Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1940. A RAIDER AT LARGE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 227, 23 August 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1940. A RAIDER AT LARGE.

Early on Tuesday evening the. large cargo steamer Turakina was attacked in the Tasman Sea by an armed raider. The fate of the vessel has not been disclosed by the Government in making its formal announcement of the incident, and it will be hoped that good fortune attended its efforts to escape from an attack which is typical of the Nazi destroy and run methods. Immediately the Government, no doubt in cooperation with the Australian naval authorities, took steps to deal with this armed intruder into the waters that wash these shores, and the “search is continuing'.” Once again the war has been brought to this country. A few weeks ago the liner Niagara became a victim of a minelaying vessel within a few hours of having left Auckland on its run across the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver. The Government acted promptly and very quickly the naval authorities were able to say definitely that the explosion which sank the boat was due to contact with a mine field, one of these instruments of destruction being speedily brought to the surface from trawling operations. The Navy’s efficiency was well proved in this work to preserve shipping around our coasts. It is very disconcerting to discover that another enemy vessel is again in the Tasman Sea. Whence it came and how long it has been away from Germany can only be known when its depredations have been ended. Both the Air Force and the Navy are working to this end. What shipping it has sunk is also unknown, but it may be recalled that a report from Rangoon some days ago mentioned a steamer being several weeks overdue and now presumed lost. Has this raider been operating over a wide area before entering the Tasman Sea? It will also be recalled that a few weeks ago a British auxiliary cruiser in the Atlantic Ocean engaged a German armed raider which only escaped by sending a lucky shot into the British vessel’s engine-room, and thereby deprived it of its customary speed. Since then there has been no word of this raider which no doubt appeared to have a secret fuelling base. Von Luckner’s operations in the Great War as well as the depredations of the Wolf proved the tremendous damage a well directed enterprise of this nature can inflict upon merchant shipping traversing the ocean lanes in places regarded as reasonably safe. Seamen of great skill, commanded by specially chosen officers, usually man these raiding vessels, whose clever disguise is only revealed when they trap and attack their victims. Their hit and run methods make them also difficult to apprehend.