Queen Elizebeth-class
An item dated Rome, Italy 14th referred to a statement of the armed forces headquarters reporting that a submarine chaser commanded by lieutenant Antonio Scaldo an enemy submarine sunk. Italian aircraft surveying and photographing above the Egyptian harbour Alexandria after the latest Italian air attack saw that the British battleship HMS Valiant which suffered badly now nearly was sunk.(1)
Note
1. Consisted of the Queen Elizabeth, Malaya, Warspite, Valiant, Barham, Malaya and the in 1914 cancelled Agincourt. Preceded by the Iron Duke-class and succeeded by the Revenge-class. Pennant 02. Laid down at Fairfield, Clydebank, Scotland on 31 January 1913, launched on 4 November 1914, completed in February 1916, commissioned on 13 January 1916, modernized 1929-1930 and March 1937-November 1939, decommissioned in July 1945 and sold to be broken up on 19 March 1948 by Arnott Young at Cairnryan, Scotland in 1948. Building costs 2.537.037 pond sterling. She was heavily damaged when Italian divers of the Decima Flottiglia MAS managed to place limpet mines on her while lying at Alexandria on 19 December 1941. Despite being damaged stayed her decks above the water and still clear of the bottom although she was almost immobilised. Repaired at Durban, South Africa returned she to the Mediterranean scene in 1943.
