MORE USEFUL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 94, 20 April 1940, Page 9

MORE USEFUL.

GUNS OF NAVY. » Comparison With Air Force Bombs. ATTACKS ON WARSHIPS. British Official 'Wireless. (RccciTed 2 pjn.) RUGBY, April 19. Evidence eonccrninr the controversial question of the efficiency of air attacks on warships ba.s been forthcoming: from recent activity. From April S to April 1C one German cruiser and two German destroyers, one British battleship and one British cruiser were hit by bombs, and two British cruisers were also -very slightly damaged by flying bomb splinters, but they were not hit. Altogether air attacks sank two ajid hit five vessels, while other forms of attack sank 14 and hit 11. The battleship Rodney suffered very slight daniajre from a very heavy bomb explosion, which did not affect the vessel in any way except for injury to four officers and three men. It is also interesting to note that in an air attack in which a British cruiser was damaged 110 bombs were dropped. Whereas the German air arm sank ;»nly one British destroyer, British warships sank one German cruiser and eight German destroyers. Xaval circles in London say that these figures merit special attention in view of the heavy destruction wrought, on the CJernian Fleet in the past ten days and the consequent increasing reliance by Germany on the air arm. Figures Give Nazis Their Answer. The figures provide the answer •* Nazi attempts to suggest that the German Air Force holds the mastery over the British Navy, whose losses the Xazi» greatly exaggerate. They are even falsified. In Admiral Stark's report to the Xaval Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives he -was allep-?d to have said: "The latest encounters between Allied warships and German bombers clearly show that German bombers, were more effective than warships. 7 '

Thc "New York Times, 1 ' however, reports the Admiral's remarks thus; "Air power has not seriously affected tiie British control of the sea lanes of the world. "After seven months of war, in which the immediate major objective has been the reduction of British sea strength, relatively small damage has been done by air attack from German advance bases located *S0 to »">OO miles from the British Fleet, bases. It is British proponderance in naval power that has gained control of the seaborne trade and denied this to Germany."