BRILLIANT NAVAL ACTION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 295, 15 December 1941, Page 5

BRILLIANT NAVAL ACTION

BRITISH DETROYERS ITALIAN CRUISER SUNK ANOTHER DAMAGED (Recd. 8.30 p.m.) Rugby, Dec. 13. An Admiralty communique states reports were received of a brilliant night action fought before dawn this morning (Saturday) in the central Mediterranean by destroyers on patrol. One Italian cruiser has been sunk and another severely damaged. In addition an Italian torpedo-boat was seriously damaged and an E-boat sunk. No damage or casualties were suffered by our forces. A little after 3 a.m. this morning His Majesty’s destroyer Sikh and His Majesty’s destroyers Legion and Maori and the Netherlands destroyer Isaac Sneers, in company, made contact with two Italian cruisers, a tor-pedo-boat and an E-boat. The Allied I force immediately attacked with gun-i lire and torpedoes. Both cruisers! were at once hit. The leading cruiser . burned fiercely and later blew up. The other was last seen burning from stem to stern. The torpedo-boat was heavily damaged and the E-boat sunk. : The Isaac Sweers vv as not completed ; when the Germans overran the Netherlands. She was saved, how-I ever, from the hands of the invader I and towed to Britain, where she was! completed at a British naval-yard, i Her displacement is 1800 tons. The Sikh and the Maori belong to the | same class as the famous Cossack I the Tribal class and were launched i late in 1937. They are of 1870 tons, i The Legion is of the new Lightning ! class and was only launched in 1938. | 8.0.W, REPORTED SINKING OF FRENCH SHIP BRITISH SUBMARINE BLAMED (Recd. 5.5 p.m. > London, Dec. 12. The Vichy radio states that a French Admiralty communique says that a British submarine on Tuesday last, southwards of the Balearic Isies. torpedoed and sank the French steamer Saint Denis, travelling between Algiers and Marseilles. The Saint Dems was carrying wine and food for France. The communique added drastic measures are being taken to prevent similar attacks. The Swiss radio states that German authorities in Paris have pub- ! fished the names of four Parisians! shot for storing arms and ammunition. The Vichy radio later collected the sunken ship’s name to Saint Louis, not Saint Denis.