SHIP GRAVEYARD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20966, 14 December 1942, Page 3

SHIP GRAVEYARD

SAVO ISLAND WATERS ' JAP. LOSSES DOUBLE U.S. FIVE MAJOR BATTLES (10.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 13. The United Press correspondent on Guadalcanal’, Mr. Charles Arnot, in a delayed despatch,-says that the waters surrounding the volcanic isle of Savo in the Solomons has become the war’s greatest ship graveyard. Japanese warships and transports sent to the bottom outnumber American by two to one. According to the latest official announcements Japan has lost 52 vessels since August 7 and America has lost 27:. Savo Island, with its peaks towering high above sea-level, is known as the tombstone. Five major engagements have been fought around the island under the cover of darkness since the Marines landed on August 7. Each-battle was marked by the fiercest toe-to-toe slugging with big guns and torpedoes : n action at less than 2000 yards. Japan refuses to believe that the Americans have secured a hold on Guadalcanal- and continue to send in warships and transports. The Navy Department announces that the battered cruiser San Francisco which fought and defeated a Japanese battleship in a recent epic engagement, has arrived at San Francisco for repairs. Welcoming ceremonies were broadcast in nationwide hook-ups. The Navy Department announced that navy, marine and coast guard losses in the second half of November, total 546 dead, 660 wounded, and 707 missing. The total since the attack on Pearl Harbour in the navy is 4348 dead, 1434 wounded, and 8473 missing, marines 1114 dead, 1370 wounded, and 1921 missing, coast guards 38 dead, 11 wounded and 129 missing.