ATTACK ON LINER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20437, 23 December 1940, Page 11

ATTACK ON LINER

DORNIER DRIVEN OFF SEVERAL BOMBS HIT SHIP A graphic description of an attack by a Dornier bomber on a British liner as it was nearing England is given by a member of the ship’s en-gine-room staff. After a prolonged action during which the ship was hit several times and one man killed, the raider was partially /disabled and driven off.

The alarm was given at about 10.30 a.m., and the crew rushed to action stations amid the screaming of klaxons. “Just as I rushed up on deck,” states the seaman, “five bombs fell in the water about 30 yards astern. The ship was zig-zagging at full speed. It was probably due to these tactics that we were not hit a great deal mor(j.

“One 2501 b. bomb fell dead into the bowels of the ship, but failed to detonate,” he continues. “Soon afterward one of our A.B. gunners was mortally wounded. In order to fetch a stretcher squad I had to run along the deck which was peppered with machine-gun bullets from the Dornier, which repeatedly dived on us. I passed the chief engineer, who was standing by the bridge shooting at the aeroplane with a rifle.

“A 2501 b bomb hit lis on the bows, damaging the plates, but failing to detonate. It appeared to bo of Czechoslovakian manufacture and was filled with a wax-like material and rock. Just as the Dornier flew overhead just after releasing this dud, our chief engineer got it with his rifle and our gun followed up. It wobbled badly, and was unable to regain height. Remaining close to the waves, it flew off. “The next day we reached our port in England, having lost the one man.”