British Destroyer Lost

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21559, 23 January 1940, Page 7

British Destroyer Lost

Heavy Death Roll After Explosion Mined or Torpedoed in North Sea United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, January 22. THE ADMIRALTY announces that the destroyer H.M.S. Grenville has been sunk, either by a mine or torpedo, in the North Sea, with the loss of more than one-third of her men. It is known that eight were killed by the explosion and a further 73 are missing. They must be presumed to have been lost. The landing of 118 officers and men, some of them wounded, is reported. H.M.S. Grenville was a flotilla leader, and was built three years ago at the cost of over £300,000. She is the third British destroyer to be lost by enemy action since the outbreak of the war. A fourth, however, was sunk in a collision. Commanded by Captain G. E. Creasy, the Grenville was a leader of G class destroyers. She served in Spanish waters during the civil war. Survivors were landed on the east coast, where doctors and ambulances were waiting for the injured. The seriously wounded were taken to hospital. At the beginning of the war Britain had 174 destroyers and another 24 building. Germany is jubilant over the sinking of the Grenville. Radio concerts were interrupted and the British Admiralty statement was read out, after which “Deutschland Über Alles” and the “Horst Wessel Song” were played.

The Danish ship Tekla (1469 tons) was sunk early this morning after an Explosion off the north-east coast oi Scotland. The crew are believed to have been rescued. 1 A Swedish merchant captain of the Pajala that was lost on Thursday described how a British warship shelled the enemy submarine which sank his vessel without warning. The captain said he was certain that the second shell from the warship scored a hit. He said later that the British warship destroyed the attacker with a direct hit on the conning tower and the use of depth charges. The warship rescued the Pajala’s crew. Within 20 minutes of leaving port for tests after refitting, the British tanker Canoni River sank off the south-west coast, after an explosion. The crew of thirty-five were rescued. Many were injured. Some were thrown into the air and crashed on deck. The Swedish steamer Flandria (1179 ions) sank after striking two mines off Ymuiden. Seventeen were drowned, and four rescued after two days in an open boat. An internal explosion occurred on a U-boat after firing a torpedo at the Norwegian steamer Notos (2712 tons) off St. Kilda Island. The torpedo missed. The Norwegians saw dense smoke from the submarine which disappeared suddenly. The naval commander at Stockholm announced that compulsory naval convoys will be provided dally between Stockholm, the Aaland Islands, and Gothenburg in Norwegian territorial waters. The German radio announced the suspension of piloting services through

the minefields in the Great Belt and Little Belt and the. Strait of Gjedser. According to a messoge from Toulon, the Italian liner Orazio of 11,669 tons, bound for Genoa with 600 passengers, is ablaze 100 miles from Barcelona. The liner which sent out an SOS fought the flames all day. The passengers took to the boats in the evening. Two French warships and an Italian liner are speeding to the scene. It is reported from Genoa that French warships and the Italian liner Conte Biancamano rescued the 959 passengers and crew frpm the Orazio which was abandoned. There were no casualties.