THE BRITISH PURSUIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 November 1940, Page 5

THE BRITISH PURSUIT

“One battleship was of the Littorio class and the other of the Cavour class. The heavy ships of the enemy fired on our cruisers, which were forced by. the much heavier metal to make a slight turn away, but within a few minutes the enemy battleships themselves turned away and our cruisers immediately resumed the pursuit of the Italian cruisers. “Our slower units rapidly fell astern, but the battleship H.M.S. Renown (Captain C. E. B. Simeon), flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, did her utmost to bring the enemy heavy ships to action but was unable because of the speed with which the enemy retired. At 1.10 p.m. the chase, having been carried to within a few miles of the enemy’s coast, was abandoned due to the extreme range and the enemy’s smoke screens. “No damage was observed at this time, but subsequent air reconnaissance indicated that our gunfire must have caused considerable damage before the enemy reached the shelter of his coast or disappeared behind the smokescreen. An enemy cruiser, believed to be of the eight-inch gun type, was set seriously on fire aft, a destroyer of the Grecale class was down astern and listing heavily and stopping, and another destroyer was listing slightly and losing way. “Fleet Air Arm planes from the Ark Royal (Captain C. S. Holland) attacked repeatedly during the pursuit and after it. One force of Swordfishes carried out a torpedo attack on the enemy battleships and a torpedo was seen to hit a battleship of the new and powerful Littorio class.

AIR ATTACK PRESSED “Another force of Swordfishes attacked an enemy unit consisting of three eight-inch gun cruisers and a torpedo almost certainly hit the rear ship, which was a 10.000-tonner of the Bolzano class, and the leading ship of this formation was observed to have reduced speed. “Immediately after this attack a force of Skuas dive-bombed in formation three six-inch gun cruisers of the Condottieri class two very near misses were obtained and it appeared that one cruiser was damaged in the boilerroom. “All our planes returned safely. “The only damage to our forces was in the Berwick (10,000-ton eight-inch gun cruiser; (Captain G. L. Warren) which received two hits. The damage was slight and one officer and six rating were killed in the Berwick, and two ratings were seriously wounded and seven slightly wounded.