NAVAL ENGAGEMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25565, 19 June 1944, Page 6

NAVAL ENGAGEMENT

BATTLE OFF THE USHANT NEW ZEALANDER IN ACTION (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, June 16.. Able-seaiqan S. B. Harrison (Waimate), who has been in action against the Japanese in H.M.S. Leander off the Solomons and against a submarine off- Suva while serving in the Monowai, is now on loan to the Royal Navy. He has been in action against the Germans off the Ushant. He was a fourinch gun loader in the destroyer H.M.S. Tartar, and this is what happened: Able-seaman Harrison says: “We were in a flotilla with a job of preventing’the Germans, from attempting to interrupt the flow of men and supplies to Normandy. It was reported that German destroyers were moving up off the Ushant and our skipper told us we were going to intercept them. We stood at action stations some time after midnight. There were low clouds, with bad visibility. Suddenly the order was given to train all the guns in a certain direction. Then another order, ‘ Open fire.’ Our gun fired starshells for a start, and they lit up the horizon, and then we saw a group of German destroyers about 4000 yards away—practically point-blank range. “Then the shooting match started,” continued Able-seaman Harrison. “I was.so busy that I had not much time to spare to see what was going on, but soon one German ship caught Are. Evidently her magazine was hit, for she began to spout what looked like giant sparks until she resembled a stationary catherine-wheel. Another German ship was driven ashore. We heard afterwards that she was bombed by the R.A.F. It was a good scrap. I did not know how long it went on, but dawn was just breaking as it ended. Just before the action began I replaced another man on the gun, and he was sent to work the starboard searchlight. It shook me a bit when I learned subsequently that lie was killed outright. A German aircraft, evidently a reconnaissance machine, flew over later, but our guns opened up. and it disappeared.” Lieutenant W. Scott Wilson, R.N.Z.N.V.R. (Auckland), is serving in the destroyer Danae, which the Admiralty reports is among the ships bombarding the enemy coast. It is reported that E-boats are among the most dangerous weapons used by the Germans against the vast amount of shipping plying between England and Normandy. They work from either Cherbourg or Le Havre. The Royal Navy’s reply is constant patrols by destroyers, in addition to the close escort given to every convoy and a close blockade of E-boat bases by light coastal forces all night, with the object of either preventing them from leaving the harbour or inflicting loss or damage when they put to sea.