ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENCE

Hawera Star, Volume L, 19 January 1931, Page 5

ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENCE

BRITISH NAVAL DEVELOPMENT

REVIEW OF FLEET EXERCISES LONDON SAFE from attack. (United Press Ass>>uiatU>n—By Electric Telegrapu Copyright.) LONDON, Jan. 17. The “Daily Express” in announcing the result of the recent Atlantic Fleet exercises is of the opinion that the aircraft attacks upon ships at sea were defeated. The anti-aircraft gunnery organised at Whale Island, Portsmouth, was so effective that no highdying aeroplane could in future attack British warships at sea. “The success was primarily due to the mounting of eight-inch guns on the latest cruisers, which can beared effectively at an elevation of 75 to 80 degrees,” states the paper. “The range .gainst aircraft is 27,000 feet, which is than any. bombing, aircraft can possibly fly against battleships. Lie guns put up a curtain of shrapnel through which it was impossible for aeroplanes to penetrate. The barrage also keeps out low-flying aeroplanes carrying torpedoes, a»s "tlie of tlie right-inch guns alone was sufficient to in set low aeroplanes. “It is calculated that if one aeroplane escaped the gunnery barrage 130 aeroplanes would have been sacrificed which is an impossible proportion. “The War 'Office has made similar progress with anti-aircraft defence on land and is now convinced that the danger of aircraft attack on London is negligible.”