U-BOATS SUNK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 159, 6 July 1940, Page 10

U-BOATS SUNK.

ACCURATE BOMBING.

R.A.F. Flying Boats Account For Five.

PATROLS AROUND BRITAIN. British Official Wireless. (Received nnon.) RUGBY, July 5. Several U-boa(.~ were attacked by Coastal Conimantl aircraft during five days last niontii. An Air Ministry bulletin states that the first of these U-boats was sighted in the North Sea early one morning, and alter bonjbs had struck the starboard beam while the submarine was still submerging, two large dark brown oil patches appeared on the water. The aircraft circled overhead for three hours, but nothing more was seen of the U-boat.

On another occasion an Australian crew patrolling in a Sunderland flyingl>oat siw a U-boat a mile away. The Sunderland's captain said: "it was cruising on tire surface, and saw us at about the same time as we spotted it. 1 he U-boat dived, but we were over it While it was still at periscope depth, and we could see it silhouetted beneath the surface. We dropped six bombs close to the port bow, and a mass of oil and bubbles appeared. The bubbles must have been about 2ft across. More bubbles came up a few minutes later, and the oil patches got stronger as we circled round."

The third U-boat was sighted from three miles away, and was bombed while the conning tower was still sft out of the water. The bombs fell directly ahead of the conning tower.

The fourth enemy submarine was attacked two days later, a direct hit on it being scored just as it was breaking surface. The aircraft dived, and two bombs struck the submarine on the port and starboard beam. Two oil patches 15ft in diameter appeared on the surface after two minutes.

In the fifth case bombs began to fall a few seconds after the U-boat submerged. The pilot could still see the periscope. Immediately after the bombs ciashed the submarine alte.te<l course in an effort to dodge, but the pilot saw the manoeuvre in time and his salvo of bombs fell across the U-boat's bows and a few yards ahead.

Claiming, that German submarines recently scored a number of notable successes in fighting off England, the German High Command savs that one U-boat eanlc 34,400 tons of shipping, another- 21,043 tons and another 31,100 tons, including five steamers in convoys states a cable message.

The claim is also made that speedboats, during operations off the southwest of Portland, torpedoed the armed merchantmen Hartlepool and British Cx>rporal and also sank in convoy a tanker and an armed merchantman. A patrol flotilla destroyed anjenemy submarine off the Norwegian coast.

ATTACKS ON U-BOATS. BRITISH BOMBERS' ACTIVITY. LONDON, July 5. CnrL? Btated that Coastal Command planes, including R.A.F. II £ '(I boats,- attacked five U-boats with bombs last month.