SUPREMACY AT SEA

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23003, 24 April 1940, Page 9

SUPREMACY AT SEA

Warship Losses Compared BRITAIN'S STEONG ADVANTAGE (Received April 23, 8 p>m\) RUGBY* April 23, Now that the naVal operations, preliminary to the landing in NOr= way of British and French threes ate concluded, and while Dr. Goefebels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, continues to try to persuade the world that the British Navy has suffered such losses that it has almost ceased to exist, it is ah opportune moment to survey the actual- losses, derived from official announcements, suffered by the British NaVy. One capital ship has been lost out of 15 such ships completed before the war, namely, the Royal Oak. One aircraft-carrier, the Courageous, out of seven has been lost. Not a single cruiser has been lost out of 60 completed at the outbreak of the war. One .armed merchant cruiser, the Rawalpindi, ha* been slihK, Teh destroyers, the Blanche, GlpsV, Duchess (which was in a collision), Grenville, Exmouth, D&rmg, Hunter. Glowworm, Gurkha, and Hardy (beached at Narvik), have been lost. At the outbreak of the War Britain had 185 destroyers Five submarines, the Oxley, Sea Horse, Undine, starfish, and Thistle, have been lost out of .58 at the beginning of the war. The British Navy has thus lost 18 warships, including the Rawalpindi, out of a total of 327 completed on

the outbreak of hostilities—& total loss which would hardly have affected the vast preponderance of the British ever the German navy had the latter Suffered no losses during the eight months Of watt But it had suffered heavy losses, exactly how heavy it is impossible to State with the Same decree Of certainty attaching to the British losses. Of Germany's two battlecrUisers completed at the outbreak Of the war, the Seharnhorßt h&s Hcen damaged in an encounter with the Henown—hergelf damaged durihg the encounter—While the Ghiesenau Was reported■ officially by | the Norwegians to have been sunk ih Oslo fjord. t . . . . - Of her three pocket battleships, the Admiral Graf Spee has been scuttled, and the Admiral Scheer has been hit by more than one torpedo. CrUisef LOsseS At the outbreak of the war Germany had two heavy cruisers and six six-inch gun cruisers. The Karlsruhe has been admitted by the German High Command as sunk, Ih addition, 6he heavy eruiser was hit by. torpedoed in December, as was aiso one six-men gun cruiser. Another slx4neh gun cruiser was sunk by British aircraft at Bergen, and another wag hit by a heavy bomb off Bergen, Germany's remaining six-inch glin cruiser, the Emd'sn, has been officially reported by the Norwegians as suhk, Germany atartea the war with some 4S surface torpedo craft, of which oniv 82 were modern de= stroyers. The German High cqm>i ffldnd stated early In March that two destroyers had been lost. Eight modern German destroyers were destroyed at Narvik, one was hit by a bomb at Trondheim, and another was probably hit in the same raid Germany began the war With about ?0 submarined, of which she has lost, according to unofficial es* tirhates, seme dO,, Of eourge.many have been built since the war began At the same time Germahv has! lost sinee the campaign began against Norwav 26 transports and Supply ships. Ten others have, been hit by torpedoes and probably sunk, one has" been get on fire by air attack, and four German vessels have been captured. _ ' ' n _ .~ r *"'7 , ._ showi enee more that in dealing with countries against which he hag fiO grudge, Herr Hitler is incapable of negotiating or making the least concession. Some hours later the German Minister reeeived a reply that the King could ftot appoint tHe QUis= ! ling government. "Sr, Brauer asked whether this meant ftmt Neirwegiafl resistance against the German invas= iort Would continue, and the Foreign Minister replied: 'Yes, as long as possible,' On the same evening the Government agreed upon a preclam= ation to the Norwegian people, whieh was issued the following morning, and started the organisation of military resistance against the attack," The White Paper records that du?= ing the following days the Government had to move from ■.pla.ee to plaee because it was pursued by German aeroplanes. Everywhere they settled, and particularly on April li, fleree bombardments took piaee in Trysn against King Haakon and the Government, The document eonciudes! "The barbarous warfare the German authorities h&ve thus started has compelled Norwegians temporarily, to eoneeal their residence, but the fight Will be kept up and the Govern* ment has been promised military help from the Allied Western Powers. It feels confident that in the eollaboration of these states it ean save Norway lor the Norwegian people."