NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 14, 17 January 1941, Page 9

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

BOMBS V. SHIPS

THE CHANNEL FIGHT

LOSS OF A CRUISER

Complete reports now available of the fight in the Sicilian Channel between a British naval escort and an enemy air force permit a more exact assessment of the cost of the action. The enemy loss stands, as before, at a destroyer sunk and at least twelve aircraft shot down, but the damage done to the British forces includes damage by mine or\ torpedo to the destroyer Gallant, which reached port, and loss of the cruiser Southampton, which was so seriously on fire that "she could not be towed to port and was sunk. The third damaged ship, the aircraft carrier Illustrious, got into port under her own power. A half-ton bomb exploded below the bridge and covered the deck with debris; the ship was also holed by splinters from bombs which missed narrowly and exploded in the sea. It has been made clear that the attack was a very determined one, carried out by aviators who refused to be deterred by a terrific storm of shellfire as well as the defending aircraft. It is described as the fiercest and most concentrated air attack ever made upon warships, and the suggestion is made that the Germans who took part were specially selected. Dive-bombers as Targets. This fight was a vivid illustration of the extreme difficulty of stopping divebombers with gunfire.. Shooting at an aeroplane which is not diving is very difficult and chancy. By the use of complicated instruments it is possible to make a very good shot at the place where the machine will be when the shell arrives, provided that the airman does not change his course, and if the timing of the fuse is correct, the burst may end the flight. But a diving plane is. a very different thing. A Matter of Luck. A direct hit is possible, .as the plane may' be diving almost along the line of fire; .but it is not to be expected. Failing a direct hit, success depends Upon -bursting a shell close enough to do damage, and that Is obviously most difficult; it is ;quite impossible to do it except by chance, and only a concentrated bombardment with bursts distributed over a large range of possible target positions can be relied upon. A diving pilot who can keep his nerve is pretty safe from a ship's gunfire, until he gets within close range. Then he is under the fire of a hail of bullets from multiple machineguns. But even these may all miss, just as a handful of pebbles thrown at a small object may all miss. The major effect of gunfire from ships is as a deterrent; -and its power in this role obviously depends upon the morale of the attacking aircraft. The stories of the fight do not make "it clear whether the losses inflicted on. the enemy were contributed to. by the ships' guns or only by the aircraft from the Illustrious." • Tributes to Bravery. The graphic account of the battle published today pays full tribute not only to the gallantry of the defence, but to the bravery and determination of the enemy airmen—qualities which are sufficiently rare in such concentrations to make the loss of even a small number a serious matter. Grave fears were rife, before the war, that even battleships could not withstand the effects of heavy bombs, and that "near misses" would be fatal owing to the underwater shock. But so far the faith of the navy experts in the strength of ships has been justified. No large warship has been sunk or even seriously crippled by a "near miss." And even the extremely vulnerable aircraft-carrier has shown that she can take the very heavy punishment represented by a large.bomb exploded pn the deck. The Lost Cruiser. H.M.S. Southampton could not be saved. The actual damage inflicted on her by the attackers is not described, but she was set on fire and the flames got beyond control, so that it was necessary to abandon her. Then attempts to tow her to port failed, and she was sunk. The Southampton, which cost just under £2,000,000, was completed in 1938, and was a ship of 9400 tons, armed with twelve 6-inch, eight 4-inch, and many smaller guns, and had a speed of 32 knots. Mexican Mercury. , The American Government has announced its intention to buy up the Mexican output of mercury, most of which has hitherto been sold to Japan. This action is interpreted as an effort to prevent the metal going to the Axis countries. The ordinary citizen knows little of • mercury" except for the little he sees in a thermometer and the greater quantity which he understands is used in a rarely-seen type of barometer, unless he.has some medical experience, for its compounds are a powerful drug. . But it is a most important war material.

The Mexican output of mercury is relatively small—somewhere about 200 tons a year. Italy, Russia, Austria, and Spain produce between them at least ten times as much, so that the check on Mexican exports will- not threaten the Axis supplies seriously except as regards Japan, and the United States production is .well over 1000 tons a year.

Mercury finds its place in the arsenal because it is used for making caps and detonators for firing explosives. There is a minute quantity, therefore, in every cartridge, and a larger amount in every shell, bomb, mine, and torpedo. The compound, fulminate of mercury, is very simply made, but the substance is not only an extremely sensitive and violent explosive, but highly poisonous: small boys should not be inquisitive.