LOSS OF JAPANESE CRUISER

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 18, 16 October 1942, Page 5

LOSS OF JAPANESE CRUISER

Submarine Victims BIG NEW HAUL IN FAR EAST WASHINGTON, October 14. A communique issued by the Navy Department announces : “United States submarines have newly reported the sinking of a heavy enemy cruiser, two cargo ships, a tanker, and a trawler in Far Eastern waters. A third cargo ship was damaged and probably sunk, and two tankers were damaged.” In the battle for the Solomon Islands a total of 52 Japanese ships have been sunk or damaged and at least 270 Japanese planes have been lost, while the American losses total 10 ships and an unrevealed number of aircraft which is probably less than a quarter of the enemy’s plane losses. A summary of Japanese sinkings, based on United States Navy figures, is:— Japanese. SUNK: One heavy cruiser, six destroyers, one transport. PROBABLY SUNK: One heavy cruiser, six destroyers, one transport. DAMAGED: Two aircraft-carriers, one battleship, three heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, six destroyers, three air-craft-tenders, four transports, two cargo ships, and others. United States. SUNK: Three cruisers, three destroyers, and four transports. [The Australian heavy cruiser Canberra was also sunk in the Solomons.] ■- - American vessels have also suffered some damage iu this week’s naval action in the Solomons, but particulars of the ships and the extent of the damage have not been officially reported.

CLOSER CHAIN OF U.S. BASES IN PACIFIC Growing Threat To Enemy (By Telegraph. —Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Australian, Correspondent.) (Received October 15, 7 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 15. “The continuing air and naval battle in the Solomon Islands has already, in the aggregate, begun to assume the dimensions of an action which may prove decisive in the Pacific war at sea,” says the “Sydney Morning Herald,” commenting on the latest cheering news from the South-west Pacific fronts. Australian analysts of the war news see the battle for the Solomons as one of attrition, with the Japanese losses in ships and aircraft now mounted to a total which must prove gravely embarrassing to the enemy. It is also pointed out that the recent reports of actions in the South-west Pacific have revealed the existence of American bases in the New Hebrides and Fiji, which considerably strengthens the Allied position in this theatre. While no information of the size or type of these bases has been given, both American and Australian observers regard their now officiallyacknowledged existence as proof of the determination of the Allies to pursue a vigorous offensive policy against the Japanese. ■ A Washington report states that Espiritu, Santo Island, in the New Hebrides, Is an air base which some of the air force units which assisted the marines to capture Guadalcanal used as a jumping-off place. Emphasizing again the great importance of land-based air power, in which the supremacy has lain so decisively with the Allies, ' the “Sydney Morning Herald” says, “The initiative which the Japanese have striven to assert on sea and land has been constantly baffled and crippled by the Allies’ initiative in the air, a revelation which should assure the Solomons battle of a leading place in the future study of amphibious tactics in war.” Caution Costly. The enemy’s unwillingness to risk a major fleet action in which carriers and battleships would participate is generally commented upon, and it is pointed out that the attritional fighting into which the Japanese have been led by the Americans has already cost them losses equivalent to those of a major fleet action fought in vnin. But observers are agreed that th'? Japanese, still have substantial son power available, and they must either risk a battle or admit, defeat in a contest in which the stakes are much more than the Solomons. “If our Allies have not yet fully succeeded in getting the enemy, navally spenking, where they want him.” says the “Herald.” “at least they have so far outwitted, outmanoeuvred, and outfought him in the shrewdest skin-game this war has yet produced.” The stake for Allied victory in the Solomons is more than relative security for Australia anil Now Zealand, and their supply linos from America, says rhe Sydney “Daily Telegraph.” “If the Japanese lose the bitter light for these strategic islands, the Allied defence line in the South-west Pacific will be advanced to a now line running from Port Moresby to Guadalcanal. This would outflank the Japanese base at Rabttul, and probably force the enemy's main concentrations back to Truk, 1000 miles to the north.”