Be more skeptical of that wire copy

Your paper has carried recent AP wire copy story of the discovery of the USS Sydney, lost in World War II.

The story describes the vessel as a battle cruiser, very much hyperbole on the part of the writer.

The vessel was a light cruiser with 6-inch guns and displacing about 7,000 tons. It was fast, but lightly armored. This vessel was the next step above a destroyer.

A battle cruiser was close to a battleship in size and guns, but usually with five or six times the displacement of a light cruiser.

The author of the AP article failed to check these facts and may have well described a VW Beetle as a Lincoln limousine.

You owe it to your readers to be a bit skeptical about wire copy.

Ed Hicks

Huntley