NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 78, 2 April 1941, Page 10

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

THE NIGHT ATTACK

lONIAN SEA BATTLE

HOW THE NAVY FIGHTS

The battle of the lonian Sea included a vivid example of the most terrible form of naval warfare—the "night engagement." : ' Battle at sea in the dark is far more ; deadly arid sudden than in the daylight By day, ships can be seen many miles away. Fire begins at long Vange— eight or ten miles. At this distance, a ship presents, to the eye, a much better target than it is in reality, because projectiles do not travel horizontally. Though the guns may be very accurately trained in direction a hit is only possible if the range is also • accurate, for the steep fall of the shells means that a slight error will make them drop beyond or short of the target. Hence we often read of a salvo "straddling" the enemy: the group of shells has been well placed, and between the extremes of the "overs" and the "shorts" one or two may hit. Opposing squadrons may thus shoot at one another for a long time before any shell. strikes, because range finding, and the subsequent calculations and adjustments, rapid as they are, take time, and a ship which finds the enemy shells uncomfortably close can make movements that run counter to the attacker's calculations. Close Range in the Dark. But at night, ranges are short. Nothing can be done until the enemy ship is sighted, and it must' be sighted in the dark, for any attempt to find it with searchlights is an invitation to attack a good target. An intense lookout is necessary. In expectation of a night encounter, everyone is on the alert. Guns are loaded; torpedo tubes are loaded; searchlights are burning, but obscured by shutters that hold in every gleam; not a light shows on board except dim and ghostly blue lights, visible only a few yards away, illuminating dials. The ships are completely blacked out. There is much noise, from the ship's machinery and the sush of water as she moves, but this cannot be detected from another ship because of her own atmosphere of noise. The Decisive Things. Everything depends, then, upon alertness, coolness, and swift and accursie reaction to emergency. The ship which first sights and recognises the enemy, given anything like equality of power' (or even without it) has virtually won the fight. The first sign of the dark shape which means a possible enemy brings every weapon round to bear upon it, and at the moment that its hostile character is known, the searchlights are opened, the guns, already practically on the target, are swiftly aimed correctly, and a broadside which can hardly miss is fired. The visibility of the enemy ship is improved also by firing star shells, which provide a vivid light over and behind the target and enable the searchlights to be shut off, so helping to conceal the firing ship. At such short ranges—a mile, or two miles at most —accuracy in range-find-ing is of far less importance than at long distances. There are more hits than misses, and the engagement tends to be a matter of minutes rather than of hours, even of seconds rather than minutes. The enemy, unexpectedly blasted by concentrated fire, and perhaps torpedoed within a couple of minutes, may not even be able to reply. And that happened in last week's battle: some of tho Italian ships .did not have time to'fire a single shot. One-Sided Encounter. The above matters help to explain why the night action which was fought by the British ships was so one-sided, and why they escaped scatheless from it. The very fact that the encounter took place at night meant certain destruction for the Italian ships, which were unlucky enough to be trapped by the British Battle Squadron, and the fate of cruisers receiving a broadside from 15in guns maybe imagined. Manila Bay. But the scatheless victory of the British ships also continued a trend in naval warfare which has been apparent quite a number of times before. When warships close, the more powei*ful vessels have an overwhelming advantage, provided that they ara manned by competent and courageous crews. That fact was demonstrated at the Battle of Manila Bay in April, 1898, when Commodore George Dewey engaged the Spanish squadron under Admiral Montojo, totally destroyed the Spanish ships, and inflicted casualties of 167 killed and 214 wounded, whereas the Americans, who had 1748 men in the action, had only 7 wounded. In this fight Admiral Dewey had four protected cruisers, a small protected vessel, a gunboat, and an armed revenue cutter. The Spanish had four cruisers, an old wooden steamer which had to be towed, and three gunboats. The United States cruisers were the Olympia, of 5800 tons, mounting four Binch guns and ten 5-inch guns, the Baltimore, of 4400 tons, with four Binch and six 6-in guns, the Boston, of 3000 tons, with two 8-inch guns and six 6-inch guns, and the Raleigh, of 3200 tons, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Against this fire power the Spaniards could oppose only the cruiser Reina Christina, of 3500 tons, with six 6.2-inch guns, three ships of about 1000 tons, mounting, in all. eight 4.7-inch guns and three 5.9-inch guns, and three 500-ton ships with another half-dozen 4.7-inch weapons. World War Battles. Another grim example of the advantage of superior fire-power was given, this time by the Germans, at the Battle of Coronel. In that fight, on November 1, 1914, the cruiser squadron of RearAdmiral Sir Christopher Cradock was attacked and virtually destroyed by the German vessels under Admiral Graf yon Spec. The British ships consisted of the Good Hope, of 14,000 tons, with two 9.2-inch guns and sixteen 6-inch guns, the Monmouth, of 9800 tons, with fourteen 6-inch guns, the Glasgow, of 4800 tons, with two 6-inch and ten 4inch guns, and the merchant cruiser Otranto. The German squadron was led by the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau of that earlier day, both of 11,400 tons, with eight 8-inch and six 5.9-inch guns, and included the light cruisers Leipzig and Nurnberg, each mounting ten 4.1----inch guns, and the Dresden, which carried twelve 4.1-inch guns. In this encounter the Good Hope and Monmouth were destroyed, the Scharnhorst was hit only twice, and the Gneisenau three times, with little damage. And as a final chapter in the story iuine the retribution to yon Spec's ships—the Battle of Falkland Islands in which the battle cruisers Invincible v :and Inflexible used their 12-inch guns -

to deadly purpose and only the Dresden escaped. In this action, while lighter British ships were hit in their fight with the smaller German craft, the battle-cruisers had only two men killed and two wounded, and the total British casualties were 6 killed and 19 wounded, though one cruiser—the Kent —was hit 36 times.