BRITISH NAVY DEFIES NAZI AIR POWER

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 95, 22 April 1940, Page 8

BRITISH NAVY DEFIES NAZI AIR POWER

Revealing Figijres From Recent Battle (British Official 'Wireless.) RUGBY, April 19. Evidence concerning the controversial question of the efficiency oi air attacks on warships has been forthcoming from the recent activity. Trom April 8 to April 16, one German cruiser, two German destroyers, one British battleship, and one British cruiser were hit by bombs, and two British cruisers also were very slightly damaged by flying bomb splinters, but they were not hit. Altogether, air attack sank two and hit five vessels, while other forms of attack sank 14 and hit 11. The battleship Rodney suffered ver) light damage from a very heavy bomb The eirplosion did not affect the vessel in any way except for injury to fou: officers and three men. It is also interesting to note that, in the air attack in which a British cruisei was damaged, 115 bombs were dropped Whereas the German air arm sank only one British destroyer, Biidsh warships sank one German cruder and eight German destroyers. Naval circles in London say that these figures merit special attention in view of the heavy destruction wrought on the German Fleet in the past ten days ard the consequent increasing reliance by Germany on her air arm. The figures provide an answer to Nazi attempts to suggest that the German Air Force holds mastery over the British Navy, whose losses the Nazis greatly exaggerate. They have even falsified Admiral Stark’s report to the Naval Affairs Committee of the United States House of Reprssentatives. He was alleged to have said: “The latest encounters between / ft’ied warships and German oombers clearly show that German bombers are more effective than warships.” The New York Times, however, reports the admiral’s remarks thus: "Air pow°r has not seriously affected British control of the sea lanes of the world. After seven months of a war in which the immediate major objective has been the reduction of British sea strength, relatively small damage has been done oy air attack from German advance bases located 480 to 560 miles from the British fleet bases. It is the British preponderance in naval power that has gained control of sea-borne trade and denied this to Germany.”