Evening star., 1939-11-28
Exploit Is Credited
To Capt. Prien;
Denied in London
Pictures on Page.A As J
BY the Associated Press.

BERLIN, Nov. 28.-The German
high command announced today
that a British heavy cruiser had
been "torpedoed and destroyed in
the North Sea east of the Shetland
Islands by the same submarine COM
mander whose sinking of the battle
ship Royal Oak October IA made
him a German national hero.
A communique said the British
vessel was of the London. class-32-
knot ships of nearly 10000 tons. 1t
named 1t. Capt. Guenther Prien,
31-year- old U-boat commander, who
slipped into Scapa Flow past British
mine fields and distractions to sink
the Royal Oak, as skipper of the
submarine which torpedoed the
cruiser
In London the authoritative
British Press Association said to-
night in note to editors: The
rumor is abroad that a British
battleship has been sunk, and for
your information we are in
formed that there is no truth
whatever in it," The Berlin
communique said British heavy
cruiser had been torpedoed and
destroyed; it did not mention
battleship.
In official quarters in London
1t was said nothing was known
concerning the German claim
that a British heavy cruiser had
been destroyed. 1t was suggest
ed that this arose from belief in
Germany that the cruiser Bel
fast had been sunk. The ad-
miralty has admitted that the
Belfast was damaged by a mine
or torpedo off the Firth of Forth
November 21)
London Glass 10 Years Old.
Meanwhile the German press still
was citing the sinking of the British
armed merchantmen Rawalpindi
November %, off the coast of Ice
land as evidence of German mastery
of the North Atlantic.
(The London, one of four sis
ter ships, displaces $3.50 tons,
carries eight 8-inch guns and
has a normal complement of $50
men. Ships of this class have
speed of approximately 80
knots and all are about 10 years
old)
Capt Prien was decorated by
Adolf Hitler, October 18, with the
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
Germany's highest war order. fol
the sinking of the Royal Oak. ir
which $40 British lives were lost.
Hit on Repulse Claimed.
Capt. Prien told how he maneu.
vered his submarine into Britain's
Scapa Flow naval base on the sur.
face early on October IA and spot
ted the silhouette of anchored war
ships by the aid of the Northern
Lights.
A torpedo into the heart of the
Royal Oak sent her quickly TO the
bottom. Capt. Prien said, assert
ing that he also scored a hit or
the battle cruiser Repulse, which
was anchored nearby. The British
denied the Repulse was hit, how
ever.
Capt. Prien said he wriggled his
submarine back through the Scapa
Flow defenses to escape without de-
lection except by a lone motorist
near the naval base.
Authoritative commentators said
that the British auxiliary cruiser
Rawalpindi, destroyed in a naval
engagement off the coast of Ice
land, was discovered absolutely
alone between the Farce Islands and
Greenland Moreover they quoted
26 Rawalpindi crewmen whose res
cue was announced today as saying
they were 100 per cent surprised
to find a whole German navy group
including at least one heavy cruiser
SO far out in the Atlantic.
British Declared Frightened.
German experts who are author
lied to inform the foreign press
state that the British have been
so frightened by the combined Ger
man navy and air prowess that they
have ordered the navy to Withdraw
from both the North Sea and the
North Atlantic.
The engagement of German units
with the RaWalpindi is described al
the first between German and Eng
lish fighting craft. This, however
does not take into account possible
encounters in other parts of the
world of which German naval au.
thorities learn only through neutra
or enemy reports.
The Rawalpindi was surprised
after dusk when the light was poor
German artillery, according to tn,
official news agency DNB, causec
almost immediate fires on tn,
Rawalpindi which rapidly spreat
over the entire vessel and soor
caused a gigantic explosion. Thi
made the ship sink so rapidly tina
only 26 men, mostly Scottish, out O.
about 300 officers and crewmel