NAVAL FORCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 April 1940, Page 7

NAVAL FORCES

BRITISH & GERMAN LOSSES AUTHORITATIVE STATEMENT. BALANCE VASTLY AGAINST ENEMY. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. April 22. Now that naval operations preliminary to the landing in Norway of British and French forces are concluded arid while Dr Goebbels continues to try to persuade tin* world llial the British Navy has suffered such losses I hat it has almost ceased to exist, it is an opportune moment to survey the actual losses derived from official announcements suffered hv the British Naw.

One capital ship has been lost out of 15 such ships completed before the war, namely, the Royal Oak. One aircraft-carrier, the Courageous, out of seven has been lost. Not a single cruiser has been lost cut of the 60 that had been completed at the outbreak of the war. One armed merchant cruiser, the Rawalpindi, has been sunk. Ten destroyers. H.M.S. Blanche. Gipsy, Duchess (in collision). Grenville, Exmouth, Daring, Hunter, Glowworm, Gurkha. Hardy (beached at Nervig 1 ) have been lost. At the outbreak of the war Britain had 185 destroyers. Five submarines, the Oxley, Seahorse, Undine. Starfish and Thistle, have been lost out of 58 at the beginning of the war.

CAPITAL SHIPS AND CRUISERS. The British Navy thus has lost 18 warships, including the Rawalpindi out of a total of 327 completed on the outbreak of hostilities —a total loss which would hardly have affected the vast preponderance of the British over the German navy had the latter suffered no losses during the eight months of the war. But it has suffered heavy losses, exactly how heavy it is impossible to state with the same degree of certainty attaching to the British losses.

Of Germany's two battle-cruisers completed at the outbreak of the war the Sharnhorst has been damaged in an encounter with H.M.S. Renown — herself damaged during the encounter —while the Gneisenau was reported officially by the Norwegians to have been sunk in Oslo Fiord.

Of her three pocket-battleships, the Admiral Gray Spee has been scuttled and the Admiral Sheer has been hit by more than one torpedo. At the outbreak of war. Germany had two heavy cruisers and six 6-inch gun cruisers. . Of these heavy cruisers the Blucher and the 6-inch gun cruiser Karlsruhe have been admitted by the German High Command as sunk. In addition, one heavy cruiser was hit by torpedoes in December, as was also one 6-inch gun cruiser. Another 6inch gun cruiser was sunk by a British submarine in December. One was sunk by British aircraft at Bergen and another was hit by a heavy bomb off Bergen. Germany's remaining 6-inch gun cruiser Emden has been officially reported by the Norwegians as sunk. Germany started the war with some 45 surface torpedo craft, of which only 22 were modern destroyers. The German High Command stated early in March that two destroyers had been lost. Eight modern German destroyers were destroyed at Narvik, one was hit by a bomb at Trondheim and another was probably hit in the same raid. DESTRUCTION OF U-BOATS. Germany began the war with about 70 submarines, of which she has lost, according to unofficial estimates, some 60. Of course, many have been built since the war began. At the same time, Germany has lost since the campaign began against Norway 26 transports and supply ships. Ten others have been hit by torpedoes and probably sunk, one has been set on fire by air attack, and four German vessels have been captured.

NEARLY READY FIVE NEW BRITISH BATTLESHIPS. MOST POWERFUL IN WORLD. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON. April 23. The “News Chronicle” says that Britain’s new ■ 35,000-ton battleships King George V, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Jellicoe and Beatty, are nearly ready for sea. They are the most powerful and most strongly protected warships in the world. MERCHANT SHIPPING

GERMANY'S TOTAL LOSSES.

Figures published by the Admiralty show that in the first fortnight of the Norwegian campaign, the Germans had lost 86,000 tons of merchant shipping, a Daventry announcement states. Since the war began the Germans had lost half-a-miUion tons of merchant 'shipping and about a quarter of that total had been captured. These ships were now in the service of the Allies. Last week throe British ships were lost, but no neutral ships were sunk. No ship was lost in convoy. The loss of British ships in convoy had been reduced to one in 600 and of neutral ships to nearly one in 1000.