WERE RECIEVED BY THE ILLUSTRIOUS, THE AFT AND FORE
ELEVATORS WERE WRECKED AND HER ARMORED FLIGHT DECK WAS DAMAGED,
AND ANUMBER OF FIRES, DESTROYING SIXTEEN PLANES, WERE STARTED.  THE
STEERING GEAR WAS DAMAGED, THE OFFICERS QUARTERS WERE WRECKED,
AND THE SHIP, AFTER BEING FLOODEDFROM FRAME 136 AFT, SETTLED DOWN BY
THE STERN EIGHT FEET.  60 WERE SERIOUSLY WOUNDED, 40 SLIGHTLY AND 83
WERE KILLED.  ALTHOUGH DIVE BOMBED BY TWELVE PLANES, BOMBED BY SIX
PLANES FROM A HIGH LEVEL AND TORPEDO ATTACKED BY TWO PLANES, SHE
WAS ABLE TO REACH MALTA BY STEERING BY HER ENGINES.  THE HAWSE-PIPE
OF THE WARSPITE WAS HIT AND ABOUT TEN MEN WERE WOUNDED ON BOTH
BATTLESHIPS.
     EIGHT FULMER FIGHTERS BROKE UP AN ATTACK ON THE CONVOY BY
BRINGING DOWN SEVEN OUT OF TOTAL OF ABOUT TEN DIVE BOMBERS WHICH
MADE ONLY NEAR MISSES.  
     TWELVE OF THE SAME TYPE BOMBERS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON
ATTACKED THE TWO BATTLESHIPS, ALTHOUGH HXXX THE VALIANT WAS
PARTICULARLY CONCENTRATED ON. LUCKILY NO HITS AND ONLY VERYNEAR
MISSES WERE MADE BUT THE ATTACK WAS DETERMINED, THE PLANES PULLING
OUT AS LOW AS 100 (REPEAT 100) FEET AFTER DIVING AT 70 DEGREE ANGLES.
     THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF ANTIAIRCRAFT FIRE AGAINST DETERMINED
MASS FORMATIONS WAS AGAIN PROVEN BY THE FACT THAT ONLY ONE PLANE
WAS BROUGHT DOWN IN ALL ATTACKS BY HEAVY ANTIAIRCRAFT FIRE BY ALL
AVAILABLE GUNS FROM ALL SHIPS.  THE ONLY SOLUTION IS FIGHTER
PROTECTION.  
     ABOUT 200 MILES FROM ITALY AT 3 PM ON JANUARY 11, AFTER BING
SHADOWED DURING THE MORNING, THE SOUTHAMPTON AND GLOUCESTER
WERE SURPRISED COMPLETELY BY AN ATTACK OUT OF THE SUN