WAR AT SEA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 November 1939, Page 6

WAR AT SEA

FIRST LORD ON LOSSES & GAINS PROTECTION OF SCAPA s FLOW BITTER LESSON LEARNED. NAVY GAINING MASTERY OVER U-BOAT ATTACK. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.25 a.m.) RUGBY. November 8. The Hirsi Lord of the Admiralty, Dlr "Winston Churchill. in a statement in the House of Commons on the result of the official inquiry into the sinking of the Royal Oak, said that, although a full statement could not be made for naval reasons, the long-fam-ed immunity of Seapa Flow had induced both the Navy and Ihe Admiralty to accept an undue risk.

This risk, however, had been no greater than the inevitable risks accepted by the fleet in tile routine of keeping the seas. The belief in the inviolability of Seapa Flow was so great that the first torpedo was thought to be an air attack. The Admiralty had learned a bitter lesson and nothing further would be taken for granted and every joint in the harness would be tested and perfected. Proceeding Mr Churchill said: “During the opening phase of the war the Royal Navy has suffered a greater loss of life than all the other forces, French and British, on sea. on land and in the air combined. Every loss inflicted on us by tile enemy has been at once announced. In addition, since the outbreak of the war, one of otfr submarines, H.M.S. Oxley, has been destroyed by an accidental explosion, in circumstances which made publication inadvisable at the time. The war at sea has been the only war which had been proceeding on a full scale, but the House will not suppose that the losses are the only events which have been taking place at sea. “We arg gaining a definite mastery over the U-boat attack. In the second four weeks of the war, the British tonnage lost by enemy action, 72,000 tons, was less than haif the amount lost during the first four weeks, and against that loss we may set 52,000 tons captured from the enemy, 27,000 tons purchased from foreigners and 57,000 tons of new built ships, leaving, in these four weeks, a net gain of 64,000 tons. During the first'eight weeks of the war, our net loss of tonnage has been less than one-third of one per cent. It is interesting to note that the Ark Royal recently captured a valuable prize.”

ROYAL OAK TRAGEDY TORPEDO ATTACK AT FIRST NOT SUSPECTED. MEN SENT TO AIR STATIONS. (Received This Day, 1.0 p.m.) LONDON. November 8. Lord Chatfield, Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, said that after the torpedo struck the Royal Oak, none of the vigilant and experienced officers conceived that it could be a torpedo, thus indicating the strong sense of immunity prevailing at Seapa Flow. At first an air raid was apprehended and a large number of the crew took up their air raid stations under the armour, and were therefore doomed. While ,the Admiral and Captain were examining the alternative possibility of'an internal explosion, a .second salvo of torpedoes was discharged. “We mourn the loss of 800 hundred gallant officers and men," said Lord Chatfield. “The Admiralty, on whom the responsibility broadly rests, has resolved that it has learnt a bitter lesson.

The Government does not propose a judicial inquiry, which would impose an additional burden on those engaged in an intense and not wholly unsuccessful struggle."