The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-14
Huge Warship Victim Of German Submarine
(Continued from Page D
which nniahed on the tough Ark

which finished ofF the tough Ark Royal.
 OHacial Announcement
 sThe board of admiralty regrets Go announce that the aircraft car Tier HA6S Ark Royal (Kapt. L. F. H, Maund, c. B. E.) has been sunk. she was in tow after being torpe- doed by 6 U-boat, The exact de- talIs and casualties are not known. Reports indicate that casualties are Fortunately not heavy as 1t is known tkat a large number of the ships company was taken of. Next ot kln are being informed"
 So frequently was the Ark Royal reported sunk in the claims of both Rome and Berlin that she became almost Q by-word in Britain for false propaganda.
 She had normal operating per- sonnel of 1875 officers and men and carried SO or more planes,
 The ship had seen almost con- stant service in the thick of the sea fighting. She ranged the Mediter- ranean, the Atlantic and the cold sea lanes of NorwayS and the North Cape. Her planes had carried out scores Of attacks upon German submarines, land obJecttves and enemy naval craft.
 Known In All Waters
 The blunt-topped silhouette of the Ark Royal was familiar in all waters in which the war has been fought. For considerable period she was attached to the Gibraltar station as part of the west Medi- terranean fleet, guarding the weSt- ern entrance to that inland sea and making forays deep into 1t to pro- tect conveys or carry out attacks against ltaly's sea forces,
 The ship was Just three years old, lacking two days, She was com pleted Nov. l6, 1888 and was re- garded as one of the crack aircraft carriers of the royal navy.
 She had been equipped with par ticularly heavy armor plating on her deck against bombs and her vitals amidShips were padded with & thick belt Of armor and protective bulgeS to guard against the torpedo danger that finally sent her to the bottom.
 Death of the Ark Royal, following within q week of the sinking of the equally well-known destroyer, CosSack, robbed the royal navy of the two most famous ships of the war.
 There was touch Of irony In British comment on the Ark Royal sinking due to the fact that when, at long last, the vessel was sunk, the first announcement came from the admiralty and not from Rome or Berlin.
 Into Prominence
 The Ark Royal first came into prominence within a few days af- ter the start of the war. She was attacked by planes in the North sea Sept. 26, i939 and the Germans insisted she had been sunk,
 Since that date she had been In almost constant action, mostly in the Mediterranean theater.
 Maund, her commander in most recent engagements, had been com mander of the carrier, Furious, which was sunk under him off Norway. Before that he was execu- tive officer of the Courageous which was the first of three British car- riers to 90 down. A German sub- marine caught her as she idled into the wind in the Channel waiting for her planes to come down.
 The Glorious was smashed off Norway by the German battleships C eisenau and Scharnhorst in June i9.o after being heavily attacked by Nazi planes.
 The Admiralty's communique gave 10 hint of the action in which the Ark Royal finally was sunk but 1t appeared 1t probably was the vic- tim of a surprise attack. The fact