new air; fleet. The British freighter on which the Velasco was firing, was the Knitsley (formerly the Thornhope), which was homeward bound with minerals, but

the Velasco and the Espana also threatened other merchantmen. The Velasco escaped, to sea after rescuing the 'offi'cers'of the Espana. ! ' .''"'-\"-

The Espana was formerly the Alfonso XIII, 'and : was. renamed after the; revolution. She was : one of the largest vessels in the Spanish fleet, a sister ship to the Jaime I, of 15,000 tons displacement, 459 ft long, <-,and 78ft beam, with a' draught of., 25Jf t, engines cap-, able iof 19.5 knots, "and armed ■■'.with! eight 12in., twenty 4in, and five lighter guns. She. was completed in 1916. She disappeared from "Brassey" some years ago and apparently-was laid up at the time of - the .outbreak- of: the rebellion.

a rebel steamer off Gibraltar with :a, cargo of a hundred aero engines and 40,000 rounds of ammunition.

It is also reported from Madrid that in a bombardment today three. persons were killed, and 25 wounded.