WAR AT SEA

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 March 1942, Page 5

WAR AT SEA

EMPIRE’S LOST SHIPS LONDON PRESS COMMENTS (Recd. 10.30 a.m.) , LONDON, March 16. The Naval Correspondent of the “Daily Express” says: With the Java losses, the Royal navies, including Australian and Canadian, have now lost 15 cruisers and 67 destroyers, which is three destroyers more than they lost in the whole of the last war. The Allies combined still have a far greater number of warships of all classes. The joint naval commands' problem is to dispose them foi worldwide duties witnout being caught at a severe local disadvantage, us in the Java battle. The Japanese cruisers, although they achieved spectacular successes in the Pacific war, are belived to have paid heavily with eight or nine sunk, and perhaps fifteen damaged. . xn Tne Allied naval losses in the Java Sea battle are felt generally to be a heavy blow to the already-strained resources in material and personnel of the United Nations. The “Daily Telegraph” says: Whatever the exact balance may be, tne long fight was a grievous defeat. From the day we heard of the sinking of the Prince of Wales and tne Repulse, the position of the Arnerican and Dutch squadrons in the East Indies had been precarious. The Queen of the Netherlands, in her. broadcast to the Dutch seamen has shown us the spirit in which tnese losses must be taken, and made good by the reconstruction of Allied naval power in the Pacific. “The Times” says: Each of the United Nations has the loss of good ships and brave men to mourn. In this country, the loss of the Exeter, with her great record in the River Plate battle, will be especially felt. Memory will recall the great reception which the people of London were able to give to her company two years ago, on their return to their home port, wounded but in "oqd heart; but the Exeter’s men and their comrades have not died in vain. They were not able to prevent the overrunning of the fair land of Java, but the toll they have taken, of Japanese ships will count in the reckoning to come one day. They have given the enemy and the world an exemplary proof of the devotion and skill of the Allied navies, and they leave with their own peoples the inspiration of their fighting spirit and of the sacrifice it so freely accepted.

SUBMARINE’S SUCCESS.

LONDON, March 15.

From Australia comes news of an Allied submarine which has reached port there after sinking 65,000 tons of Japanese shipping. The vessel made a 60-day voyage, of 6000 miles, m Indo-China, Philippine, and Malayan waters. Although she was bombed, dive-bombed, and depthcharged, she suffered only minor damage.

MORE JAPANESE LOSSES.

