Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 March 1942 — Page 32

FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1042

Eyewitness to Fi

News of the British naval victory Sunday over the Italians in the Mediterranean has been carried previously. But here is the story in detail by Richard Mowrar, who was in the thick of the five-hour sea battle.

By RICHARD MOWRER

Coavricht, 1942. by The Indianapolis Times] .

and The Chicago Dally News. Ine.

a as a

Ses an

WITH THE BRITISH FLEET IN| #&

THE EASTERN NEAN, March 21 (delayed)—In one

of the most brilliant naval actions; ;

MEDITERRA-| © #

ever fought in the Mediterranean 3

sea, lizsht units of the British navy last Sunday successfully beat off a strong Italian battle fleet plus tor- . pedo-bombers and dive- bombers and prevented the enemy from intercepting a vital convoy on its way to Malta.

Although greatly outgunned andj 3

outranged by the speedier Italian

units, the British light en uisers | 5

destroyers damaged a battleship be lieved to be the 35,000-ton Littorio carrying 15-inch guns and themselves though damaged, sustained ne Joe tanding weak-kneed on the ooee of a light cruiser, I followed phases of the en 1gagement during the five hours that it lasted, from 2:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon until darkness brought frustration to the enemy and a chance for the convoy and ourselves to get away.

British Heroism Counts

smokescreen maneuvering asi

By clever se of the and magnificent a body, British ts, under the command of Rear Admiral Philip L. Vian, held off an Bei battleship and two heavy cruisers, the | Trieste and Trento, al with 8inch guns, three 6-inch gun cruisers | of the Condottieri class and an undetermined number of destroyers, al’ the while sustaining repeated aerial torpedo and bombing attacks The British only had a few light, cruisers and destroyers; their heav-| fest gun was the 5'4-inch. But t they had more guts and more resolution than the enemy and the convoy had | to get through to Maita with sup-| plies needed for the defense of | that island,

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| weird animal.

% RITE'S *

Somebody might take a gots shot at this fearsome-looking object, thinking it's some kind of But it’s just a sailor aboard a British destroyer poking his head through a porthole to see how things are going topside.

While the naval action itself oecurred in the central Mediterranean, midway between the Ionian sea and the Gulf of Sirte, there was action of one sort or another during most of the trip toward Malta and back to Alexandria.

Sighted Near Bottleneck

The first sigh of the enemy was at 5:15 o'clock on Saturday after- | noon, the day preceding the naval | pattle, as the convoy approached | the bottleneck between the bulge

| of Cyrenaica and Crete.

Five Junkers-52’s (troop trans- | ports), escorted by one Messer-schmitt-110, appeared on the southern horizon, flying low in a tight | group. They skirted us as we steamed westward at convoy pace, the cargo ships screened by light cruisers and destroyers. After a good look at us, they dis- \ appeared. We were spotted and

could expect things to happen. The night was uneventful but, due to the necessarily slow convoy speed, we were still 150 miles from Benghazi the next morning and still in the bottleneck.

At 9:30, five ships ran up the red warning and four torpedo bombers appeared. They took their time, hovered out of range and then, at 10:12, they attacked. Ack-ack peppered the blue sky, one torpedo bomber skimmed the water toward a destroyer and dropped a torpede. The destroyer turned hard and avoided it. The whole convoy weaved every which way to avoid torpedoes. We saw

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B| heavy anti-aircraft fire to identify

one bomber drop a torpedo from an unusual height and make off, apparently shaken by thick ack-ack fire. Plane Shadows Convoy ¢

At ncon we received a report that | the convoy was being shadowed by an enemy plane. At 1:30 p. m. we saw two low-level planes and one high-level plane shadowing us, out of gun range. At 2:18 p. m, a plane dropped a stick of bombs across one of the cargo vessels and missed. At 2:25, our flagship reported sighting four suspicious looking vessels 12 miles to starboard. The freighters turned southward, our fighting units northward to meet the enemy and you could feel the sudden, strong throbbing of increased speed. “Action stations was sounded and orders rasped out, “Stand by to drop smoke pots, engine room make smoke, torpedo tubes ready.” Simultaneously, somebody reported, “smoke on the horizon, sir.” Preston Grover of the Associated Press turned to your correspondent and remarked, “well, it's been nice knowing you.” My throat was so dry, I just nodded and watched the captain stuffing tobacco into his pipe.

