GERMANY’S NAVY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20254, 23 May 1940, Page 3

GERMANY’S NAVY

OPINION ON LOSSES LESS HOPEFUL VIEW * LONDON, May 5. It is unlikely that German naval losses during the campaign in Norway are as heavy as has hitherto been believed. Naval experts who are now assessing the evidence on the reported sinkings, express doubt whether the battleship Gneisenau was sunk, anci also point out that evidence of the sinking of the cruiser Emden is still very flimsy. They emphasise that it would suit the Germans well if Britain believed that the Gneisenau was sunk, and that her sister ship, the Scharnhorst. was extensively damaged in. the battle with H.M.S. Renown, when, perhaps, both are still capable of going into action. One naval authority suggests that the vessel sunk during the attack on Oslo was not the heavy cruiser Blucher (as the Germans stated) nor the Gneisenau (as the Norwegians claimed), but the old former battleship Schleswig-Holstein, which the Nazis had used as a training ship, and which belongs to the class most likely to be employed in the hazardous task of pushing past land fortifications. The same authority believes that the Germans said the vessel sunk was the Blucher, because actually the Blucher was sunk by the submarine Salmon on December 13, but the loss was then not admitted. Germany’s Present Strength The Allied navies are probably now acting on the assumption that Germany still has the following ships ready for action;— l Battleships: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau (26,000 tons), and possibly Bismarck and Tirpitz (35,000 tons), which were launched early in 1939. “Pocket” battleships: Lutzow, formerly named Deutschland (10.000 tons). Heavy cruisers: Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen (10,000 tons). The German fleet also probably includes at least- 15 large destroyers, about ?0 small destroyers, and a very uncertain number of submarines. Even if the German losses are lighter thgn was hoped a wee a ago, the completion of the new British battleships enables the Allies to transfer to the Mediterranean, fleets strong enough to command both the eastern and western basins, and still to keep control of the North Sea. Capital ships and cruisers will not be lacking if Italy enters the war, so much as small ships, to cope with Italy's strong forces ot destroyers, submarines and bombers.