London, Feb. 17.
ROYAL Air Force plane bombed a U-boat and possibly destroyed it in the North Sea yesterday. The pilot saw the U-boat on the surface and approached it out of the sun. The submarine first saw the plane when it was half a mile away and began to submerge at frantic speed. The aeroplane reached the submarine just as the periscope disappeared. A bomb was dropped directly ahead of the periscope and another in front of the same spot. Patches of oil and a quantity of oil bubbles appeared. The aircraft kept the area under observation but no further trace of "ne German submarine was seen.
This latest British success makes five U-boats sunk within this week, Two were sunk on Wednesday, shortly after they torpedoed two British tankers, the Gretafield and British Triumph. It is now officially revealed that the British destroyer which sank two U-boats last Friday was H.M.S. Antelope, 1,350 tons, armed with four 4. -inch guns. The Antelope is one of the Reserve Fleet, commanded by Lt.-Commander B. T. White and manned mainly by reservists, She was commissioned at Portsmouth in July, when the Reserve Fleet was called up for service, rhe British Admiralty today announced that all British ships, before leaving port in the United Kingdom, must provide protection for personnel.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.