RAIDS ON SHIPPING

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21036, 12 February 1940, Page 7

RAIDS ON SHIPPING

TWO TRAWLERS SUNK AERIAL TORPEDOES USED (United Pres* Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright.) LONDON, Feb. 11 Two naval trawlers the H. Robert Bowen and the Fort Royal—were sunk by German air raiders with the loss of four officers and 18 ratings, and the unarmed merchant vessels Cliftonia, ot 3106 tons, and Boston Trader, of 381 tons, and the dredger Foremost and several trawlers were damaged, but all reached port. The Germans used aerial torpedoes in addition to bombs and machine-guns. Trawlers arriving in port brought stories of the typical courage with which the men manning Britain’s little ships face repeated attacks from aeroplanes diving from the shelter of low clouds. A German aeroplane scored a direct hit with a bomb on the dredger Foremost, killing two men. The Germans machine-gunned vessels which went to the Foremost’s assistance.

There were four combats between British fighters and German bombers. Hurricane fighters chased into the clouds a Junkers aeroplane which attempted to attack a tanker on the north coast of Scotland. Another squadron pursued three Heinkels off Arbroath. A British warship surprised two aeroolar.es attacking the Aberdeen trawler Barnsness (173 tons), off the north coast. One aeroplane flew toward the warship when the lr.*ter appeared, and dropped an aerial torpedo. This missed, and the warship opened fire. The aeroplanes immediately made off. The German news agency claimed that air patrols attacked six ships, either British or sailing under British convoy, which were either sunk or so seriously damaged that they could be reckoned as totally lost. Only one German aeroplane was missing in spite of heavy anti-air-craft fire and chaser aeroplanes. The German High Command states that British aeroplanes which on Friday tried to penetrate the Heligoland Bight area were repulsed