NAVAL DESIGNS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20125, 20 December 1939, Page 7

NAVAL DESIGNS

AIM OF NAZI CHIEFS GRAF SPEE'S SUICIDE CHURCHILL WARNED NEW BLOWS PLANNED (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Dec. 19, 2 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 18. Reuter’s Amsterdam correspondent says that Herr Hitler ordered the scuttling of the German pocket battleship Graf von Spee only after many hours of argument with the Nazi naval chiefs and technical experts who insisted that the Graf Spee must not fall into British hands as the pocket battleships have an unusually high proportion of specially-designed instruments and apparatus and a number of new secrets were added this summer.

The Berlin press proclaims the Graf Spee’s end as the beginning of new blows against England. "The Blackmailer Churchill will learn that he did a disservice to England by bringing pressure to bear on Uruguay to send'out the Graf Spee before she was navigable,” states the Nazi press. “Uruguay’s action was unfriendly ana crassly broke international law under intimidation from Britain.” Opinions In Paris

A Paris message quotes the spokesman speqking on behalf of the French Navy. He said: “Germany knows that she will lose; otherwise she would have allowed the Graf Spee to be interned and claim her after the war. The slight damage she inflicted and her inglorious end absolutely endorse the British and French policy not to build similar shins. A Montevideo message states that the Uruguayan harbour police arrested four of the Graf Spee’s seamen aboard the Tacoma and charged them with blowing up the ship. The arrested seamen were in a launch when the Graf Spee exploded. TJie earlier report stating that all of the crew had been transferred to an Argentinian gunboat Was incorrect. Three' hundred and fifty remained in the Tacoma. Eleven of the American republics have supported Uruguay’s early stand.