Britain’s Mediterranean Naval Plans

Evening Star, Issue 23723, 2 November 1940, Page 11

Britain’s Mediterranean Naval Plans

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, November 1. (Received Novc ;r 2, at 10.12 a.m.) No credence is given in London to the reports that Axis differences have arisen over the extension of the war to Greece. Some American commentators find puzzling certain aspects of the Italian attack and do not consider the slow Italian advance entirely accounted for hy had weather. No information is available, however, in London supporting the suggestions that Italy is acting without the full approval of Germany. With regard to the surprise expressed in some quarters that the Italian Minister is still at Athens, it is understood here that steps are being taken to expedite his departure. Meanwhile it is learned that the Greek Minister in Rome has asked for his passports. The entry of Greece into the war following the Italian aggression opens up new questions in control of the Mediterranean. Although many good harbours far nearer Italian waters than Alexandria, where the British western fleet is based, are now open to the British Navy, especially Crete and the lonian Islands, it must not be forgotten that advance bases cannot be made overnight. Such bases are no good unless safe from attack, which means quantities of material and time in order to prepare artillery positions and underwater defence, but such bases are necessary if communications through the Aegean are to be maintained. Present British naval plans may. be summarised as designed to maintain a strong force to contain and give battle to the Italian fleet and keep the seas open for supplies. The Italian fleet is by no means a negligible factor. It is numerous and on the whole modern. Its designers, however, have been inclined to sacrifice strength to speed, and regarding this reaped an amusing story is current. Shortly before the war a British naval officer was talking to an Italian captain who had recently been appointed to command a new battleship. The Italian officer was full of praise for his craft and detailed her perfections, finishing up by saying: “And her speed? She is so fast that no one could catch me.”