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oo aoe em fl Lic ships e¥aid near r Haiph —A i only 29 aren link oe come eet ; Reuter SAIGON — Four Amer- ican warships steamed to within 10 miles of Hai- phong; North Vietnam's main port, to shell coastal fuel dumps and gun bate teries, then sank two tor- pedo boats which chased after them, the US Com- mand said yesterday. The heavy cruiser New- port News, the light guided missile cruiser Providence, and the destroyers: Robin- son and Rowan hit the Cat Bi fuel storage depot-two miles. southeast of the Hai- M phong. city limits and also Sencaiae ruck driver for page announce- mages. =. = ia \ physical assets # sold, duririg the: He Morning Star- Newhouse news~ ‘420 million, ory, Hite eee rae RENT TIA TNT Ee NI vee nARN HN 4 Hit shore batteries: and a° barracks , about 10 miles farther ‘south along the coast on Sunday. Observers’ said only, six secondary explosions re- sulted from the shelling by the warships, and their mission was seen as a defi- ant show of strength, Radio Hanoi claimed yesterday that shore bat- teries at Haiphong set two US warships ablaze, A Navy spokesman said shrapnel from shells fell on the signal bridge of the Robison, but there were no injuries or damage,: The shells landed about 30 feet from the ship. ee | D- 720928081 Q Q86 JC craft carrier Midway swooped down to finish off the crippled boat as it headed for the beach, the command said, ‘ Tt wag the second raid of its kind during the current communist offensive and the first since US jets mined Haiphong and all other North Vietnamese ports early last May. A US Command spokes- man said the nearest the US ships came to the shore was between 9 and 10 miles, Hé. added that the torpedo boats had not run through the minefields but had come from an island off Haiphong, { Vice Adm. J, L. Hollo- way 3d; the US ith Fleet Commander, went along aboard the Newport News, The ‘announcement of the raid followed first offi- cial reports that a Chinese minesweeper had been de- tected lying at anchor in Haiphong Harbor, but the Command ‘spokesman said he saw no connection be- tween the two events and there was still no indica- ————— mana petICO see et | oi, AP wt Mareen SUTRENT TN EN Te ot oe " i coat HRD SLES ALMA tion that the minesweeper had attempted to clear the mines, In Washington, Defense Department sources said the 20-year-old wodden- built minesweeper can do nothing useful without re- inforcements — “except perhaps get sunk by American aircraft.” “There is no sign that any more are on the way. Unless others arrive to help out, the vessel Will be quite incapable of clearing the mines outside Hai- phong,” they said. “Frankly, we do not know why it is there, but we are watching it very closely.” United Press Interna- / tional reported on ground action: —Government — troops fought their way to a Com- munist-held hilltop over- looking the district capital on Que Son and held the position long enough to allow a South Vietnamese supply convoy to enter and leave the town. The Com- munists hold about two- thirds of the town. Nang, struck and rou from Bir, Giang. ¢ were ce 16 eof unable towns. casualti’ dead a n ~The little ; Quang| miles r; * govern: captur t ital b after it. and th oped i battle. nt i f b ld