BELIEVED UNIQUE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 36, 12 February 1940, Page 7

BELIEVED UNIQUE

DESTROYER'S COUP

SINKING OF TWO U-BOATS

EFFECT ON ENEMY

LONDON, February 10,

Yesterday's achievement when two U-boats were sunk by a single destroyer is understood to be unique in naval history.

Commentators observe that the probable effect of this news in conjunction with the destruction last week of the enemy submarine which sank the tanker Vaclite while in convoy will be that U-boat captains will be even more; reluctant to approach merchant vessels under escort.

The British newspapers emphasise the significance of the achievement. The U-boats were lying in wait for a convoy, but the leading ship detected a periscope and signalled to an escorting destroyer, which discovered the two U-boats almost simultaneously and attacked them with depth charges, sending both to the bottom. Competent naval observers believe that the number of German submarines destroyed by the Allied forces since the war began exceeds 40.

It was revealed today that the odds against merchantmen being sunk in convoy are 500 to one. Only 15 of the 7888 ships convoyed by the Allied Navies to the end of January have been sunk. The. total includes 117 neutrals, of which three were lost.

The German wireless today announced that a U-boat has returned home after sinking 38,000 tons of enemy shipping. A postcard to his brother from a survivor of the British submarine Starfish who is a prisoner in Germany says: "We got bumped off in Heligoland Bight, but the crew were saved."