NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 52, 29 August 1940, Page 12

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

ENEMY AEROPLANES

THE BAG OF THE NAVY

DEADLY GUNFIRE

One of the features of the recent news of air righting has been the steadily-mounting bag . made by the British anti-aircraft i guns. Guns have been regarded as having their chief value for their deterrent effect and for upsetting the aim of the attacker, but the anti-aircraft batteries of Britain also have been proving more and more a positive danger; to raiders. Great Striking Power. Nor is this threat confined to th« land batteries. The statement 'just made that the Fleet has shot down* known total of 150 enemy planes, of which 122 fell to the anti-aircraft guns, is a reminder of the tremendous striking power of the "modern naval battery. It. is quite probable that-the concentration of this fire was one' of I the elements which resulted in the defeat of the German air force- in the Battle of Dunkirk. ■ A few weeks ago the Navy'gave proof of the effect of this concentrated fire by destroying 20 Italian' aircraft in one day. This news was first given in a naval communique issued in Cairo concerning the action against the Italian .fleet off Calabria, and it was stated that, five en#my .bombers were destroyed by fighters of the Fleet Air Arm, and at least 15 more wera shot down by the gunners of the ships. Theories Changed. - This fact has had the effect of reversing previously-held theories about the vulnerability of ships to air attack. Small ships can.be sunk by bombing attacks and destroyers nave been lost when they were the targets of a handful of machines,- but the bigger vessels have proved tougher. When several of them are together the defence which they can present is equivalent to that of a strongly-held point on land. ~ : In the early weeks of the war there were quite a number of air attacks against the British Fleet in the North Sea, and they did not result in either damage or casualties. The only result of these attacks was the German fairystory concerning the way British, battleships had been crippled and sunk. One of the imaginary losses inflicted was that of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal. Yet when a direct hit was scored by a heavy bomb, and on a not particularly new ship—the Rodney—• the deck armour was not penetrated. Italian Attacks. On July 9\ the'ltalians made eight attacks on our Fleet in the eastern Mediterranean and they totally failed, though one bomber was shot down. Two days later a still fiercer attackwas made on a British squadron,in the Western Mediterranean and the. Italians lost four aircraft, while, seven more were so badly damaged that it is improbable that they were able'to, get back, to their base. To disguise the thrashing which they received the Italians have resorted to lies quite as outrageous as those of Dr. ■ Goebbels ; and have reported scoring hits.on the Ark Royal and the Hood. As a matter of fact there were no hits and no casualties were caused by the raids, even by those bombs which exploded ; near the ships. The necessity of providing a great volume Of fire to repulse such attacks. has long been realised. One of the first indications of the new trend m. ■ naval design was the installation in the Nelson and the Rodney, then-our most powerful battleships,.of six 4.7 in guns of a novel type. Since then other battleships and cruisers have had their armaments augmented by the new 4in high-angle guns which the. Navy favours for use against aircraft, the minimum number installed on large ships being eight. More Powerful Gun. In the reconstructed battle-cruise? Renown, and in the latest British air-craft-carriers, as \vell as in some depot ships, there is a newer and ; more powerful gun of a 4.5 in. calibre; In addition, to deal with dive bombers and torpedo-carrying planes, the Navy has developed the multiple-barrelled pompom, pictures of which are familiar to most people, and which is one of the deadliest close-range weapons yet devised. The gun has eight barrels, and fires 21b shells in such a fashion as to cover a wide arc of fire. The rate of fire is rapid, but is still kept secret by the Admiralty. All battleships, cruisers, and aircraftcarriers, as well as the anti-aircraft cruisers of which the Fleet possesses a number, and .many escort ships mount these guns,' which are known to the Navy as "Chicago pianos." Effect on Airmen. The effect of the fire of these power- • ful weapons on attacking airmen may readily be imagined. Even the coolest of men becomes flustered when heavy shells are exploding all about him; and if nothing else his aim is impaired. Even if the pilot remains calm the machine may easily be affected by shell-bursts which fail to damage it materially. In countering air attacks from the; ground there remains one. probletnt .to be met: the mass employment of the, dive bomber. It has been found that guns with a still more rapid rate of |fire are needed, and it has been revealed that experiments with these have been in progress in Britain for some time past. When this last need has been filled ground defences, will be about as formidable as they can be made. . Bomber v. Battleship. Consideration of the effect of air attacks on the Fleet has often been deflected by the debate as to whether or not aircraft can destroy battleships. The test of the relative value of thei two arms is not to be found here. It is to be found in the question whether or not air power can limit - the power of operation of the battleship. Up to now, it seems established, the aeroplane has been able to do. this thoroughly in only one instance—in the Norwegian campaign, where the ,at^ tackers had the advantage of shorebases and where the Fleet was insufficiently supported by fighters. In the North Sea, in the Mediterranean and even in the Channel, with German air bases along the whole. length of the stretch of water, the circumstances have been otherwise. With fighter defence present the Fleet has shown so far that it is more than able to defend itself against air" attack, and Jin this the role of the naval guns hai I been of the first importance.