NAVAL LOSSES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 95, 24 April 1940, Page 5

NAVAL LOSSES

ALLIED AND GERMAN

DEPLETION OF NAZI SEA POWER [ British Official Wireless.] Received April 23, 5.5 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 the 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 air-craft-carrier, the Courageous, out of seven has been lost, and not a single cruiser has been lost out of 60 completed at the outbreak of the war. One armed merchant-cruiser, the Rawalpindi, has been sunk, and 10 destroyers. the Blanche, Gipsy, Duchess (in a collision), Grenville. Exmouth, Daring, Hunter, Glowworm, Gurhka 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 a*: the beginning of the war.

The British Navy thus has lost IS 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 lattet suffered no losses during the eight months of the war. But it had suffered heavy losses. Exactly how heavy it is impossible to state with the same degree of certainty attaching to the British losses. Of Germany’s two battle-cruisers completed at the outbreak of war. the Scharnhorst 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 Spec 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 sixinch gun cruisers. Of these heavy cruisers the Blucher and the six-inch gun cruiser Karlsruhe have 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 by a British submarine in December. One was sunk by British aircraft at Bergen and another was hit by a heavy bomb off Bergen. Germany’s remaining sixinch gun cruiser, the Emden, has been I officially reported by the Norwegians las sunk.

Germany started the war with some 145 surface torpedo craft, of which only 22 were modern destroyers. The German High Command stated early in March that two destroyers had b?en lost. Eight modern German destroyer® were destroyed at Narvik, one was hit by a bomb at Trondhein and another probably hit in the same raid.

Germany began the war with about 170 submarines, of which she has lost, according to unofficial estimates, some 60. Of course many haye been built since the war began. At the same time Germany has lost, since the campaign began against Norway, 26 transports and supply ships. Ten others have been hit by torpedoes and probably sunk, one ha* been set on fire by air attack and four German vessels have been captured.