GERMAN RAIDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 May 1941, Page 5

GERMAN RAIDER

SUNK IN INDIAN OCEAN VESSEL OF 10,000 TONS RESCUE OF 27 BRITISH SEAMEN. FIFTY-THREE NAZI SURVIVORS TAKEN PRISONER. (By Telegraph—,Press Association—Copyright) LONDON. May 9. A German commerce raider—a ship of 10,000 tons—has been sunk in the Indian Ocean by H.M.S. Cornwall. Twenty-seven British merchant seamen who were prisoners on the raider were rescued, and 53 members of the raider’s crew were taken prisoners of. war. An Admiralty communique says the Cornwall sustained only superficial damage and that her fighting efficiency was in no way impaired. H.M.S. Cornwall is a cruiser of 10.000 tons of the Kent class and was completed in 1928. She carries eight 8-inch guns and was designed for a speed of 31 i knots. She carries three aircraft and has a normal complement of 679 THE ENEMY SHIP PROBABLY FORMER HANSA LINER POWERFUL ARMAMENT & LARGE CREW. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, May 9. Although no definite news has been received from H.M.S. Cornwall, it is believed that the raider was a former Hansa liner of about 10,000 tons and her armament probably consisted of six 5.9 inch guns, as well as torpedo tubes. It is likely that she was fitted for mine-laying and it is thought that she carried a crew of at least 300. The object of this large company would be to provide prize crews for any captures she might make.