Brazilian Warships Hunt Submarine

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28937, 3 July 1959, Page 11

Brazilian Warships Hunt Submarine

iNJi. Fr«w AMoctation—Copvn«M> J. (Rec. 11 pjn.) RIO DE JANEIRO, July 2. Brazilian warships were officially reported last night to be hunting in the southern Atlantic for an unidentified submarine caught “spying” on Brazilian naval manoeuvres. A statement issued by the Brazilian Presidential Palace said that torpedoes and depth charges had been used by two submarine chasers in attacking the submarine. The position was given as off the coast of the Province of Bahia.

The Palace statement followed a communique issued earlier by the Brazilian Naval Ministry which said that the attack on the submarine was launched when it refused to identify itself. A diplomatic spokesman said it was very unlikely that a friendly submarine would be in these waters. He said there were no United States submarines in the South Atlantic at this time, American Associated Press reported.

Reports of unidentified submarines in American and other world waters have been frequent in the last 12 months. Last month Canadian naval authorities conducted an inquiry into submarine activities reported off British Columbia. At the end of May the Canadian Defence Minister said a Canadian destroyer had hunted an unknown submarine off the east coast of Canada.

Argentine naval officials investigated persistent reports in April, 1958, that periscopes had been seen by Argentine Ashing vessels. A month later President Frondizi said Argentine naval vessels had depth-charged an unknown submarine 700 miles from Buenos Aires.