SEA BATTLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 May 1941, Page 6

SEA BATTLE

ATTACK ON MEDITERRANEAN FLEET

MADE BY NAZI PLANES TREMENDOUS BARRAGE PUT UP. NO DAMAGE TO ANY SHIP. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON. May 13. The Mediterranean Fleet, which had been escorting a large convoy, returned to its base after having repelled one of the most determined Nazi night torpedo and bombing attacks, says the Associated Press of Great Britain's correspondent aboard the flagship, H.M.S. Warspite. The entire fleet is undamaged. Six times planes tried to penetrate the very heavy anti-aircraft barrage and each time the planes turned back, dropping torpedoes and bombs harmlessly into the sea. The Exchange Telegraph Agency's special correspondent aboard H.M.S. Barham says the barrage flung up by more than thirty warships was the heaviest and most spectacular yet seen. Heavy units of the fleet blazed away with all their armaments while a strong destroyer screen put up an umbrella barrage, to protect the Battle Fleet from possible high-level bombing attack. When the Battle Fleet opened fire, the raiders apparently abandoned the convoy and, splitting up into groups, attacked the fleet from all angles. A thick fog descending on to the sea ended the battle after fortyfive minutes.