ANOTHER CRUISER BOMBED

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 19, 17 October 1942, Page 7

ANOTHER CRUISER BOMBED

Northern Solomons (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Received October 16,11.50 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 16. Evidence that the air forces under General MacArthur’s command are playing their part in the present Solomons fighting is contained in today’s communique, which reports that at Falsi, on Bougainville, Flying Fortresses dropped a 5001 b. bomb on an enemy cruiser from a low altitude. The vessel was evidently seriously damaged and stopped dead, and the Fortress flew through heavy anti-air-craft fire to strafe the decks. Japan’s shortage of cruisers is her greatest naval weakness, says the “Sydney Morning Herald’s military correspondent. “Tliis is the sixteenth cruiser so far reported to have been damaged in the Solomons. ■ «s “At the outbreak of the war Japan was believed to have had 44 cruisers, and of these at least 20 have been sunk, while 35 are claimed to have been damaged. It is probable, however, that there is some duplication in the claims relating to damaged cruisers. “Lack of adequate cruiser protection for the bigger and more powerful units may be an important factor in the present naval battle.”