CRUISER SUNK

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXX, Issue 13669, 17 June 1942, Page 3

CRUISER SUNK

JAPANESE LOSSES MOUNT

Another Telling' Blow By U.S. Bombers Aircraft Carrier Hit ; Action Off Aleutians Loudon, June 1(1. The latest U.S. torpedo bombers have struck another telling blow at Japanese naval forces. This time the action took place off the Aleutian Islands. In this latest attack a Japanese cruiser was sunk and six other vessels were damaged. A direct bit was also scored on an aircraft carrier by a torpedo-carry-ing bomber. The announcement concerning this latest blow against Japanese sea power came from Lt.-General Arnold, Chief of the U.S. Air Force. It is also~stated that the Japanese troops which succeeded in landing on the outer islands of the Aleution group are being subjected to continuous air bombardment. Six heavy attacks have been launched from the air on Japanese forces occupying two small islands in the Aleutians, says the military spokesman at Washington. Hits were scored on cruisers, destroyers and gunboats in Kiska harbour. The attacks are continuing. Opinion is practically unanimous in Washington that the initiative in the Pacific is passing from Japan to the United States. There has been a resurgence of confidence as more accurate estimates of the significance of the Coral Sea and Midway battles confirm some of the more hopeful first conclusions. Admiral Yates Stirling, naval commentator of the United Press, however, is of the opinion that the United States needs more island bases, since these two battles proved that land-based planes are superior to carrier-borne aircraft. Major George Eliot, writing in the Herald-Tribune, says that Japan has lost all her important aircraft-car-riers. He adds: “The enemy has been seriously, if not fatally, handicapped for new naval offensives in the Pacific and the initiative has now passed to the United States.”