HEAVY WARSHIPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 February 1942, Page 3

HEAVY WARSHIPS

BRITISH EXPRESSIONS OF UNEASINESS f COMMENT BY FIRST LORD OUR OWN AND ENEMY EXPERIENCE. MORE ABOUT THE ESCAPE FROM BREST. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.12 a.m.) RUGBY, February 27. Dealing wit]) expressions of uneasiness as to whether heavy ships were standing up to the modern strain of naval warfare, the First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr A. V. Alexander) in the course of a speech in the House of Commons, said: “It is true to say that a large number of., our heavy ships which have sustained major damage during tlie tear have been safely brought into harbour, repaired and put into service again. Ships like the Nelson, Resolution, Illustrious, Formidable and Malaya—all heavy .ships —have been damaged, but are standing up to it and coming in and being repaired.”

Coming to the loss of the Prince of Wales and Repulse, Mr Alexander said that the heavy-weight torpedo bombing attack by the Japanese was a matter of great importance, but it must not be forgotten that the initiative in bombing attack had lain with the British Fleet. He cited Taranto, Matapan and the attack on the Bismarck and urged a further development of this form of attack. Since the loss of these two ships, he continued, light forces in that area had done splendid work, which included the escort of nine convoys into Singapore. He then took occasion to pay a tribute to the courageous and able work done against the enemy by the Dutch naval forces. Regarding the passage of German > warships through the Channel, Mr Alexander said it would be wrong to make any comment while a secret inquiry was in progress, but “the inference which German statements are designed to convey that these vessels arrived in Germany scathless is not true. Reliable reports have been received that both the German battlecruisers received severe damage when on passage front Brest.” Photographs showed, Mr Alexander said, that one battle-cruiser was in dry dock at Kiel, while the other had been located in a dockyard at Wilhelmshaven. Criticism had been uttered in the House this week of the fact that only six Swordfish attacked the enemy during the recent Channel battle. “I would remind the House,” the First Lord observed, “that this was not the only airborne torpedo attack which was launched —there was a much larger number of torpedo-bombers of the Coastal Command which also attacked the enemy.”