NAVAL COMMAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 December 1940, Page 6

NAVAL COMMAND

ESTABLISHED BY BRITAIN IN MEDITERRANEAN ITALIAN'HOPES WRECKED. IN SPACE OF SIXTEEN DAYS. British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. November 30. There is wide agreement in the London Press that an estimate of the blow sustained by the Italian Navy on Wednesday may safely be left to the responsible opinion of the world. The blow to enemy prestige is particularly stressed by “The Times” which comments: “When two battleships, one of them the newest and most powerful in the world, retire from a 23-year-old battle-cruiser it is not Italian confidence that is likely to be stimulated, but British.” The material angle of the blow —following closely on the Taranto exploit—is described in the “Daily Telegraph” as having changed fundamentally the whole naval position in the Mediterranean. “Italy,” the “Telegraph” says, “began as a great maritime Power, and under the Axis strategy she was, by continual avoidance of action, to conserve her strength till such time as that of the British Fleet had been whittled away by the submarine and other hazards of war and battle could at least be joined with a good prospect of victory. me expected attainment has not taken place, and the whole plan has been irretrievably wrecked in the space of 16 days. ‘Mare Nostrum’ is commanded today by the British Navy.”