GERMAN FLEET BROKEN

Southland Times, Issue 24109, 24 April 1940, Page 5

GERMAN FLEET BROKEN

BRITISH SUCCESS AT SEA DETAILS OF NAZI LOSSES (British Official Wireless) (Received April 23, 7.30 p.m.) RUGBY, April 22. Now that the naval operations preliminary to the landing in Norway of the British and French forces are concluded and while Dr Goebbels continues to try to persuade the world that the British Navy has suffered such losses that it has almost ceased to exist, it is an opportune moment to survey the actual losses, derived from official announcements, suffered by the British Navy.

One capital ship has been lost out of 15 such ships completed before the war, namely the Royal Oak. One aircraft carrier, the Courageous, out of seven, has been lost. Not a single cruiser has been lost out of 60 completed at the outbreak of war. One armed merchant cruiser, the Rawalpindi, has been sunk. Ten destroyers, the Blanche, Gipsy, Duchess (in collision), Grenville, Exmouth, Daring, Hunter, Glowworm, Gurkha and Hardy (beached at Narvik) have been lost. At the outbreak of war Britain had 185 destroyers. Five submarines, the Oxley, Seahorse, Undine, Starfish and Thistle,_ have been lost out of 58 at the beginning of the war. The British Navy has thus lost 18 warships, including the Rawalpindi, out of a total of 327 completed on the outbreak of hostilities—a total loss which would hardly have affected the vast preponderance of the British over the German Navy, had the latter suffered no losses during the eight months of the vzar. But it had suffered heavy losses, exactly how heavy it was impossible to state with the same degree of certainty attaching to the British losses. GERMAN LOSSES Of Germany’s two battle cruisers completed at the outbreak of war, the Schamhorst has been damaged in an encounter with the Renown—herself damaged during the encounter—while the Gneisenau is reported officially by the Norwegians to have been sunk in Oslo Fiord. Of her three pocket battleships, the Admiral Graf Spee has been scuttled and the Admiral Scheer has been hit by more than one torpedo. At the outbreak of war Germany had two heavy cruisers and six six-inch gun cruisers. The Karlsruhe has been admitted by the German High Command as sunk. In addition one heavy cruiser was hit by torpedoes in December as was also one six-inch gun cruiser. Another six-inch gun cruiser was sunk byBritish aircraft at Bergen and another was hit by a heavy bomb off Bergen. Germany’s remaining six-inch gun cruiser, the Emden, has been officially reported by the Norwegians as sunk. Germany started the war with more than 45 surface torpedo craft of which only 22 were modern destroyers. The German High Command stated early in March that two destroyers had been lost. Eight modern G'erman destroyers were destroyed at Narvik, one was hit by a bomb at Trondheim and another probably hit in the same raid. Germany began the war with about 70 submarines, of which she has lost, according to unofficial estimates, about 60. Of course many have been built since the war began.

Germany has lost since the campaign began against Norway, 26 transports and supply ships. Ten others have been . i by torpedoes and probably sunk. One has been set on fire by air attack and four German vessels have been captured.

BRITISH BATTLESHIPS NEARLY READY

VESSELS OF KING GEORGE V CLASS LONDON, April 23. The News Chronicle says that Britain’s new 35,000-ton battleships, the King George V, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Jellicoe and the Beatty, are nearly ready. They are the most powerful and most strongly-protected ships in the world. It is authoritatively stated that Germany has lost 24 warships, excluding many submarines, since the outbreak of war. Britain has lost 18, including five submarines and the Rawalpindi.