RETURN OF "AJAX”

Grey River Argus, 21 March 1940, Page 3

RETURN OF "AJAX”

Welcome at Plymouth > STORY OF GRAF SPEE BAIILt. LONDON, February 2. Plymouth, the port to which Francis Drake returned 400 years ago after sailing round the world, watched H.M.S. Ajax dock this wee* on her return from South America after beating, with the Exeter and Achilles, the German pocket battleship, Graf Spec. Chqering spectators entirely drowned the notes of the band playing on the quarterdeck in a great welcome. The absence of her mainmast, which was shot away by a shell from the Graf Spce, was the only perceptible sign that the Ajax had been in battle. Otherwise, she looked spick and span. The cruiser had steamed up the Channel during the night and dropped anchor at 5 a.m. about two miles from shore and just inside the breakwater.

Early risers who looked from the promenade windows did not know that the ship with the damaged mainmast was the Ajax until Admiral Sir Martin Dunbar-Nasmith, V.C., issued this message:— “H.M.S. Ajax has arrived at Plymouth on return from her glorious action against the Graf Spee. She will be proceeding up harbour at 9.30. The Commander-in-Chief feels sure that the people of Plymouth will be pleased to welcome her.” The people ol Plymouth were eager. Women rushed out to wave and cheer. School children were halted in their morning’s work. They packed away their books and with their teachers marched to the Hoe. In the grey light of morning, thousands saw the cruiser. Her crew, in their white caps, lined the decks. They responded to the cheers of the crowd. Most of the crew, home after two years, were allowed ashore for the rest of the day, and they told some vivid stories of their battle with the Graf Spee. Soon after the Ajax had berthed alongside the dockyard wharf the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Approaches, Admiral Sir Martin Dunbar-Nasmith, went on board to welcome home the ship’s company, and he was followed by the Deputy, Lord Mayor of Plymouth.

OFFICER ON THE ACTION. Describing the battle with the Graf Spee, an officer said that before the action it was not definitely known that the Graf Spee was in those waters, but it had been calculated that if she was heading for South America she would be somewhere in their proximity about 150 miles from the coast just about that time. The calculations proved remarkably accurate, and she was sighted about 6 o’clock on the morning of December 13.

“It has been stated,” he said, “that at the time we were escorting the French liner, Formose, but that was not so. Tne first we knew about that was when we read about it afterwards.

I “The Exeter was about one and aIhalf miles away from us at the. time, ! and the Achilles was also within , close range. We thought at the I time that the Graf Spee probably • first spotted the top of the tall masts ! of the Exeter and assumed that there was only one cruiser to tackle. “She soon found, however, that there were three of us, and she opened lire simultaneously on the Exeter and ourselves. But within a few minutes she began to concentrate her main armament of 11-inch guns on the Exeter, and with these her firing at first was extremely accurate. Meanwhile, she turned her secondary armament of four 5.9 guns on us, but with those she was not so accurate. Occasionally;, she turned on us with salvoes from the heavy guns, but generally she reserved these for the Exeter and it was a regular' dog fight. “The Exeter dropped out of the action after 50 minutes, and it was not for another 31 minutes that the action was broken off. All the time the Graf Spee, which was using a smoke screen continuously, was trying to get away, but we were a little faster and gradually closed the distance between us. As soon as the Exeter dropped out of the action the Graf Spee concentrated on us, but with the Achilles we closed in at break-neck speed at a range of 9,000 yards. We fired four torpedoes, and the Exeter had previously fired six. The Graf Spee also fired four at us, but all 14 missed their mark. As soon as the Graf Spee saw our torpedoes she altered course 150 degrees and that was the beginning of the chase. “We continued to shadow her all day untilf she ran in Montevideo at 10 o’clock at night. During the action our one aircraft did some valuable spotting work, but she did not attack the Admiral Graf Spee; she is in fact only a spotting machine. Once she went near the Admiral- ■ Graf Spee and got some shapnel through her wing, but she still carried on with her job.”

ALL EYE-WASH. The officer went on to explain that while they were waiting outside Montevideo, they were told the Admiral Graf Spee was preparing to leave, and the members of the crew of the Ajax seemed desperately keen to have another crack at her. They were also told that the Admiral Graf Spee was transferring some of her crew to the tanker, Tacoma, but, he added, “WeThought that was all eyewash at the time.”

During the action the Ajax had one gun turret out of action and eight ratings were killed, 20 others being wounded, but only two of the wounded have had to be left behind in South America.

An 11-inch shell entered the ship on the port side, passed through the secretary’s cabin, through the captain’s cabin, through ■- the bulkhead and one of the barbettes, and finished up in the Admiral’s cabin, where it exploded. The trail of damage was severe, j and the splinters of metal and wood, which it tore from the ship in its career, caused great havoc.. It was this shell which caused the casualties and put two gun turrets out of action. Yet curiously enough, though this shell passed almost through the ship within a few yards of the wardroom • not a glass or bottle there was broken.

Able Seafhan Lancelot J’acques, aged 19. one of the youngest of the Ajax company, said that when they

knew they were up against the Admiral Graf Spee “we didn’t bother at all,” and, he added, that during a lull in the action two members of his gun’s crew played mouthorgans. Another' seaman, who was wounder in the leg, also said that while he was standing by an anti-aircraft gun which did not need to go into action the members of his crew sang “Roll Out the Barrel” and other popular songs, while the shells dropped in the sea around them.