Evening star., 1943-09-25
the expression, "Ah, feet in being,
YOU know a fleet in being"

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you know, a feet In being"
Apparently that is naval axiom
and I was expected to know the rest
of it, which I did not. But it must
be something like a fleet in being
requires fleet in watching.
The camouflage of the Italian
ships was very much like the Brit
ish,l basically dark gray with black
streaks. Many of the designs Of
the recently painted italian vessels
were long triangles like the spaces
on backgammon board None of
the cruisers had any planes aboard,
but there were two on the after cat
apults of the Vittorio Veneto and
one on the Italia.
The Italian battleships seemed
less broad of beam than the War
spite and Valiant, and, indeed, they
are many knots faster. The water
curled up around their bows in flow
ing waves. The Italian ships, as
Admiral Cunningham said, are alb
solutely first class, and many of the
features of our modern ships have
been adopted from innovations of
Italian designers.
Can Replace Smaller Stuff.
Although our arsenals do not turn
out shells for their big guns, we can
replace the smaller stuff and ack-
ack batteries with our own calibers
Gen. Eisenhower kept himself in
the background. He gave me the
text of the statement, THE Italian
battle fleet is anchored under the
guns of Malta" and emphasized,
That's not from headquarters, but
from the admiral. This is his party"
asked Gen. Eisenhower if he had
formally congratulated the admiral
There's no formality between us, !"
he replied.
But have you told him it was q
swell job?"
Gen. Eisenhower laughed. HE
knows it's a swell job, without my
telling him"
I was beginning to look and feel
little foolish as / insisted.
For the History Books"
For the history books, general,
don't you think it would be a good
idea to send him message of con-
gratulation?"
Gen. Eisenhower agreed, and die
tated telegram congratulating
Cunningham on his victory over the
Italian feet in the Mediterranean
Then he changed the words italian
fleet" to "the enemy" explaining
that the Italians had fully kept their
promises and he did not want to
hurt their feelings.
Then he said, 'Oh. what the hell!
1t was the Italian fleet. Put that
back in"
Later / took the message back to
headquarters and gave it to Gen.
Eisenhower's aide to send to the
admiral
The big moment in the review of
the captured ships came when we
passed astern of the entire forma-
ton after Admiral Cunningham had
warned the destroyer's captain,
Don't turn too sharp now and
scare them"
Looks Like. the Movies.
The three long lines of mighty
ships stretched out nearly to the
horizon, and Gen. Eisenhower whis-
tied and said, That's the way you
see them in the movies"
A Signal Corps movieman got a
laugh from the admiral by remark
ing, II don't know who is running
this ship, but he couldn't have ar
ranged this shot better"
After the review We got back into
port, found our car and drove back
to headquarters, where we had
further luck.
The general in command of pub
lie relations was there and he prom
ised that our stories would be rushed
through. We typed until midnight
And TO think that you get paid for
a job like this.