MEDITERRANEAN BATTLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23928, 31 March 1941, Page 6

MEDITERRANEAN BATTLE

The latest naval battle in the Mediterranean seems to have been very much like previous actions, except that it was probably on a larger scale and that the Italian fleet was seemingly less prompt than usual in its turn around and in its dash back to port. The results, according to incomplete reports, are that one Italian battleship of the new Littorio class has been damaged, two cruisers severely damaged and one destroyer hit, while aerial reconnaissance suggests that at least one enemy ship was sunk. Action was joined in the lonian Sea and it seems a fair assumption that the Italian fleet had at last been forced to move from its base by the challenge of Britain's continued use of the Eastern Mediterranean. There during recent weeks great convoys of British merchantmen have been passing unscathed within easy striking distance of enemy territory. Operations by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force have reduced the menace of the Dodecanese Islands as a base for Italian air attacks on convoys passing between Egypt and Greece and thus the need for naval action has been forced on Mussolini's shore-loving admirals. The flame of national independence in the Balkans, kindled by Greece and spreading to Yugoslavia, may have led Hitler to demand at least some show of naval initiative from his discredited partner but, as usual, Italian initiative has vanished at the sight of Admiral Cunningham's Fleet, The action will mean more work for Italian dockyards and repair shops, but it will also encourage Balkan patriots by the proof it affords of Britain's continued ability to provide them with sea-borne aid.