WAR ON SUBMARINES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 236, 4 September 1945, Page 2

WAR ON SUBMARINES

NEW ZEALAND’S RECORD. (R.N.Z. Navy Official News Service, ■ London.) During the resurgence of U-boat warfare in the concluding months of the European war there were opportunities in plenty for anti-submarine vessels of the Allied navies, both in the Atlantic and in waters around the British Isles. One officer, who particularly distinguished himself in this, was Lieut.-Commander L. P. Bourke, R.N.Z.N.IL, who came to the United Kingdom as gunnery officer in H.M.N.Z.S. Monowai in 1943, and has since been in command of frigates. A share in the sinking of at least 15 U-boats is the impressive record of Lieut.-Commander Bourke in about 18 months’ loan service with the Royal Navy. The “kills” have taken ■place in widely-scattered areas—off the coast of Spain, in the North Sea, in the Channel and at the western approaches. The outstanding feat was the sinking of five out of six U-boats which left a port in Norway during February. Not one of them was able to fire a torpedo at an Allied ship. For his work in anti-submarine patrols Lieut.-Commander Bourke holds the D.S.C. and bar. Another New Zealand officer who served under him in H M.S. Bayntun, Sub-Lieutenant W K. Webster, was awarded the D.S.C. for his part in theso operations. , ~ When the German capitulation came, the group to which Lieut.Commander Bourke’s frigate was attached had the privilege of receiving the surrender of 18 German -U-boats from bases on the coast of Norway.