GERMAN DEFEAT

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 4, 29 September 1939, Page 10

GERMAN DEFEAT

Air Attack On British Battle Fleet

NORTH SEA ACTION

Victory For A.A. Guns

I By

S.D.W.)

What can be described as the second round of aircraft attack on warships in the present struggle took place in the North Sea on Wednesday and ended decisively in favour of the latter. Briefly, a flight of 20 German aircraft attacked a British fleet in the central part of the North Sea. No ship was hit and there were no casualties. One German flying-boat was shot down and another was damaged, while a third was captured with its crew after making a forced landing.

The result of this engagement at sea presents a marked contrast to that of the daring and successful raid on German naval bases and anchorages carried out during the first week of hostilities by Royal Air Force bombers. They attacked in bad weather and flying low over battleships at anchor secured a number of direct bits which must have caused considerable damage. The enemy opened a heavy lire from his anti-aircraft guns which caused a number of casualties among the British aircraft. Complete Failure of Attack. We are not told under what weather conditions the German attack on the British Fleet was made, but the visibility must have been fairly good to enable the enemy to locate the fleet which would be steaming at. a fair speed and, possibly, zigzagging to avoid submarine attack. Probably the German aircraft were at a considerable height wjien they made their attack. As against this it must be. admitted that the British flyers in their attacks on Wilhelmshaven. Brunsbuttel and Kiel, had “sitting” targets for their bombs. Nevertheless, it is plain that the first attack by German aircraft on British warships was a complete failure and tends to confirm the belief that moving vessels, well-armed, are not as vulnerable to this form of attack as has been claimed, Aircraft Bombs v. Sltip. Speaking iu the House of Commons barely six mouths ago, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty claimed that "Britain’s modern warships could produce a volume of defensive fire of such a nature as would drive aircraft to such a height that the accuracy of their bomb-dropping appliances would, be seriously impaired. The policy of the Admiralty had been to concentrate in our ships the most modern anti-air-craft guns possible. In addition to the increase in the number of such antiaircraft guns by 75 per cent., lowangle guns were rapidly being adapted for high-angle work. More accurate systems of fire control were being adopted; special staff working at high pressure were employed solely on research and development Of better methods of control an'd direction of anti-aircraft guns of all calibres. The whole science of long-range anti-air-craft gunnery was being transformed. The idea widely held that an aircraft has only to drop a large bomb on a modern battleship and the ship will sink is an exploded one. The volume of fire created by the anti-aircraft guns of a modern battleship or cruiser creates a region into which an aeroplane cannot enter without a high probability of its destruction. The warship designer assumes that a pilot disregards the terrific storm of shot an'd shell and that he continues to estimate the movement of the ship, bis own movement and the distance from the-objective. Protection Against Bombs. Tlie point at which an aircraft at 10,000 feet releases its bomb is perhaps two miles away. That point is known not only to the airman, but also to the gunners of the ship. From 10.000 feet the bomb takes half a minute to fall and the target ship may be altering course. Tlie ship designer assumes that, in spite of all difficulties, one or more hits will be made on the vessel. Against these he must provide. It is known from many experiments what thickness of horizontal armour is necessary to keep out a modern heavy bomb dropped from the greatest height possible, and a margin is allowed for advances in bombing technique. The gun remains always the weapon of precision against a ship and is an easy winner in capacity for damage. Protection against plunging fire is the designers primary consideration. And protection against plunging fire is also protection against aerial attack.

In a long range action shells in their flight reach an elevation which exceeds the ceiling of a loaded bombing aircraft. From that great altitude the shell starts to descend, but while a bomb will hit a ship with the velocity imparted to it by gravity, and for practical purposes only with such velocity, a shell has in addition the remaining force from the velocity imparted from the gun which fires it. It hits the deck with several times the energy or smashing power of the bomb. If the designer affords protection against plunging shell fire, ho Ims afforded sufficient protection against the bomb. Air Power and Sea Power. In his “Sea Power in the Modern World.” Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond puts the whole matter very concisely in saying that “what has happened as the result of the discovery of flight is not that air power lias displaced sea power, but that an important new instrument of sea power has come into being which will modify tlie conduct of the operations at sea as the steamship in her time, and the surface and submarine torpedo-boats in theirs, modified it.”

It is clear from the cable messages Unit the German air attack was made on the Homo Fleet, which is commanded by Admiral Sir Charles Forbes, K.C.8.. D. 5.0., flying his flag in 11.M.5. Nelson. The exact present compositiou of the fleet is not known publicly, but in June it included five battleships, two battle-cruisers, two aircraft carriers, the Second Cruiser Squadron, comprising five of tlie latest light cruisers and three flotillas of new destroyers. All the ships carry powerful anti-aircraft batteries capable of producing a terrific volume of fire.