WARTIME SECRET

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 13 June 1925, Page 9

WARTIME SECRET

SEQUEL TO ITALIAN NAVAL DISASTER Tho sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci at. Taranto on August 3, 1916, when several hundred sailors lost- their lives, has recently been tho subject of important revelations, says tho Rome correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. Signor Tan/,ini, who organised and directed an "Official burglary" at the Austrian Consulate in Zurich, has for the first time revealed the contents of the documents found in the Consulate, which in the same month led to the arrest of Captain Santoro, one of the principal instigators in Rome of the Taranto disaster. It appears from these documents that other first-rate Italian ships, including the Conte Cavour and the Oiulio Cesare, flu' greater part, of the depots of Genoa, the Houses of Parliament in Rome, and tne building of the Rank of Italy, were to have been blown up by the same gang. Rnt, thanks to tho burglary carried out in the Austrian Consulate by four Italian officials, news of the conspiracy was obtained in time, and furflier disasters wero avoided. 'The. A us. l.i in ns had received on the very day preceding the burglary a. despatch from Captain Santoro, who was at. Rome, announcing the sinking of the Leonardo da Vinci, and hinting at the payment to which he believed himself to he entitled. Signor Tan/.ini hastened across the frontier and informed the Italian naval authorities, and Santoro was immediately arrested.