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Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 195, 19 July 1941, Page 7

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MORE AXIS SHIPS. SUBMARINE~SUCCESSES. (United Press Association —Copyright) (Rec. 11 a.m.) RUGBY, July 18. An Admiralty communique says our submarines in the Mediterranean have achieved further successes against the enemy’s sea communications.

A supply ship which was being escorted by Italian destroyers and aircraft lias been bit by torpedoes and probably sunk.

A convoy consisting of one schooner, three large caiques, all of which were carrying- German troops, petrol, ammunition, hav been intercepted and all four ships sunk. In addition to this convoy one schooner and two large caiques carrying German troops and military stores have been sunk.

Both schooners and tho five caiques were flying the German flag.—Official Wireless.

“POCKET” DESTROYERS,

SERVICE IN MEDITERRANEAN. LONDON, July 18. British naval forces in the Mediterranean have been strengthened by the arrival of a number of ‘‘pocket” destroyers from England. Equipped with torpedo tubes and depth charges, they will perform a valuable service. The vessels had a stormy passage and the crews, including Canadians and Australians, did not enjoy the experience, especially when the ships heeled over at an angle of 15 degrees.

HAZARDS IN ATLANTIC.

A DAILY DRAMA. RUGBY, July 17. The strategy oi‘ the Battle of the Atlantic, on which the German hopes for victory over Britain are mainly I based, was outlined by Admiral Sir i Lionel Preston in a war commentary I broadcast to-night. “On the Axis side—l say Axis because Mussolini is pushed now and then—there are raider’s, submarines, I bombers, big and small, and mines of | divers makes, all co-ordinated as one | weapon by astute German staff work,’’ ! lie said. “Their policy is destruction. Their object is our ultimate surrender by reducing vital supplies below the minimum. “We meet this attack with expanding offence and defence; ships and air-j craft—more and more of them—-to kill! when and how they can and, at the; same time, shepherd the materials in ] compact form, that is, in convoy. | “Lot me describe a convoy in a pas-j sage, say, from North America to ai western port in the United Kingdom. I Fifty laden ships are assembled fly-1 ing the flags of a dozen different na-j tions and manned by more than a l ' dozen different nationalities. We send:! a commodore in charge or a retired I. Admiral, lie organises them as a! fleet, to steam without lights at night! ( and keep together in gale, fog, or fall-1, ing snow,’ acting on orders that arc;. aimed to cover every conceivable . emergency, | I ENEMY RUSES. 11

“The convoy trails out and forms divisions oil a broad front; this simplifies its manoeuvre. Our protector is a stout man-01-war. Later, against the submarines, it is a case of as many destroyers and corvettes as can be spared, but our most likely enemy in the first part of the journey will be a raider. These arc of two kinds: the big man-of-war and tlio disguised merchantman.

“The merchant ship raiders carry j mines to drop in unexpected spots and I also have an aircraft to seek their vicj tim. The aircraft has been known to | trail a hook over the intended dupo to dismantle her wireless and so silence her tongue. These cunning raiders make false signals to decoy; they fake their navigation lights to blind their movements, they lioist any old ensign, or they use smoke apparatus and pretend they fire cold-burners. “When our convoy lias groped through tho fog, leaving a straggler or two behind (these will be dead mutton if they aro spotted by the enemy), and has bunched into and out of a gale and is now several days out, the submarine area is reached. We may i expect these Frankenstein fish to attack singly, submerged, by day and at night, and one or more may rush in at 17 knots on the surface like a torpedoboat. Now we may also _ expect attack by the big Fokker bo’mbers, who feed the submarines with information of ships’ positions. “Then, from somewhere in Britain, come reports of danger ahead. The positions plotted on tho chart look unpleasant, The guns arc manned and the look-outs doubled. Suddenly guns bark and flames leap upward from a tanker; she has been torpedoed. The glow from the blazing oil lights up a second ship listing heavily. The guns are still firing at a hump oil the water —the conning tower of a submarine. Aleanwhile our escorts are going full out after the quarry and explosions of depth charges can lie heard. “Tho convoy goes on homeward, with bombers and mines still to circumvent. Finally, when we have separated and each ship reaches her particular port, the men who are there ready to unload tho ‘jewels’ we have brought also understand the meaning of the Battle of the Atlantic.”—Official Wireless.