PERFORMED BY CREWS OF BRITISH MIDGET SUBMARINES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1943, Page 3

PERFORMED BY CREWS OF BRITISH MIDGET SUBMARINES

German Battleship Tirpitz Torpedoed and Damaged WHILE LYING IN STRONGLY-DEFENDED BASE IN NORWAY PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF OBTAINED OF RESULTS OF ATTACK LONDON, October 11. In one of the most daring underwater exploits of the war, British midget submarines penetrated a strongly-defended German naval base in Norway and damaged the 35,000-ton battleship Tirpitz. . u The attack was made on September 22, but the Admiralty kept back the news until evidence had been obtained of the damage done to the German battleship. Photographs taken by reconnaissance aircraft have now made it clear that the Tirpitz has suffered underwater damage. The photographs sl jowed the battleship to be surrounded by thick oil, which covered the fiord and extended two miles from her berth. A number of small unidentified craft were alongside the battleship, possibly repair ships or supplying power and light. . The Tirpitz was lying in Alten Fiord, m Northern Norway, 1000 miles distant from the nearest British base. The attacking midget submarines had to make their way through minefields and then penetrate a long and winding fiord in which enemy patrol ships were also on watch. Having torpedoed the enemy battleship, the submarines had to make their way out again through the intricate system of defences. . Three of the little British submarines are missing, but some of their crews are believed to be in the hands of the enemy. A communique states that the Admiralty considers that the crews of the little submarines displayed the highest qualities of courage, enterprise and skill. . The report of the attack on the Tirpitz is the first disclosure of the fact that the Boyal Navy is possessed of midget submarines (Vessels of this type had been heard ol previously chiefly on the occasion of an abortive Japanese attack on Sydney Harbour. The only damage done by the Japanese was to an old f.i-ry boat and several of the submarines were destroyed or captured).