LOSS ANNOUNCED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 January 1941, Page 5

LOSS ANNOUNCED

CRUISER SOUTHAMPTON FIRE FOLLOWS BOMB DAMAGE UNAVAILING SALVAGE EFFORTS. BATTLE THAT WILL LIVE IN NAVAL HISTORY. The Admiralty announces the 10.-s of th* 1 cruiser Southampton, one of the three ships which suffered in the German air attack in the ■ .Mediterranean last Friday, a 8.8. C. broadcast states. Following on bomb damage. the Southampton caught tire and despite efforts to save her had to be. abandoned. Desperate attempts to get her into port proved unavailing and she had to be sunk.

The loss of the Southampton occurred in a battle in which an Italian destroyer was sunk and twelve German aircraft were shot down and others damaged. The loss of the Southampton brings. Britain’s total of cruiser losses to three, excluding H.M.S. Curlew. The British cruiser strength at the outbreak of war was 58 and a number of vessels of this type under construction are now well on towards completion. The Southampton was lost in the course of operations in which a convey taking vital war supplies to Greece was escorted successfully to its destination.

Launched on the Clyde four years ago, the Southampton had a main armament of twelve six-inch guns and a normal complement of 700 officers and men. She escorted the King and Queen on their momentous visit to Canada two years ago and was in the news also during the Spanish civil war. when she rescued 90 Spanish refugees who were adrift in the Bay of Biscay. The Battle of the Sicilian Channel will go down in naval history as the occasion of the most viciously concentrated air attack yet made on warships.

MOST OF CREW SAYED

ADMIRALTY COMMUNIQUE

(British Ofticial Wireless.)

(Received This Day. 10.27 a.m.i RUGBY. January 16

An Admiralty communique states that the Southampton had become a total loss. As announced on Tuesday. the Southampton was hit during the air attacks on our ships in the Mediterranean. A fire broke out on board. As a result of the damage by fire, which later attained such proportions that it became necessary to abandon the ship, the Southampton had subsequently to be sunk by our own forces, when it was found impracticable to tow her to port. A great majority of the crew was saved.