j Luetiens, Ace Nazi Admiral, Captain and 1,400 Sailors Went Down With Bismarck

Naval Commander Said Most Brilliant on Hitler's List

Berlin, May 28,-(UP)-The high command said to-day that Admiral Guenther Luetjens, one , of Germany's most fannous naval commanders, Captain Lindeman and the crew (probably 1,400 men) of the German battleship Bismarck went down with their ship after battling strong British naval and air, forces in the Atlantic. (With about 1,9:00 lost on the Bismarck and about 1,500 on H .M.S. Hood, British 42,000-ton battleship sunk by the Bismarck last Saturday, losses in the engagement were about 2,900 , officers and men . The British admitted there were few Hood survivors among its normal complement of 1;300. Since she was wearing a vice-admiral's flag it was believed . she had about 200 staff personnel aboard .) Luetjens was one of Germany's most experienced and brilliant naval officers and his loss was regarded as a severe blow to the Nazi navy . He was high in the confidence of Adolf Hitler and was credited with a major part in organization of the new German navy . Loss Sobers Huns Berlin, May 28~(AP)-The German people, mourning lass of the battleship Bismarck, were told today it was better to dare the risks of sea warfare in a fight to win than to wait in port . Admiral Guenther Luetjens and the Bismarck's officers and crew all apparently died-so far as was known here. The press took the line that the Bismarck was sunk by numericallysuperior forces, and the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung declared : "But even such superior forces would have been unable to defeat the Bismarck had it not been for the accidental effect of an aerial torpedo, damaging the ship's propeller and steering mechanism ." Supporting the action of the high command in sending the 35,000-ton battleship out into the Atlantic, the newspaper said, Battleships in Jade bay cannot contribute anything toward beating the enemy down . They have to get out onto the high seas and expose themselves to the vicissitudes of naval warfare. Only through attack can results against England be obtained, regardless of whether this is in the form of merchant warfare or clashes with hostile naval forces." This statement apparently was directed against the conduct of naval warfare during the first Great War when the large German high seas fleet, with the exception of a few encounters with British naval forces, was kept idle in Kiel harbour and Jade bay . The idleness to which the German navy was subjected then also has been held by some sources as responsible for the outbreak of the German revolution in 1918 in which Kiel sailors played a leading role .