SUNK IN CHANNEL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 October 1943, Page 3

SUNK IN CHANNEL

BRITISH LIGHT CRUISER & DESTROYER TORPEDOED BY ENEMY LIGHT FORCES. ACTION IN POOR VISIBILITY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) . RUGBY, October 25. The Admiralty announces: “During an action against enemy light naval forces in the English Channel last Saturday, the cruiser Charybdis was sunk and the destroyer Limbourne was damaged and had to be sunk later by our own forces. “The two ships were part of a force engaged on an offensive sweep off the French coast, between Ushant and the Channel Islands. Visibility was poor when the enemy force was encountered, and in the ensuing action both ships were hit by torpedoes.” The Charybdis was a cruiser of the Dido class, completed in 1940. She had been through three years of bitter sea fighting, especially in the Mediterranean. She was of 5,450 tons, 506 feet long and mounted ten 5.2 inch guns, 16 smaller guns and six 21-inch torpedo tubes. The Lambourne was a Hunt class destroyer, completed during the war. She saw much. service in Home waters. Many details of the Hunt class are still secret, but generally they are of about 900 tons and normally four 4-inch guns are carried and also a formidable anti-aircraft armament.