SCUTTLED AT SEA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 December 1939, Page 8

SCUTTLED AT SEA

LN PRESENCE .OF BRITISH WARSHIP GERMAN SHIP COLUMBUS. AMERICAN NAVAL REPORTS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received This Day, 1.15 p.m.) NEW YORK, December 19. The correspondent of the Associated Press of America at Norfolk, Virginia, says Admiral Taussig, of the Naval Operating Base, reported that the United States cruiser Tuscaloosa had advised by radio that the Columbus was being scuttled 300 miles northeast of Cape Henry. The Tuscaloosa was standing by io pick up the crew. A later message from Washington says the White House announced that the Tuscaloosa discovered the Columbus in a sinking condition outside the neutrality zone. A British warship was nearby, but there was no evidence of a fight. The Tuscaloosa was now bringing the survivors to an American port. A Navy Department statement said: "The Tuscaloosa found the Columbus sinking in the presence of a British destroyer, but so far as we know, no unneutral action had occurred.” President Roosevelt’s secretary. Mr Early, said: "The British may have caused the German crew to scuttle the Columbus.”