TROOP CARRIERS SHOT DOWN

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23002, 23 April 1940, Page 9

TROOP CARRIERS SHOT DOWN

German Losses In Norway FORCED LANDINGS IN SWEDEN (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received April 22, 8 p.m.) LONDON, April 21. Four German troop-carrier aeroplanes were shot down in the Hamar-Elverum sector. A Swedish fighter shot down in flames a German aeroplane which 'flew over the frontier north of Gothenburg. The crew of.four were interned. Two German aeroplanes made forced landings on Gotland Island. The crews set fire to the machines before they were arrested. Three other German aeroplanes crossed the frontier from Norway. Another German aeroplane came down in Switzerland, and its crew was arrested. TWO NEW FRENCH BATTLESHIPS VESSELS SOON READY FOR SERVICE PARIS, April 21. The Minister ior Marine (Mi Campinchi) stated that the 35,000-ton warships Richelieu and Jean Bart will shortly be ready for service. “We are 10 months ahead of the normal construction time of the Jean Bart,” he said. “The construction of two other 35,000-ton ships is making rapid headway. We will never hand over the smallest part of our Empire. Therefore we must have very strong seapower.” The Jean Bart and the Richelieu are designed to form a homogeneous squadron with the battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg, but are even more heavily armoured. The new ships have a length of 794 feet, a beam of 108 ft Sin, and a mean draught of 26ft 6in, and carry eight 15in guns, four in each of two forward turrets, 15 6in, eight 37mm. anti-aircraft guns, and 10 13mm. a.iti-aircraft guns. Each vessel carries in addition four aircraft, with two catapults for launching them. Their armour plating varies from 9in thick to a belt 16in thick, while the upper and lower decks combined offer the resistance of Sin of armour plate to aerial attack. The armour weighs in all 15,000 tops, as against the 3000 tons of the machinery. This latter comprises six boilers supplying steam to geared turbines that develop 155,000 horse-power, driving the ship at a speed of more than 30 knots. The Richelieu, which was laid down on October 22, 1935, and was scheduled to be completed this year, gives her name to a class of four ships, she being the first to be launched, on Januax'y 17, 1939. The Jean Bart’s keel was laid on January 1, 1937, and she was not scheduled to be commissioned until next year, but apparently work on her has been expedited. Two more sister ships are being built, the Clemenceau, begun on January 17, 1939, and the Gascoyne, begun at the end of last year. They are to be commissioned in 1942 and 1943. Canadians Form Guard—A large crowd outside Buckingham Palace this morning watched the guardchanging ceremony, in which two Canadian regiments took part. The Twenty-second Royal Regiment, which took over the guard of the Palace on Wednesday, was relieved by the Toronto Scottish, of which regiment the Queen is Colonel-in-Chief.—Rugby, April 20,