AT DESPERATE ODDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 November 1939, Page 6

AT DESPERATE ODDS

RAWALPINDI FIGHTS TWO GERMAN SHIPS ONE THE DEUTSCHLAND GALLANT BUT HOPELESS EFFORT, BRITISH SHIP GOES DOWN WITH COLOURS FLYING. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.7 a.m.) RUGBY, November 27. The Admiralty has issued the following statement: —“The armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi was forming part of the northern patrol by which contraband control of German trade is enforced. This duty is particularly arduous on account of the long dark nights and severe cold and requires for its performance large vessels of good sea-keeping qualities, capable of enduring frequent storms. At 3.30 p.m. on November 23, when cruising to the south-east of Iceland, the Rawalpindi sighted an enemy ship. “Captain Kennedy, having examined this vessel through his glasses, said: “It’s the Deutschland all right,” and the crew were immediately ordered to action stations. The course was altered to bring the enemy on the starboard quarter. Smoke floats were lit and cast into the water to enable the Rawalpindi to escape. However a second enemy ship was soon seen to starboard. The Deutschland, approaching, signalled to the Rawalpindi to heave to, and when she continued on her course fired a shot across her bows. As this warning was rejected, a first salvo was fired by the eleveninch guns of the Duetschland, a little after 3.45 p.m.; at a range of ten thousand yards. The Rawalpindi replied with all her four starboard six-inch guns. A third salvo from the Deutschland put out all lights and broke the electric winches of the ammunition supply. A fourth salvo shot away the whole of the bridge and wireless room. Both German ships were now closing rapidly, and by this time the second had gone round the Rawalpindi’s stern and was firing from the port side. The Rawalpindi maintained the fight until every gun was put out of action and the whole ship ablaze except the forecastle and poop. After about 30 to 40 minutes of this unequal combat, at about 4.15 to 4.25 p.m., the enemy ceased firing and three boats which were not shattered by shellfire, one of which became waterlogged, were lowered. Two of these boats, containing more than thirty men, were, it is believed, picked up by one of the German ships. Eleven survivors who have been brought in by the Chitral swam to a waterlogged lifeboat and would probably have been picked up but for the fact that at about 6.15 p.m. the approach of a British cruiser caused the enemy immediately to withdraw. The Rawalpindi continued to burn amidships until eight o'clock, when she turned turtle to starboard and foundered with all remaining hands. Meanwhile the British cruiser attempted to shadow the German ships, but in a sudden heavy rainstorm and the darkness of the night they made their escape. “This account is given from the narratives of eleven survivors picked up from the waterlogged boat by the Chitral and is. of course, subject to correction in detail. It is, however, sufficient to show that the Rawalpindi made a most gallant fight against, overwhelming odds and went down with her colours flying. “The search for the two enemy warships continues in tempestuous weather, both by night and in the brief hours of daylight. It is officially announced that of the Rawalpindi's complement, two-thirds were naval ratings and the remainder naval reservists.