SHADOWED BY CRUISERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 127, 31 May 1941, Page 9

SHADOWED BY CRUISERS

DIFFICULT TASK

'A MASTERLY PERFORMANCE'

CRec. 12.50 p.m.) RUGBY, May 30

Speaking of the ship manoeuvres which resulted in the destruction of the Bismarck, a naval officer drew special attention to the difficult task and the successful performance by the cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk, which shadowed the Nazi battleship all night on May 25, throughout the following day, and most of that night.

These ships, of course, were much smaller than the Bismarck, and far less heavily armoured or armed, and their duty was to keep her in their sight while taking the fullest advantage of all the tricks of night and weather to keep themselves out of her range of vision and, as far as possible, of her guns. Besides being small game for a battleship, these shadowing craft had to avoid superficial damage, because their chief function was to act as floating wireless platforms, and their transmitters could easily be put out of action.

The difficulties of these fcruisors were increased considerably because of the great variations in visibility. Rain and snowstorms which were continually encountered caused them hurriedly to increase their speed to keep the Bismarck in sight, and they knew all the time that a sudden clearance might expose them to the full force of the battleship's guns.

The fact that they kept track of her all the way down past the Greenland ice-barrier was described by the officer as a "masterly performance." The officer also paid a special tribute to the work of the Fleet Air Arm.—B.O.W.