Evening star., 1939-09-18
Courageous First
Worship Lost in
Sea Struggle
BY the Associated Press.

LONDON, Sept. 18.-The BRUSH
admiralty announced officially today
the loss of the aircraft carrier
Courageous "by enemy submarine
action"-the first warShip casualty
of the war reported by Britain.
An undetermined number OF sea-
men and flyers aboard the 22,5O0-
ton warship were saved.
The ministry of information In
an authorized statement said the
full complement of the Courage
Gus, plus the personnel OF the fleet
air arm, was about 1900 officers
and men. When sunk she had re-
duced complement of aircraft and
therefore presumably somewhat
smaller crew.
The admiralty said the usual air.
craft complement of 48 planes had
been reduced since August.
Sub Believed Sunk.
The brief official announcement
In reporting this blow to the fleet
said that destroyers heavily at
tackled" the submarine which tor
pedoed the Courageous and were
believed to have sunk her in turn.
There was no indication OF where
the Courageous was sunk, but pre-
sumably she was attacked in sea
lanes close to home waters, either
in the Atlantic or North Sea.
Since the opening of hostilities
she had been performing very good
service in protecting ships of the
mercantile marine against U-boat
attacks" the admiralty said.
Presumably this meant the Coura-
geous had been a major factor both
in conveying merchant ships and in
launching aircraft to attack sub
marines from the air.
Converted Cruiser.
James Fighting Ships" authorta-
tive work on world fleets, described
the Courageous as a converted
cruiser of 22,5OO tons (26,500 tons
full loaO. She originally was in
tended for Baltic service.
First built in February, 1916, James
figures showed her to be the oldest
but one of the largest of the six
British warcraft used as aircraft
carriers. James gave her thickest
armour plate as three inches on
her sides and amidships.
She carried sixteen 4.7-inch guns
four 3-pounders and II smaller
pieces. The beam of her fight deck
was 100 feet and her overall length
1864 feet.
The admiraltys announcement Of
4 .te loss of the Courageous came two
weeks after the world learned that
the British liner Athena had beer
sunk by a torpedo in the first hours
of war between Germany and Great
Britain.
"a Merchant Ships Lost.
Since the hostilities began on
September 3, "a British merchant
ships have been announced as VIC
TINS of what the British govern
ment has described as unrestricted
German submarine warfare.
On the other hand, the fleet ano
the Royal Air Force have ranged
far af1eld and have been officially
reported as sinking numerous SUBJ
marines. simultaneously a general
convoy system had been pressed
but this had naturally been a slow
undertaking on British sea lanes
which circle the globe.
The urgencies of military strategy
prevented an accurate estimate o.
the effect the sinking of the Coura.
geous would have on the British
war against undersea attack or or
the position of the fleet as whole
1t was said.
The Courageous was called out II
the precautionary mobilization O.
the reserve fleet in August. Hel
movements since that time were
secret until today.
Text of Admiralty Statement.
The text of the admiralty state.
ment follows:
THE admiralty regrets to an.
nounce that H. M. S. Courageous ha.
been lost by enemy submarine &C.
ton.
"She was commissioned with th'
reserve fleet in August with a re-
duced complement of aircraft ant
since the opening of hostilities ha
been performing very good service
in protecting the ships of the mer
camille marine against U-boat at
tackS.
Survivors have been picked ur
by destroyers and merchant ship
which are now returning to Harbour
THE submarine was Immediately
heavily attacked by destroyers ane
is believed to have been sunk.
H. M. S. Courageous is one of tht
earliest aircraft carriers. She wa!
(See COURAGEOUS, Page A-40