DESTROYER LOST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 June 1942, Page 3

DESTROYER LOST

AFTER BATTLE WITH NAZI BOMBERS PLANES ATTACK SPANISH TRAWLERS. FOUR SHOT DOWN AND TWO CRASH. (.British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.35 a.m.) RUGBY, June 19. An Admiralty communique states: “On the evening of June 17, German bombers attacked his Majesty’s destroyer Wild Swan 100 miles west of the French coast and also attacked a Spanish trawler fleet which was fishing in the vicinity. As a result of this attack three Spanish trawlers were sunk and a fourth was damaged. The Wild Swan shot down four Junkers 88s and two others, which probably hit and collided in the air, crashed in the sea. Thus half the German raiding force was destroyed. The Wild Swan herself was damaged in the engagement and unfortunately collided with a damaged trawler, which sank. Eleven members of the crew of the trawler, including the skipper, were rescued and have now been landed at a British port. The Admiralty regrets to announce that the Wild Swan subsequently sank. Her crew were picked up. There was a small number of casualties. Another message states that the destruction by the Wild Swan of six out of the twelve Junkers which attacked her constitutes a record bag for the sea-air fight it is authoritatively stated. It is not to be assumed that the destroyer was acting in protection of the Spanish trawler fleet, which happened to be in the vicinity when the attack developed. , The Wild Swan was a ship of 1,120 tons, built in 1919. Her normal complement was 130.