Italian tidings claimed British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and battle cruiser HMS Hood heavily damaged during attacks on Gibraltar according to the Dutch newspaper Nieuwsblad van het Zuiden dated Thursday 18 July 1940

An item dated Rome, Italy 17th reported that on last Tuesday Gibraltar again was bombed. Above the British battleship Hood (1) and the aircraft carrier Arc Royal (2) were gigantic clouds of smoke visible suggesting that both ships were again hit. Both ships already arrived some time ago heavily damaged in the harbour.

Notes
1. Part of Force H commanded by sir James Somerville which destroyed the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria. Battle cruiser. Nicknamed Mighty Hood. Pennant 51. Her building at the shipyard of John Brown&Company was ordered on 7 April 1916, laid down on 1 September, launched on 22 August 1918, commissioned on 15 May 1920 as world largest warship, sunk on 24 May 1941 during her battle with the German battleship Bismarck. The only one of the four projected Admiral class battle cruisers caused by an insufficient design despite the modifications after the Battle of Jutland (31 May-1 June 1916).
2. Part of Force H commanded by sir James Somerville which destroyed the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria. Laid down by Cammell Laird and Company Ltd., Birkenhead, England on 16 September 1935, launched on 13 April 1937, commissioned on 16 December 1938, torpedoed by the German submarine U-81 on 13 November 1941 and sunk on 14 November 1941.