U-BOAT LOSSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 April 1940, Page 5

U-BOAT LOSSES

EVIDENCE OF GROWING . INCREASE REPLACEMENT PROVING DIFFICULT. ADMIRALTY STATEMENT. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, April 2. — The Admiralty states that there is growing evidence that U-boats are being sunk at such a rate that Germany is finding it difficult toreplace them. The average age of prisoners taken from U-boats is 20 to 21 years. ATLANTIC EPISODE DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY SUBMARINE. BRISK HUNT BY DESTROYER AND FLYING-BOAT. (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, April. 2. An eyewitness aboard a destroyer described the British sinking of a U-boat which attacked a convoy in the Atlantic and sank a neutral merchantman. The destroyer located the U-boat by means of the Asdic sounding apparatus. The chase lasted for two hours, when depth charges brought the U-boat to the surface and a gun battle ensued. A flying-boat finally completed the U-boat’s destruction with a bomb. A destroyer rescued all but one of the U-boat’s crew. One British ship and four neutral ships, totalling 13,901 tons, were lost as a result of enemy action during the week ended March 31. This is the lowest total since the first week in January. SINKING OF BARNHILL. The Barnhill, of 5,439 tons, which a plane bombed and set fire in the previous week, is now regarded as a total loss. The crew of the sinking Barnhill overlooked Captain O’Neil when they were taking to the boats. Captain O’Neil, badly wounded, rang the ship’s bell with his teeth to attract attention. Four of the Barnhill’s crew were killed. “I was blown off the bridge when the second bomb from the German plane hit the ship,” said Captain O’Neil. “When I recovered consciousness, I rolled myself to the forecastle head and rang the bell. A lifeboat later took me off.” Captain O’Neil was an expert block-ade-runner in the Spanish war, taking about a thousand refuggees to France weekly. He has been bombed 127 times. GERMANY’S LATEST LOSS. British warships intercepted the German steamer Mimi Horn and set fire to her, making the total German losses 303,946 tons.