KARACHI: After [a] day-long pursuit by two Pakistan destroyers who scourged the high seas and two air attacks by our heavy bombers and fighter-bombers, the “enemy” Cruiser Mauritius was still heading towards Karachi, obviously with the intention of bombarding the capital of Pakistan.

The raider was located about 230 miles from Karachi on Wednesday night [Oct 19] and was sighted by our destroyer about 3-15 p.m. on Thursday [Oct 20] afternoon. For about an hour our destroyers shadowed her, but could not launch a torpedo attack … due to unfavourable weather conditions. We expect to engage her in a battle tonight but it would be hazardous to guess if we would be able to prevent shelling of Karachi by the “enemy” raider, whose obvious intention seems to be not so much to cause damage to military installations as to create panic among the civilian population by her hit-and-run tactics.

At 8 p.m. on Wednesday the NHQ received a wireless message from a merchant ship, Virginia May, that she was being shadowed by an enemy cruiser. She gave her position approximately 230 miles south-east of Karachi. The message added that the cruiser was heading towards Karachi at a speed of 16 knots.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2024