30 MARCH 1918, Page 2

A fuller account of the destroyer action off Dunkirk on

Thursday week has shown that eighteen German torpedo craft left Ostend before dawn to bombard Dunkirk. The British destroyers ' Botha and ` Morris ' and three French destroyers made for the sound of the guns and intercepted the enemy as he retreated. The ` Morris torpedoed a large destroyer. The ' Botha' rammed and sank another. The French destroyers sank a third. The rest were bombed by a naval air squadron as they fled ; enemy seaplanes coming to the rescue were attacked, and four were destroyed. Finally, one of the enemy ships was torpedoed just off the mole at Ostend. The Botha' was put out of action by a shell through her steam-pipe. The other Allied ships sustained no damage in this spirited little affair.