(3 of 3)
As the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet steamed proudly back to Alexandria—with no bad damage, and not a single man having lost so much as a hand—the British indulged in glorious postmortems. When the Italians said they were positive that they had sunk a British cruiser, British who had been in the battle suddenly remembered a curious thing: after they had quit the action, they had heard gunfire —could it be that the Italians had sunk one of their own?
Battleships. The Italians had started the war with six battleships, had perhaps commissioned two more since. Three had been damaged at Taranto, but two were probably repaired since. The Vittorio Veneto, which was commanded in this engagement by Chief of Staff Admiral Arturo Riccardi, was hurt again. Net: maximum, six; minimum, three.
Cruisers. Of 22 at war's beginning, one armored and two light cruisers had been sunk. In this action three heavies were sunk. Net: 16.
Destroyers. There had been 126 at war's beginning. Eleven had previously been definitely sunk. Two more were sunk in this action. Net: 113.
For the British, the battle meant much.
It meant that the Mediterranean was definitely and finally theirs. It meant that lines of communications for important adventures in the Balkans were relatively secure. It meant that units might now be freed for the Battle of the Atlantic.* If the British claim of absolutely no loss was true, this was about as decisive and about as shameful a defeat as any supposedly first-rate fleet had ever suffered.
* A lucky searchlight hit similarly caught the British armored cruiser Black Prince unawares at Jutland, the last big night engagement, and she blew up. * This week the R.A.F. announced that bomber pilots had found the Atlantic raiders Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Brest, had dropped bombs all around them.