NAVAL ACTIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25090, 4 December 1942, Page 2

NAVAL ACTIONS

CLASH OF BATTLESHIPS HEAVY JAPANESE LOSSES (Special) AUCKLAND, Dec. 3. The naval clashes in the Solomons area last month were witnessed by Mr William Hippie, war correspondent with the United Stales forces, who was on Tulagi Island. He is on a brief visit to New Zealand. Mr Hippie, who is attached to the Associated Press Service supplying 1300 newspapers in America, is probably the first, reporter to have had a bird's-eye view of a full-scale naval battle, albeit both actions which he witnessed in three days took place for the most part in the pitch black darkness of the tropics. Thunder of Broadsides In the first battle of November 13, Mr Hippie said, the opposing forces were closely engaged in the vicinity of Tulagi and Guadaicanar for an hour. The Japanese fleet included battleships. The flash and thunder of the broadsides were interminable during the main action. Ships which were badly hit sometimes emerged from the darkness in the blinding flash of an explosion which sent up star shells in all directions. Sometimes they entered the picture as a dull red glow as the internal (ires spread to the hull and quickly increased in intensity. However sudden or slow the end ot the stricken ships was the same, and their fate was made all the more certain by the rain of tracer bullets that denoted the brooding presence of aircraft. It was unthinkable. Mr Hippie said, that anyone could survive such an experience. Three or four enemy snips blew' up after the main action had been broken off just as dawn broke over the scene. The sun revealed a Japanese battleship lying off Savo Island in Tulagi roadstead, trying to hmp away. She had begun to move out to the open sea at about two knots when American bombers came over, and she was soon abandoned burning. Battleships Again Meet Two nights later there was another major conflict in which battleships were used on both sides. The enemy losses on this occasion included four transports, which were beached on the north-west shore of Guadaicanar. They tried desperately to get the men and equipment ashore, but none of the quipment reached the land, and the casualties among the troops, estimated at from two to three divisions, strong, were terrific as the planes roared over them constantly. Mr Hippie formed one of the crew of a seaplane which taxied over the oilcovered waters in search of survivors, who were ferried to a ship. Most of the men in the water were suffering from exposure and burns. A few had gunshot wounds, but a coating of oil made them look ghastly. Many of the Japanese soldiers and sailors refused to be picked up, and dived like ducks under the surface when the plane came near. They preferred death to capture, and that sentiment was general. “ The situation in general looks pretty good.” said Mr Hippie in conclusion.