BRITISH DESTROYERS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 158, 5 June 1940, Page 8

BRITISH DESTROYERS

TWENTY LOST TO DATE. INTENSE ENEMY ATTACKS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, June 3. The announcement of the loss of three further destroyers brings the total of these craft sunk by enemy action since the outbreak of the war to twenty. The Keith and the Basilisk were of the Beagle type and were completed in 1931, the Keith being fitted as a destroyer. The leader Havant was built for the Brazilian Government and was taken over by His Majesty s Government. , The names of three of the vessels announced as lost in the Admiralty communique will be familiar to many British people who knew them in happier times. The Brighton Queen anc. the Brighton Belle have earned many thousands of holiday-makers across the Channel and for trips along the coast, while the Crested Eagle was one of the most popular ships for trippers to the Belgian coast and Thames ports from London Bridge. Subjected to an intense attack from bombers, a British destroyer accomplished six journeys to and from Dunkirk before she wasi hit. Even then she was able to complete her journey safely, packed with troops. Describing the final journey, one ol the crew said: “ ‘Jerry’ attacked three times in an hour with waves of bombers The first time he must have had about thirty, and the second also about thirty. The third time.it was fifty. They were dropping bombs around us for an hour, but never hit the ship itself.” 1 Another member of the crew said: “Sometimes ‘Jerry’ came so low you would almost think yon could touch him. We gave him everything we hack and we brought down at least two. CONCRETE SHIPS. Reinforced concrete is being used for building British ships. The Admiralty has recently ordered a number ot concrete barges. • , Larger sea-going vessels may also l>6 built by this method, which lias been made practicable owing to the revolutionary progress made by British engineers and'scientists in the.technique of reinforced concrete. It is being claimed for concrete ships that they are sometimes as much as 35 per cent, cheaper to build and repair than steel vessels. They not require such heavv building equipment or much skilled labour. Their speed is equal to comparable steel ships, and they can withstand buffeting from heavy seas I better than their steel counterparts.