GRAVELY IMPAIRED

Evening Star, Issue 23552, 16 April 1940, Page 7

GRAVELY IMPAIRED

GERMANY’S NAVAL STRENGTH FAIR ESTIMATE OF LOSSES TO DATE MANY TtAHSPUrrS AND SUPPLY SHIPS SUNK . (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, April IS. (Received April 16, at 11.30 a.m.)' Now that more detailed reports are available of the naval action. in Norwegian waters it is possible to give a fair estimate of what of the German fleet as it existed at the beginning of the war is now left capable of action. Authoritative London, naval circles express the opinion that the effective strength of the Ger- • ' man fleet consists of one battle cruiser, possibly one pocket battleship, one light cruiser, 11 destroyres, and half the number of Üboats. ■ Of her two battle cruisers, 1 the Gueisenau has been claimed .as sunk by the Norwegians and the Schamhorst seriously damaged by tbe Renown. With the Graf Spee scuttled and the Admiral Scheer torpedoed there is only the Deutschland left of tho pocket battleships, and she has suddenly her come the Lutzon, leaving her former name to be given to one of the new. battleships recently launched. At the time of the announcement tho German practice' of handing on the names of sunken ships to new vessel* was recalled. Of the two heavy cruisers, one later announced by the German command at the Blucher has been' sunk, but it is . thought that this announcement was probably made to cover the loss of the, Gneisenau and the Blucher, or the other Hipper class vessel: which has been sunk as well. One light, cruiser; was sunk- by the Ursula in December, and one hit by a torpedo from tho Salmon in the same month in circumstances which raise a strong presumption that she sank. One was sunk by a submarine on April '9, one hit. by one bomb off Bergen on April 9, the Karlsruhe sunk on April 10, : and one hit by three bombs on April 10, leaving probably one of this typo still serviceable. ■ Germany had 22 destroyers, of which 11 have been definitely sunk, with the , strong (probability of two or three more. In the week April 8 to 14 19 German transport and supply ships -.were de-stroyed,-and one-of 8,514 tons and three trawlers were captured. Other transports have been bombed, and at least two convoys torpedoed, but the precise, details as yet are lacking. It is probable that certain Nazi ships which were building at the beginning of the war are now in commission, but such naval strength as Germany had ia gravely impaired. BRITISH LOSSES. The British • losses , since the new phase- of the war began have already been announced. They consist of four destroyers-; only, one of which, the Gurkha,- was sunk by bombing The- battleship Rodney. was hit by a bomb, • sustained no substantial , damage, . and. remained at her station. ITAUAN NAVY MANCUVKS IN MEDTTERRANtAN ROME, April 15. Several'weeks earlier than usual, the Italian naval manoeuvres have begun, including exercises for cutting, off th* Adriatic. It has been authoritatively denied that the manoeuvres include exercises in connection with Tunisia, but it was stated that they would cover, a larger area of the Mediterranean - than 1 expected. Later it was explained that the manoeuvres are not provocative, but: merely part of Italy’s preparedness... LOST DESTROYER HANDY'S CASUALTY LIST LONDON, April 15. A communique issued by the ,Admire alty states that only 16 men out of 175 on board the Hardy lost their livet when she was damaged and ran ashore - at Narvik. Two others are missing and nine were seriously injured. Among the killed was Captain Warburton Lee, on whose initiative the original attack was launched.