NAVAL ACTION
BRILLIANT EXPLOIT ITALIAN CRUISER SUNK (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) RUGBY, Dec. 13. An Admiralty communique states that reports have been received of a brilliant night action fought before dawn this morning (Saturday) in the central Mediterranean by destroyers on patrol. One Italian cruiser has been sunk and another severely damaged. In addition, an Italian torpedoboat has been seriously damaged and an E-boat sunk. No damage or casualties were suffered by our forces. A little after 3 o’clock .this morning his Majesty’s destroyer Sikh with his Majesty’s destroyers Legion and Maori, and the Netherlands destroyer Issac Sweers in company, made contact with two Italian cruisers, a tor-pedo-boat and an E-boat. The Allied force immediately attacked with gunfire and torpedoes. Both cruisers were hit at once and the leading cruiser burned fiercely and later blew up. The other was last seen burning from stem to stern. The torpedo-boat was heavily damaged and the E-boat sunk. The Isaac Sweers was not completed when Germany over-ran the Netherlands. She was saved from the hands of the invader and towed to Great Britain, where she was completed in a British naval yard. Her displacement is 1800 tons. His Majesty’s destroyers Sikh and Maori belong to the same class as the famous Cossack—the Tribal class—and were launched late in 1937. They are of 1870 tons. His Majesty’s destroyer Legion is of the new Lightning class and was launched only in 1938.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 24790, 15 December 1941, Page 5
Word Count
236NAVAL ACTION Otago Daily Times, Issue 24790, 15 December 1941, Page 5
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