ROYAL OAK DEATH-ROLL

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 October 1939, Page 8

ROYAL OAK DEATH-ROLL

■■—'’•■Sl® CASUALTIES TOTAL 810. [BY CABLE- —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] (Received October 19. 11,30. a.m.) LONDON, October 18. An official statement says that the , Royal Oak carried 81 officers and 1153 , men, of whom 24 officers and <B6 mei , were lost. The Admiralty 7 reveals that Keai Admiral Blagrove died. SUBMARINE CREW. HONOURED BY HITLER (Recd. October 19, 10.30 a - m -) BERLIN, October 18. Herr Hitler received the crew of the submarine which is alleged to have sunk the Royal Oak. Crowds ot woikmen, who were specially released Hom the factories, cheered the crew as they drove in a procession of ten cars to the Chancellery. Herr Hitler presented LieutenantCommander Prien, whose U-boat sank the Roval Oak, with a Knight Cross of the Iron Cross, which is the highest decoration conferrable, on the aimed forces; after which Comman de. Prien reported in detail on hm Sea, Flow experiences. Herr Hitlei thci entertained the commander and crew at lunch in his flat. TORPEDOES AND ARMOUR NAZI SCAREMONGERING A Berlin comment, published on the sinking of the battleship Royal Oak, included the following statement. “There seems to be every indication that the Germans have developed a new type of torpedo, capable of penetrating the heaviest armour plating on a modern warship. The Germans assert that the Royal Oak was provided with special anti-torpedo protective armour, which apparently failed. . This is a piece of scaremongering. A torpedo weighs roughly a ton, travels at a maximum speed of 60 feet a second, and is made of thin steel plate. Twelve-inch armour is designed to stop a half-ton of almost solid steel of the toughest and hardest kind travelling at 2000 feet a second. _

Warships’ armour is never carried more than a few feet below the waterline, owing to its enormous weight, and torpedoes are always set to strike at a greater depth. The whole striking power of a torpedo lies in the force of the explosion of some 200 or 300 pounds of high explosive, though it has been reported that torpedo heads have been constructed of such strength that they can penetrate ordinary ship’s plating. The principal anti-torpedo protection designed during the Great War and extensively applied afterwards is the “blister” or “bulge,” which is a longitudinal watertight compartment built outside the regular hull. In theory, the torpedo was to explode on striking the outer skin of the “bulge’ and waste most of its energy in the enclosed space. Two torpedoes fired at the same spot, however, might have a different final effect.