RUGBY, March 16

A United States naval communi- tc que states: In the Far East our sub- m marines sank an enemy freighter d; during the course of extended opera- Ji tions in Japanese waters. A 3000 ton p. enemy gasoline tanker was sunk m b» the Philippine area. These sinkings W are in addition to those reported pre- U viously. b; ir YARRA’S GALLANT FIGHT. PROTECTION OF CONVOY. (Rec. 1.30 p.m.) PERTH, March 17. 0. The Australian sloop Yarra, whose s loss was announced on Saturday, was !»• sunk by Japanese cruisers, while es- P corting a convoy to Australia from si Java. The story of the Yarra s gal- n lant fight was told by a sub-lieutenant o. of the Malayan Royal Naval Volun- n teer Reserve, who was the First Lieu- P tenant of a small motor minesweeper, h which was part of the Yarra’s convoy. The lieutenant was badly sun-burnt. After four days’ floating around, with , 13 other survivors, on Carley floats, he was picked up by a Dutch merchant s] ship, and arrived in Australia. ’ Cl?he convoy of six vessels, escorted p by the Yarra, an Australian mine- ’ sweeper, and a sloop of the Royal In- ‘ dian Navy, left Tanjong Pnok lor Tjilitjap on February 27., A submar- « me attacked early on February 28, but the Australian minesweeper drove it „ off with depth-charges. On the same day, in heavy, prolonged ram two u ships of the convoy separated. Latex, another vessel was detached fox’ Col- x ombo, with the Australian minesweep- « er accompanying her as escort. The ~ remainder of the convoy approached Tjilitjap on March 2 but were in- I structed to go to Australia. The In- - dian sloop was then detached from the r convoy, which now consisted of a z passenger ship, tanker, and motor minesweeper. The convoy proceeded c south, with the Yarra as escort. A submarine attack on the night ol t March 3, failed. The Japanese were 1 sighted in force at dawn on March 4. r The enemy consisted of three eight- \ inch cruisers and two destroyers. Each 1 cruiser carried two aircraft, and eacn r had one aloft during the action. Ihe c odds were such that the British ships I had no chance, but they put up a gal~, I lant fight. The maximum speed of the convoy was 14 knots and that ol the enemy more tnan 30 knots. Against the concentrated broadsides ol eight-inch guns fired at pomtblank range, the convoy could only bring to bear light armament. As soon as the enemy was sighted, the Yarra ordered the convoy to scat- ( ter, and tried to shield the ships by < laying a smokescreen. The motor minesweeper was hit, and after tak . ing scuttling action, the crew aban : doned the snip. Two merchant ships i nnd the Yarra continued hung until 1 they were finally put out of action. ! One of the merchant ships blew up > and the other sank. The 1 after heavy shelling, and aftex ha\ in o i been bombed by Japanese anciatt. ATLANTIC ORDEALS. RUGBY,* March 15. A picture of the terrifying sevei- , ity of the Winter conditions in whicn 1 Atlantic escort vessels have brought convoys safely to Britain, has been ’, given by Mr. H. C. Ferraby, the naval t commentator. . _ , Y “Here is one among many mcredr ible adventures that men have been through in destroyers and other escort vessels in the Atlantic during the awful weather of the last Winter ” he said. “The wind was blowing a moderate gale. Seas were ■ running up to 20 feet high. A destroyer; battling through them, gave 5. a violent roll to port and a huge d wave broke on to the uppei deck d where the gun’s crew were clinging h round theii’ gun. That sea got undei v the heavy metal platform on whicn st the gun stood and bent it upwards n until it pinned one of the men bejf tween the upturned sheet of metal d and the breech of the gun. Heavy d tackle had to be rigged with the ship rolling heavily before the plate could be bent back sufficiently and the mlured man released. That is the sort m of thing that has been happening to i- convoy escorts almost continuously i- since last September. it “In another case, a succession of se unusually large seas, astern swung ’•e a ship about for a minute or two aler most out of control, and in one roll js. she lay over at an angle of 70 dele grees Her starboard propellor was ot actually out of the water, and the re port side of the bridge was under ie- water. The man in the wheelhouse had a fleeting glimpse, as the signal

platform was submerged, of a seaman clinging with both hands to the thin wires of the mast. A surge of water swept his feet from under him and held him out horizontally so that actually during the half-mmute that the ship hung at the end of the roll he was suspended submerged outside th “Agmm in a gale in which driving rain made visibility often less than 1000 yards, an escort vessel found herself with only two merchantmen out of a large convoy. By hard work in heaving seas in which the task of keeping their own ship safe would have been enough for most men, the captain of the escort rounded up eight more merchantmen and got them at last into an area of eight miles, and still battling against a 35mile an hour gale, he shepherded them safely to the dispersal point.

FROZEN TO DEATH.

(Rec. 1.40) NEW YORK, March 16. Twenty-nine survivors from a torpedoed Allied merchantman were landed at an eastern Canadian port by Canadian naval craft, after three days in lifeboats. While in the boats, several members of the crew were frozen to death. Twelve survivors were admitted to hospital suffering from frostbite. An Allied vessel struck a rocity ledge on the Nova Scotia coast, ana was pounded to pieces. The entire crew of over 50 were saved.

JAP. GOODS FOR CHILE?

(Recd. 1.40 p.m.j SANTIAGO (Chile), March 16. Two leading newspapers publish a story saying tnat a certain belligerent nation, whose trade with Chile is now cut off, announced she was ready to resume sending ships here soon under convoy. The articles do not name the country, but obviously meant Japan, since Japanese merchants here have been handing out the same propaganda for the past month. The two newspapers apparently swallowed the story whole. This Japanese propaganda tale recalled Germany’s similar promise, after the fall of France in June 1940, to deliver goods here shortly thereafter, but the goods have not yet arrived.