ACTION IN ATLANTIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 156, 30 December 1940, Page 7

ACTION IN ATLANTIC

RAIDER SURPRISED

ATTEMPTED ATTACK ON CONVOY

ENEMY WARSHIP HIT

SUPPLY VESSEL SUNK

LONDON, December 29,

Units of the Royal Navy have engaged and damaged a powerful German warship in the North Atlantic. The action took place on Christmas morning, when a raider attempted to attack a convoy. One shell was seen to burst amidships of the enemy.

During the action, which was fought at long range with the German warship beating a hurried retreat, a German ship, the Baden, was intercepted. The Baden, which was probably acting as a supply ship for the raider, was set on fire by her crew and had to be sunk by gunfire from a British warship.

The official Admiralty communique states: "On the morning of Christmas Day a powerful enemy surface warship attempted to attack a convoy in the North Atlantic. One ship of the convoy was hit and received slight damage. The enemy retreated at high speed as soon as he realised that the convoy was escorted, but the escorting force immediately gave chase and was able' to engage the enemy at long range. The visibility, which had been variable, decreased rapidly until it was reduced to half a mile. One shell was seen to burst amidships of the enemy, but it is not possible to state the extent of the further damage inflicted by our gunfire. H.M.S. Berwick, one of the escorting force, sustained slight damage and five casualties. She remains at sea as an effective unit of the Fleet. The next-of-kin of casualties have been informed. During the pursuit of the enemy raider the German steamer Baden (8204 tons) was intercepted, but immediately set herself on fire and had to be sunk by one of the British warships. It is considered probable that, the Baden was acting as supply ship to the German raider."

The Berwick is a 10,000-ton cruiser of the Kent class and was completed in 1927. She was in action in November when the Mediterranean Fleet chased Italian warships. She was hit twice during that action but received only superficial damage.

Two vessels bearing the name Baden are listed in Lloyd's, but the scuttled supply ship is presumably an 8204-ton ship belonging to the HamburgAmerika line. The name Baden already has a certain notoriety attached to it, for there was a supply ship of the same name in the 1914-18 war, one of a fleet that abused the neutrality of Latin American States by lying in little-used harbours, from which a

raider short of fuel could summon them to a suitable rendezvous.