Evening star., 1943-09-13
Fleet
Continued From First Page

'SOitlAluCO I'll 4OAi IL 81 IdkC.J
Ct which we're understood to have
been operating in the Atlantic
Ocean.
Other units of the fleet, includ-
ing some of the submarines, were
believed to be at sea attempting to
elude- German bombers which sent
the giant 35,000-ton battleshlr
Roma to the bottom with one we'll
placed bomb as it fled Italy Friday.
Malta dispatches said Admiral
Bagliria, commander of the fleet,
went down with the Roma and that
another officer aboard the cruiser
Eugenio di Savoia became flag OFF,
Ger and brought the feet to Malta
Five Ships Interned.
A dispatch from Madrid said an
Italian cruiser and four other war
ships, destroyers and gunboats, had
been interned at Port Mahon in the
Balearics for overstaying the "a
hour leave as provided by interna-
tional law.
dispatch said, departed from Pol
lensa, Mallorca, one of the Balearic
islands, last night after landing %
wounded.
Seven of Italy's 10 known cruisers
have joined the Allies and seven
Italian warships reported to have
put in previously at the Balearics
before heading for an Allied port
may have included others.
The German radio, in broadcast
recorded by the Associated Press,
said that two of three Italian gun
boats putting in at Mallorca and
Pollensa in the Balearics were
scuttled by their crews.
The situation concerning the mer-
chant fleet likewise was not clear.
Allied officials had little hope that
the giant liners Rex and Conte di
Savoia as we'll as other speedy
transocean passenger ships would
reach safe haven. The ships are
regularly berthed at Genoa, Italy's
principal seaport in the north of
Italy, which fell under German con-
troll shortly after the announce
ment Of the armistice.
There still are numbers of good
freighters and tankers under Italian
registry which, in Allied hands,
would be valuable in further easing
the transportation problem.
Mediterranean Allied Lake.
Italy's surrender had the result Of
turning the Mediterranean into an
Allied lake The menace to Ship
ping, almost eliminated by the fall
Of North Africa and the stepping
stone islands of Pantelleria and
Lampedusa, is eliminated entirely
now with the surrender of the Ital-
ian fleet. There still remains the
possibility of aerial bombing by
land-based German planes. but the
overall danger was small compared
to the early days of the war when
the Mediterranean was closed to
Allied shipping and it was forced
to make the long trip around the
southern tip of Africa.
1t was presumed that the sur
rendered Italian ships would be put
into Allied service as soon as pos
sible.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied
commander in chief, in announcing
the terms OF the armistice granted
to the Italians, said that even if they
gave the Allies no material aid be-
yond the possession of the Italian
fleet that in itself made it wholly
worthwhile.
Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cum
ningham, commander of the Allied
fleet. told Clark Lee, war CORE
spondent representing the combined
American press, that the Italian
ships "are in good order, absolutely
first class, especially the battleships
and new cruisers"
Asked If the Allies could use the
surrendered italian ships, Gen.
Eisenhower declared. You bet we
can"