An item reported that the Italian legation at London stated that she did not know anything about a gift consisting of 4 destroyers and 2 submarines by the Italian cabinet to Franco.(1) The newspaper Nieuwsblad van het Noorden supplied more details. The Spanish ambassador at London protested against the renewed support of Franco by the Italian cabinet. Italy was accused of giving the destroyers Aquila and Falco now renamed Velasco Ceuto and Velasco Melilla. Further more were the destroyers Allessandro Poverio and Guglielmo Pepe and the Italian submarines Mola and Sanjurjo handed over to Franco. The submarines were lying at Soller, Majorca. At the same time published this ambassador in the British press a statement that the Spanish cabinet denied that Franco’s navy possessed submarines while all submarines remained in property of the cabinet when the civil war broke out. However the newspaper referred to a statement given on 4 September 1937 by Queipo de Llano that the Nationalists bought four submarines. It were Italian submarines which committed piracy in the Mediterranean and the Spanish cabinet wondered why other countries allowed the military support given to the Nationalists. The Italian legation at London stated that the gift of 4 destroyers and 2 submarines by their government was unknown to them.
Note
1. The Spanish Civil War (17 July 1936-1 April 1939) was fought between the Republicans and the Nationalists (lead by Franco). See also for this subject the item published in the magazine Marineblad
