The daily monitor. (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1940-1942, 1941-05-27

officers and men on board
about the same number carried
by the Hood.
Unless she struck her colors
before being sent to the bottom
few could be expected to sur
vive.
The fate Of other ships in the
German force was not disclosed,
but London dispatches had pre-
viously said that the fleeing
Bismarck headed q squadron,
and high official quarters In
London subsequently announced
that measures are being taken"
to deal with the German cruiser
Prince Eugen, which had been
escorting the Bismarck.
The London Admiralty issued
a 22-word statement to tell the
first story of what may have
been the counterpart of the 1914
Is World War battle of Jutland,
as follows:
1.-THE German battleship Bis
marck has been sunk by our
naval forces. Details of the op-
erations will be announced as
soon as possible"
CRIPPLED BY AIR
The Admiralty had announced
last night that a British naval
plane had damaged the Bismarck
with a torpedo hit-apparently
slowing up the speedy sea raider
until pursuing British warships
could close in for the kill.
Sinking of the Bismarck pre-
sumably left Germany with only
three capital ships-the brand
new 35,000-ton Tirpitz, sister
ship of the Bismarck; and the
Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst,
both 26, 900 tons. which the Brit
ish say have been repeatedly
bombed in Brest Harbor, Nazi-
occupied France. since mid
March.
With a top speed of at least
30 knots, the Bismarck had slip
ned away from other British
men o. war Immediately after
the fight with the Hood, some
where between Greenland and
Iceland, in which the Hoods
1,300-odd officers and men were
believed to have persisted.
CLOSE-IN FOR KILL
British seaplanes kept the
fleeing Bismarck spotted, how
ever, and a crippling torpedo
hit blasted her chance to escape
The chase had covered hundreds
of miles.
Even with the loss of the Hood
and. the battleship Royal Oak,
torpedoed by a German U-boat
at Scapa Flow early in the war
Britain still has IS battleships
and battle cruisers-the same
number she had in commission
when the war broke out.
Germany entered the conflict
with five battleships and pocket
battleships. Besides the Bis.
marck. she lost the pocket bat
tleship Admiral Graf Spec, scut'
tied by her own crew at Monte
video In December, 1890 aftel
she was damaged in q fight with
British naval units.
Elsewhere at sea, the Ger
mans reported that Nazi U-boat:
had sunk 10 freighters totallinf
about 1900 tons off the west
African coast.
In the 8-day-old battle OF
Crete, authoritative London
quarters challenged claims by
the German high command thai
the British had lost II cruisers
eight destroyers, five torpedo
boats and a submarine in the
eastern Mediterranean during
the conflict.
These quarters acknowledge
loss of only two cruisers ano
four destroyers, with two battle
ships and several other cruis'
ers" damaged.
HEAVY NAZI LOSSES
A London spokesman sale
British Greek Allied troops hac
inflicted Every heavy losses" or
the Nazi aerial invaders and tha'
reinforcements were now reach
ing the Allied garrison.
1.-THE fighting has been mos
bitter and severe, and enem,
losses up to the present have
been much heavier than ours,
the spokesman said.