FEAT EVALUATED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 91, 14 October 1943, Page 5

FEAT EVALUATED

CRIPPLING OF THE TIRPITZ

LONDON, October 13. Explaining why the crippling of the battleship Tirpitz by midget submarines was one of the greatest strokes of the war, Admiral Sir William James, chief of naval information, broadcasting, said that, first, she was the most powerful battleship in the German fleet and the nucleus of any German squadron going to sea with serious intentions; secondly, she was the pride of the German navy and had been launched in Hitler's presence; and thirdly, if she were loose in the Atlantic she could do more damage to our convoys in one night than U-boats had done in the last three months.

It was to prevent her reaching convoy routes that the Home Fleet had been guarding the exits from the North Sea into the Atlantic daily, said Admiral James. We would have been disappointed, but not surprised, if the attack had failed, as the odds against our men were heavy. The U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Knox, said at a Press conference in Washington that British midget submarines which immobilised the Tirpitz were operated by two-man crews. The attack against the Tirpitz was carried out while he was in England. It was characterised by an amazingly high spirit and daring courage. "It was one of the most difficult things ever attempted," he said.