DAMAGE TO NAVY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 39, 26 November 1940, Page 5

DAMAGE TO NAVY

THE AIR ATTACK ON TARANTO.

WHAT PHOTOGRAPHS REVEAL.

TWO LARGE BATTLESHIPS

(United Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, November 25.

Royal Air Force photographs released for publication to-day add visual testimony to the story told in an Admiralty communique of the damage inflicted on the Italian Navy by a daring Fleet Air Arm attack at Taranto on the night of November 11. The photographs, taken in brilliant sunshine from a height of between 6000 and 8000 feet —an unusually low daylight operational height over a defended -area—provide unchallengeable evidence, even to a. lay eye, of the results of the attack, and under expert interpretation reveal hundreds of confirmatory details.

One of the most remarkable jihotographs shows a 35,000-ton battleship of the Littorio class—almost certainly the Vittorio Veneto—badly down by the bows in the merchant anchorage in the middle of the outer harbour. Salvage ships and tugs are seen alongside, with oil on the water. Alongside, on the starboard bow, is a tanker, probably assisting in pumping operations. Another auxiliary craft is on the port bow, and outside of this ship is a large submarine, p/ahably providing power, as the battleship, having gone down by the head, would have no power. Another photograph shows a 23,000ton battleship of the Cavour class beached on the east shore of the outer harbour. She has a heavy list to starboard, and the whole length of the starboard, side is submerged. The stem is completely submerged aft of the rear gun turrets, and a large quantity of oil is seen on the water. The complete absence of any activity around her two days after tlie attack strongly suggests that she has been abandoned. —British Official Wireless.

The third photograph shews another battleship of the Cavour class down by the bows, beached on the shore of the outer harbour, with a list to starboard. Auxiliary vessels are alongside and attempts are obviously being made to render the vessel seaworthy enough to tow her out for repairs. A cruiser of the Trento class and a cruiser of the Bolzano class are among the shipping shown in the fWrth photograph. There is, considerable oil on the water around them, and it is reasonable to assume that both cruisers were damaged.