THE ARK ROYAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4536, 13 February 1942, Page 2

THE ARK ROYAL

THE BRITISHERS’ DEBT OF GRATITUDE “The Ark Royal went out in search of U-boats on the first day of war and within a month she was sunk—by German propagandists. She roamed the Southern Atlantic for the Graf Spee. The first raider of Germany slipped past her watch. It was a narrow escape. And the Ark Royal took her revenge on a host of cargo ships destined for Germany. She went to Norway. Her airmen covered British troops as they landed and taught the enemy that British seamanship had

acquired a new kind of art in war. She went to the Mediterranean -and the Italians eagerly claimed her as their prize. They spoke too soon. Half the battle fleet of Italy were still to cower before her might and an Italian battleship limped home with one of the Ark Royal’s torpedoes in her side. She bombarded Genoa. She hunted cruisers and destroyers. She carried the war to Leghorn and Pisa. She returned to the broad Atlantic. She revenged the Hood by smiting the Bismarck. She helped to build an army in Egypt. She sustained the war in Greece. She has fought on four seas. She is gone now, but in her breathless life she has done deeds for which the British people will owe a debt for decades and centuries to come.”—From a London “Evening Standard” editorial.