CONVOY RAID

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24254, 23 March 1940, Page 11

CONVOY RAID

NAZI BOMBERS EXAGGERATED CLAIMS REFUTED BY ADMIRALTY THREE SMALL SHIPS HIT (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Mar. 22. (Received. Mar. 22, at 9 p.m.) The German Official News Agency states that. German planes towards 'nightfall successfully attacked and scattered a British convoy off Scapa Flow guarded by cruisers and destroyers. Several ships were sunk ; or badly, damaged. An. Admiralty .communique states that two, small neutral vessels were slightly damaged in a German raid Ph the ;convoy, but. his Majesty's ships were not damaged. Escorting , warships and naval Coastal Command planes Engaged the enemy. The damaged neutrals were the Svinta (Norwegian, 1267 tons), which was abandoned, the crew being -rescued, and the Utklippan (Swedish, 1599 tons), which was hit by an incendiary bomb. The Tora Elise (Norwegian, 721 tons) was also hit, but no details are. available. • Two naval planes on one occasion dispersed 10 Heinkels. One Heinkel was damaged by anti-aircraft fire from escorting warships, and several . others were hit by the two naval planes. A later communique, commenting of the German claim to have sunk warships and merchantmen totalling -42,000 tons, says- the facts are that .the convoy, which consisted almost entirely of neutrals, was not dispersed, and is tiroceeding safely on its voyage. None of the escorting warships was hit or damaged, and no ship was sunk. The raiders were driven off -by British naval aircraft, one of the German planes being destroyed . and others hit. Three -neutral merchantmen, as already announced, were damaged, and the ■ British steamship Northern Coast (1211 tons) and the Norwegian Earl-

ing Lindoe (1281 tons) reported on arrivalin harbour that they suffereddsmsffG • T:-.« British ship Barnhill (5439 tons) which was unarmed and ' not in the convoy, was set on fire by an incendiary bomb but the fire was extinguished and' the ship is now in safety. *" • "A Considerable Error" . .Thus the German claim that 42,000 tons of shipping were sunk yesterday is 42,000- tons in excess of the actual, facts. This considerable error is perhaps due to the agitated menr tality caused by the Sylt raid, for which agitation every allowance should be made. The German statement that' 11,000 tons of shipping was damaged is not so far out —the actual figure being 11,518 tons—the Danish Viking and the Danish Bothal being, torpedoed and sunk yesterday in Scottish waters. Nazi wrath was thus vented yesterday almost entirely upon neutrals, who, being unarmed, present a peculiar temptation to Nazi prowess when out of convoy. Predictions Not Justified Experience so far gained in the present war in no way justifies the predictions that air power would prove a decisive factor at sea. The only attacks which have yielded the slightest success to the German air force have been attacks on defenceless % merchantmen sailing independently, fishing vessels, and lightships and lightship tenders Even so the losses due to air attack have been exceedingly small in proportion to the effort expended by the enemy.