TORPEDO ATTACK

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 6, 18 October 1941, Page 5

TORPEDO ATTACK

U.S. DESTROYER DAMAGED. ON PATROL NEAR ICELAND. BERLIN SPOKESMAN’S EXCUSE. United Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11.30) WASHINGTON, Oct. 17. The Navy Department announced that the destroyer Kearny was torpedoed this morning while on patrol duty 350 miles south-west of Iceland. There is no indication that there were any casualties and despite damage the destroyer was able to proceed under her own power. The Kearny is one of United States’s newest destroyers, having been completed last year. She is 1630 tons and is commanded 1 by Lieutenant-Com-manded A. L. Davis.

The Kearny was attacked in the same general area as the Greer.

President Roosevelt said that the area in which the Kearny was torpedoed is clearly in the American defence zone. He declined otherwise to discuss the incident and said he would leave that to the Navy Department. A Berlin spokesman, referring to the Kearny, said that a German submarine which was in no position to establish the nationality of the destroyer was attacked by the latter with depth charges, and fired torpedoes in selfdefence. He accused Mr Roosevelt of “attempting to provoke an incident in order to incite the American nation to war against Germany.”