SHIPPING LOSSES IN WAR

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22906, 30 December 1939, Page 9

SHIPPING LOSSES IN WAR

Statement Issued

In Berlin

LONDON COMMENT ON CLAIMS (HUTTED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPTBIOHT.) (Received December 29, 11.15 p.m.) LONDON, December 29. An official statement issued in Berlin says that enemy and neutral merchantmen losses during the war total 279 vessels, of 1.030.000 tons, and that Germany has lost 18 ships totalling 120,000 tons, of which only one was sunk by the enemy. “Since the sinking of the Admiral Graf Spec, numerous contributions towards the cost of another battleship have been received by the High Command from home and abroad,” the statement adds. Replying to the Berlin claims, it is authoritatively stated in London that shipping sinkings to December 27 were: — British: 111 ships, totalling 422.000 ions. French: 12 ships, of 56,000 tons. Polish: 1 ship, of 14,000 tons. Neutral: 81 ships, of 252,000 tons. German; 23 ships, of 139,000 tons. In addition, 20 German ships totalling 89,000 tons have been captured. WORK OF R.A.F. AT SEA CO-OPERATION WITH NAVY PILOTS IMPRESSION OF AIR BATTLE (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.) (Received December 29, 1.55 p.m.) RUGBY, December 28. In a broadcast dealing on “The Navy That Flies,” a “nt.val eye-wit-ness,” recalling how the Fleet Air Arm. was once a branch of the Royal Air Force, to which the Royal Navy contributed three-quarters of the pilots and all observers, said that although administered when ashore by the Royal Air Force, and when afloat by the Navy, the arrangement worked well, because it was founded on unbounded goodwill. In spite of this, the scheme had inherent disadvantages which no amount of goodwil 1 could over pome, and in consequence the Fleet Air Arm became part of the Royal Navy, living for the most part in airfcraft-carriers and in large warships. As the speaker said, there is a good deal of close co-operation in certain parts of the coast between the Royal Air Force and the Navy, as witness the defence of a convoy some weeks ago, when the Navy called on the Royal Air Force, which came out to shoot down seven of 12 attacking Nazi aeroplanes and to drive off the remainder. Not always

does the Fleet Air Arm work from the sea, for the continuous patrol which crosses the North Sea from dawn to dusk is shore based, and it is carried out in conjunction with the Royal Air Force. In the broadcast, the speaker told of a conversation he had had with a midshipman of 20, who is one of the pilots working on this patrol. This young man’ told him, he said, “that the hunt was grand. It was the kill that wasn’t so funny.’' He himself had intercepted a German bombing machine one afternoon, and the g£im game of “touch-last” began in a series of gigantic clouds and valleys. The enemy dived, ■banked, and dodged from one cloud cover to another and the relentless pursuit ■ went on. The midshipman said: “I ripped ahead to a cloud which I thought he would make for, and I waited for him on "the other side. Gosh, that was fun! I got him as he came through at 100 yards range. But then, when you saw the poor devils spinning down nose first through the clouds with smoke pouring from the engine, it wasn’t so good. I hated that part of the business.” “That’s how they feel about it;” the speaker commented. CASUALTIES ON H.M.S. EXETER DEATH OF THREE RATINGS teamsb outiciai, wireless.) RUGBY, December 28. The Admiralty announces the ■ names of three naval ratings of H.M.S. Exeter, who were previously reported wounded, as now having died of wounds received in the action with the Admiral Graf Spee. ... j