World War: AT SEA: Battle of the Mediterranean

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All the crucial naval battles in the history of Europe except two—the crushing of the Spanish Armada, and Jutland—have been fought on one piece of water. It is not even dignified with the name of ocean, not even included among the Seven Seas. Nevertheless the Romans called it the Sea in the Middle of the Land, as if there were no other lands, no other seas: the Mediterranean.

There, for many weeks, a battle has been fought which in number of fighting units involved, in number of men engaged, in the number...