MIMIC WAR

Hokitika Guardian, 26 September 1933, Page 5

MIMIC WAR

VALUABLE LESSON. IN SEA MANOEUVRES. (United Tress Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Sep. 25. The "Daily Telegraph’s” Naval correspondent says:—‘‘A valuable lesson has been learnt in the North Sea war between a naval base, defended only by aeroplanes aiul a combined raid bv ships’ aeroplanes, it being the first manoeuvres of the Navy in which the R.A.F. have co-operated. When the attackers tried to bomb Elie, of the Firth of Forth, the “Warspite” was liit by six aerial torpedoes and the "Malaya” by one, the "Renown” being the only capital ship to escape the aerial torpedoes. “The attacking planes dived steeply from a height of several thousand feet, and then flattened out when only twenty feet from the water, in order to discharge their missiles. Fortyeight bombs were also dropped upon the very vulnerable, exposed landing decks of the aircraft carriers, the "Furious” and the "Courageous.” Though the conditions were abnormally favourable to the defenders, the attack showed the deadliness of aircraft against warships. Other expert witnesses of the manoeuvres state that the defending a>'r force, convinced them that the whole of the attacking ships ought to be at the bottom of the sea, and they consider that the Navy’s seaplanes could not upset an attack upon the fleet. The verdict of the prominent naval men has not yet been announced. It i\ s understood that the naval men’s attitude will be that, had the ships really come to shell the coast of Scotland, they would come at night, instead of in the daytime, attacking at. dawn steaming away on a zig-zag course the instant that their attack was over. The manoeuvres did not allow of these precautions.