PRAISE BY CHIEF

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20125, 20 December 1939, Page 5

PRAISE BY CHIEF

ATLANTIC BATTLE NORTH SEA SORTIES RULES OF WARFARE .' GERMAN COMPARISON (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) (Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY, Dec. 19. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Churchill, in his broadcast address last evening, paid a high tribute to the fighting of H.M.S. Exeter, H.M.S. Ajax, and H.M.S. Achilles in the naval action with the German “pocket” battleship Graf von Spee—to find any more brilliant or resolute action than which it would be necessary, he said, to go -back a long way in naval history.

Mr. Churchill, coming back from the South Atlantic to the North Sea, said that submarines of the Royal Natfy had had the best week he could remember in this or the last war.

“British submarines suffer from the serious disadvantage of having very few targets to attack,” he continued. “They are not allowed by the custom of the sea and by the conventions to which we have subscribed to sink

merchant ships without warning or without being able to provide for the safety of the crews. They do not wage war on humble vessels. They do not attack humble fishing boats. They have worked for the most part among minefields and in the stronglydefended sectors of Heligoland Bight.

“It is only when German warships are sighted that they are able to use their power and skill. But they do venture out of port.”

Salmon and Ursula The First Lord then referred to the exploits of the submarine H.M.S Salmon, in sinking a U-boat and torpedoing a cruiser, and described them as “remarkable and praiseworthy in the highest degree.’’ Mr. Churchill added: “Now, to-day, the submarine H.M.S. Ursula reports tiifct on December 14 she sank a cruiser of the Koln class, carrrying nine 5.9 in. guns, although she was Supported by no fewer than six German destroyers.” deferring to the cruisers engaged by the British submarine H.M.S. Salmon, Mr. Churchill said the cruisers possibly were able to reach hbifte, but it was by no means certain in the . case of two of them. “Both,” he said, “will be out of action for months. Meanwhile the entire German fleet has abandoned whatever enterprise it had in mind.” Continuing, Mr. Churchill said: “A considerable proportion of the total German- cruiser strength has been sunk or put out of action in a single week—the same week in which the Graf von Spee met an inglorious end. Nazis Redoubling Spleen

‘"The Nazi Navy and Air Force are venting their spleen by redoubling efforts, sinking fishing smacks and drowning fishermen in the North Sea. Yesterday and to-day their air force tried to bomb unarmed merchant ships, including an Italian vessel, even machine-gunning sailors on the decks. I am glad to tell that the heat of their fury far exceeded the accuracy of their aim.

“Of the 24 ships bombed, only six small boats engaged in fishing and one coasting vessel were sunk, and the bulk were not even hit by the many bombs aimed at them. These outrages are the tactics of a guilty regime feeling the long arm of sea-powef upon its shoulders. Despite the German mines around Britain, the whole vast movement of British traffic is proceeding without interruption.” Long Period at Sea In a tribute to Sir Charles Forbes, in command of the main fleet, Mr. Churchill said the main fleet had been more days at sea since the outbreak of war than ever required in any equal period of modern naval warfare.

- He concluded by paying a tribute to the officers and men when the chance of honour came suddenly to the three cruisers in the South Atlantic, but, he said, if the call had come elsewhere, equal skill and courage would have been forthcoming. “Rough and violent times lie ahead, but everything that has happened since the outbreak of war should give the nation confidence that the difficul-ties.-will be surmounted, problems solved and duty done,” concluded Mr. Churchill. ■lt-is confirmed in London that Commander G. C. Phillips was in command of the Ursula.