THE JAPANESE CLAIM
ACTION NEAR THE SOLOMONS
(Rec: 2.40 p.m.) NEW YORK, February 1
The Domei news agency broadcast purporting to describe a two-day assault on United States ships, cabled earlier, claims that Japanese scout planes on January 29 located a powerful Allied fleet eastward of Rennell Island <south of the Solomons), steaming north in a rough sea whipped by strong gales. Formidable formations of torpedo planes, it* is asserted, dived through the clouds and beat off an escort of Grumman Wildcat planes. The Japanese commander scored a hit on a battleship, causing a great explosion, and later crashed his burning plane headlong on to the battleship, setting fire to the bridge. The battleship sank after receiving further torpedo hits. Two cruisers are claimed to have been sunk instantly. Two other battleships and a cruiser are said to have been set on fire.
Torpedo planes on January 30 attacked and damaged the battleships, sinking one and set fire to the other^ seriously damaging it. The cruiser sank instantly. Three Grumman Wildcats were brought down. Ten Japanese planes were lost. The U.S. Navy Department declined to comment on Japanese reports of a naval battle in the South Pacific on January 29.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 27, 2 February 1943, Page 3
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200THE JAPANESE CLAIM Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 27, 2 February 1943, Page 3
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