First Shells Fall Short

The sea was choppy and cold looking and the wind stiff from the

The cruiser ducked back into the screen. Shells whined overhead and four waterspouts jumped up from the sea close by. Farther ahead immense geysers leaped quickly out of the water and seemed to stand there for a moment; then slowly they sank back into the sea.

These were 15-inch salvos from an Italian battleship. Apparently the enemy had assumed that we would plow straight on along the smoke screen and was planting its heavy stuff ahead but our cruiser had

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

ive-Hour Sea Battle Tells How wid Outgamed Stronger Italian Fleet

turned away a bit sooner. The shelling continued intense. Then at 5:10 the enemy drew away again.

The enemy tried to outflank us and get at the convoy but at 5:35 we again engaged them and closed at 10,000 yards. British units maneuvered behind the smokescreen which the enemy seemed to fear. The division of destroyers ahead of us swerved suddenly into the smoke, followed by the cruiser, to deliver a torpedo attack. Simultaneously, the captain announced,

“Keep a sharp lookout to starboard. We may spot the enemy within 7000 to 8000 yards.” And our ship plunged into the smoke.

When we emerged, an enemy bate tleship loomed large at 6000 yards coming head on, its forward turrets belching a salvo of flame and shells. The shells overshot us and we fired quickly and dodged back into the smokescreen. The bumbling of the battle continued over the increasingly heavy swells of the central Mediterranean

]

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south. The destroyers and cruisers plowed through the waves, their funnels churning out thick black smoke. On the horizon the enemy ships opened fire and bore dow: on us. The first shells from the enemy fell short, sending up spouts of water in a row 20 feet high. We didn't hear the boom of the enemy guns for those of our own ships quickly opened up, firing from the fringe of the smokescreen. Our cruisers got into single file, their guns firing quickly, independently and sometimes in salvos. The orange gunflashes were a blinding contrast against the black smokescreen. The destroyers weaved backwards and forwards, extending the smokescreen, South of us, the con{voy was out of sight, its guns beat(ing off dive-bomber attacks. Abruptly the firing ceased.

Bombs Splash in Water

The admiral flashed the signal that we had driven off the enemy— “a bit premature, I think,” commented the captain of our cruiser, About then, a dive-bomber attacked the flagship, diving with great determination through a terrific ack-ack barrage. He started from high up, circling, and then went into a steep, slanting dive. Shells burst in the sky but he kept a straight line until he came within range of the quick-firing pompom guns: then he dropped his bombs and swerved away. The red tracer bullets of the American-made Oerlikon gun chased swiftly after him. Bombs splashed harmlessly in the water. Our ships headed back toward the convoy and we came in sight of it just as an enemy bomber was beginning a long dive, from 10,000 feet, toward a cargo ship. At 5000 feet the bomber pulled] out of the dive and bombs splashed! astern of the ship. At 4:15 another string of bombs fell ahead of us.

It's Time for Tea

Automatically our guns went into action against the planes and drove them off. There was a lull, The captain looked around at his officers and grinned with his pipe between his teeth and suggested, “Well, I think we ought to send the hands some tea.” And forthwith one man frfom each group was sent below for a pot of tea and cups. It wae 4:20—three more hours until darkness, At 4:35 the enemy was reported in sight again, including a big ship. We skirted the thick smokescreen, every now and then coming out into the open for a quick look and fire. One time our cruiser stayed beyond the protecting smokescreen for 10 long minutes that seemed an hour, her guns blazing away at high speed. The cotton in our ears didn't seem to make much difference against the noise and terrific orange flashes made us back away from the front of the bridge at times. You had to hang on to something to keep from being blown off your feet.

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—p combination of shell bursts, gunfire, ack-ack, bombs and the rapid fire of the pom-poms.

Night came and the enemy drew away, its big battleship hit by one British torpedo, perhaps by two. One of our own destroyers stayed with the convoy, its speed reduced by a hit from an enemy shell. Under cover of darkness the convoy proceeded to Malta and we zigzaged homeward. The next day there were air attacks but they

failed. Today, as we steamed to-

PAGE 31

ward Alexandria, the admiral flashed the following message to all ships:

“By your endeavor and those of our forces at Malta, the Italian fleet failed to make contact with the convoy, nor did tke axis air force dame= age any ship in it until off Malta, notwithstanding the great scale of the attack. No ship in our fleet has suffered from the air attack, which is attributed to our gunnery and dexterity. Above all, Malta has received stores vital to the island’s defense.”

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