"WE CAN DO IT AGAIN"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 14, 13 October 1942, Page 2

"WE CAN DO IT AGAIN"

COMBATTING U-BOAT MENACE

WORK OF U.S.A.. TASK FORCE

"We got the U-boat menace down m the last, war, and I think we can do it again. Anyway, avc shall have, a darned good crack at it," said the bluff, smiling Rear-Admiral Robert Carlisle Giffen, commander of the United States task force operating with the British Home Fleet, in a special interview. Admiral Giffen, who is sturdy and of medium height, said that the task force was operating, as. United Stales, ships did in 1917-18, under the Admiralty, under direct command of Admiral Sir John Tovey. Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, who was one of the finest officers he had met. The task force worked under the orders and traditions of the British Navy, leavened l)3 r American methods. The vessels in the force had worked continuously for five months, and had not .sighted an enemy surface craft, but had beaten off aircraft a 11a cks ull da maged. Some of its sailors would soon be in London on leave, which was the first they had had for a year. Their morale was excellent. Their average age was 21 to 22 years, and mostly they were former high school boys. "The kids love their job," he added. "They get on well with the British sailors." |