15 DECEMBER 1939, Page 6

It is a disappointment not to have trapped the '

Bremen,' but the explanation of her escape to a German port seems fairly clear. She was sighted by a British submarine, which quite rightly refrained from torpedoing her at sight. The submarine would have been justified in firing on the ship if she had not stopped when summoned, but she would have had to stay on the surface to do that, and the German com- muniqué was no doubt accurate when it said that the ' Bremen ' was escorted by aeroplanes, whose presence would make it necessary for the submarine to submerge. In any case, she could provide no prize crew adequate to take over a vessel of the ' Bremen's ' size.