VALUABLE SERVICE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 196, 1 June 1945, Page 3

VALUABLE SERVICE

BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET. TRIBUTE BY ADMIRAL NIMITZ LOSSES KEPT TO MINIMUM (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 9.30) NEW YORK, May 31. A warning to Britishers to beware of Axis efforts to drive a wedge between them and their American Fleet mates was given by Admiral Chester Nimitz, when, for the first time in the role of commander-in-chief, he addressed officers and men, standing on the , quarter-deck of the battleship King George V.

Admiral Nimitz, according to the Guam correspondent of the “New York Times,” denounced newspaper stories that the Americans did not want the British in the Pacific as unfounded. He said that the British Fleet had performed valuable service in neutralising the Sakishama group of islands during the Okinawa operation.

“I desire to inform you in the most emphatic terms that the service of the British carrier force was not only very efficiently performed, but it was done in a most valuable service period,” Admiral Nimitz said. “You may remember it was said that be wanted to

carry on the Pacific war as a private war. I assure you that those statements have no foundation. From the very beginning we welcomed your coming, and continue to do so. “It is no violation of security to tell you that when the British ships had to leave the Sakishimas to refuel during the Okinawa invasion, the American carrier forces were spread thin to replace British ships in keeping down Japanese plane activity,” he added. “As a result American losses increased during the period the British ships were absent. “You kept Japanese suicide planes off the necks of our ships. Your services have been most valuable in saving lives and in saving ships,” Admiral Nimitz concluded.