DIED AT HIS POST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23482, 20 October 1939, Page 9

DIED AT HIS POST

BRITISH DESTROYER CAPTAIN SUBMARINE IN SCAPA FLOW COMMANDER DESCRIBES ADVENTURE By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received October 10, 7.10 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 19 Among those killed during the German air raid on units of the British Fleet in the Firth of Forth on Tuesday was Commander R. F. Jolly, captain of the destroyer Mohawk, which was returning from convoy duty when the raid took place. A bomb bursting on the water near her caused 25 casualties among the men on deck. Commander Jolly, says the Edinburgh correspondent of the Daily Mail, was mortally wounded by machine-gun bullets as he stood on the bridge. He refused to leave his post until he had seen his ship safely moored. A few moments after the the Mohawk had been made fast, Commander Jolly collapsed and died. The German submarine commander who sank the battleship Royal Oak in Scapa Flow last Saturday, Commander Prien (not Doenitz, as reported previously), gave journalists further details of the torpedoing, says the Berlin correspondent of the British United Press. Commander Prien said the warships were easily visible, as the most brilliant Aurora Borealis he had ever seen illuminated the sea. He saw two large ships moored ahead, each showing anchor lights fore and aft. The Royal Oak screened the battlecruiser Repulse except for her bow and the two forward gun turrets, and he aimed torpedoes at the Repulse before attacking the Royal Oak. "We were close to the shore when escaping," he added. "We saw a car stop. The driver got out and studied us, and then drove away at a furious pace." Commander Prien is aged. 31. The Berlin radio to-day announced that Dr. Goebbels is giving each member of Commander Prien's crew a scrapbook containing all the newspaper cuttings dealing with their exploit. Hitler received the crew of the submarine, and to Commander Prien he presented the order of Knight of the Iron Cross, which is the highest decoration he can confer on the armed forces. An announcement by the Admiralty states that the Royal Oak carried 81 officers and 1 153 men, of whom 24 officers and 786 men were lost. The Admiralty reveals that Rear-Admiral H. E. C. Blagrove died.