CHASE AND ACTION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 146, 2 April 1941, Page 5

CHASE AND ACTION

INCIDENTS IN THE BATTLE.

ENEMY DECOYED INTO ACTION. “NOT TIME TO FIRE A SHOT.” United Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, April 1.

Evidence is accumulating that- the 35,000-ton Italian battleship of the Littorio class which was torpedoed by British aircraft in the great battle in the lonian Sea may have gone to the bottom. There are still grounds for believing that the Italian ship was the Vittoria Veneto.

Messages from Alexandria sav that reports from tho Barham, one of the British battleships in the action, suggest that the Italian vessel probably sank before she reached port. Aeroplanes on reconnaissance on Saturday saw about 700 .men on. rafts or in the water and it is believed that they may have formed part of the crew. The attacks on the battleship reduced her speed from 30 knots to 15 knots, and it is pointed out that tho aircraft would have searched far and wide to find her. That they did not find her suggests that she may have sunk overnight. Fuller details of the main action, which lasted for nearly 12 hours and extended over 200 miles, show that the three cruisers Pola, Fiume, and Zara were smashed , into helplessness in a. few sccondsS under the 15-incli broadsides of H. M S. Wnrspite, a. veteran of Jutland and .famous in this Avar for her exploits in tho second battlo of Narvik fiord.

Among the prisoners at Alexandria is Captain Despisi, chief gunnery office! of the Pola . He declared: “We did not have time to fire a shot. Tho first broadside sank tAA’o cruisers and the second broadside a third cruiser.”

An outstanding part in bringing the Italians to battle Avas played by the cruiser Orion, a sister ship to tho Achilles and Ajax, famed for their action Avith the Admiral Graf Spec. With the British battle fleet 120 miles aAvay, the Orion lured the Italian ships 70 miles to tho east while the British fleet steamed at full speed towards them.

It is estimated that 3000 Italians perished in the action.

Long-Range Shelling. The success of the British fleet is one. of the most astonishing naA’nl A r ietories m history. On Friday, air units of the fleet made , contact Avith the enemy in the lonian Sea," and for the first time in naval history- aircraft played a decisive part in bringing faster enemy vessels to action and destruction. The action is described in an Admiralty Communique, Avhich adds that the battle was the first night action involving capital ships since tho Battle of Jutland.

The cruiser Orion, commanded by Vice-Admiral H. D. F. PridhamWippell, first sighted the Italian fleet early in the morning at a distance 6f about 15 miles. Admiral PridhamWippoll immediately notified the battle fleet and spent the remainder of the morning flirting with the Italian ships. He enticed them about 70 miles to the east, while the British battle fleet, which was 120 miles away, steamed at full speed to the west'. While the Orion was jockeying the Italian fleet into position she spent many anxious hours dodging longdistance shelling from the battleship and also the Italian cruisers, which were firing at a range of about 16 miles.

Admiral Pridham-Wippell stated that the firing of the Italian battleship was exceptionally good, but tho cruisers’ aim was mediocre. A number of 15inch shells fell near Orion, hut did not scratch her paint.

Fleet Air Arm aeroplanes first attacked "the Littorio class battleship at noon and the- battleship' immediately turned for home. Eye-witnesses describe the aeroplanes’ attack as one of. the most daring actions ever attempted, In spite of tons of shells hurling into the air from the ships, the aeroplanes swooped to within 200 yards of their targets in order to release their “fish” at less than 10 feet above the water.

, When the enemy retired, the object of the British light forces was to endeavour to cut off the damaged Littorio class battleship, which was then reported to be about 30 miles away heading' toward Italy, listing and badly down astern.

Circling Move Fails. The British forces carried out A circling movement at full speed designed to place them ahead of the battleship, even though the latter was much heavier and had superior armament. But this move failed. It was then found that the Finnic and tho Zara, which wore previously accompanying tho damaged battleship, had returned in order to help the stricken Pola.

Their move indicated that they either did not realise the full strength of the distant British battle. fleet or else they hoped to create a diversion to enable the battleship to escape. The British cruiser force was still searching for tho battleship when the oncoming British battle fleet blasted the Flume and the Zara,

Led by the 30,00 G-ton battleship Warspite, with her sister ships Barham and Valiant, the British force came to action soon after 9 p.m.

In the darkness ships were made out to starboard, and in the flashing searchlight of a British .destroyer one of tho 10,000-ton Italian cruisers was picked up. She was the Fiume. In an instant the 15in guns of the Warspite crashed into action.' Sheets of flame spread over the Fiume from her forward funnel 1)o the after turret.

The Zara stood revealed in the glare of the fire, and tho Warspite polished

her off with a broadside. Another broadside accounted for the Pola. The Barham and Valiant also opened fire, and the Italian vessel was soon, a shambles. y Tlius, in a few seconds, the Brifrsh battleships accounted for three of the Italian vessels. The British destroyer flotilla, led by the Jervis, returned to the spot where the Finnic and the Zara,were blazing and found between 700 and 800 men in the sea. They picked up some, hut were unable to continue the rescue because other Italian ships were nearby and the Pola was still unaccounted for. The Jervis then noticed that the Pola’s guns were facing fore and aft and her flag was still flying, but suddenly a large white sheet appeared on the quarter-deck rail’ and the crew drawn up oh the quarter-deck, apparently readv to surrender. The Pola’s private papers and books, it was soon, wore being burnt under the after turret. ■ A gangplank was flung between the

quarter-deck of the Pola and the Jervis and the captain, and 21 officers and 236 ratings walked aboard the Jervis, which sheered off and sank the Pola with a torpedo. While the Pola was surrendering other British destroyers circled round picking up survivors. As the sound of gunfire died away, Italian destroyers were observed to be preparing for. a torpedo attack. The battleships at once opened fire. Bancte Nere’s Fate. Other units located tho remaining Italian ships, one of which, was believed to be tho cruiser Giovanni dello Bande Ncre (5069)t0n5). She was accompanied by a third destroyer. These vessels were lost sight of, and it is thought likely that they, too, went to the bottom. .

The survivors included an official naval artist, who said that he . had already prepared a picture of the sinking of tho British ships, but tore it up when he realised that the Italians were about to sink instead.

The Athens correspondent of the “Daily Mail” states that messages are pouring in from Greek islands describing bow survivors of Italian warships are getting ashore, some- landing on lonely beaches in open boats, others being washed, up in the last stages of exhaustion, desperately clinging to lifeboats..

Bodies, clothing, stores, and wreckage are being washed up on the rocky coasts.

Three lorry loads of bedraggled prisoners were driven through the streets of Piraeus ’To a prison camp. The admiral in command of the Italian eight-inch cruiser,. sqliadron, Admiral Cantoni, is believed to have lost his life.