Lot Essay
How the United States Fleet sailed into the Bay of Algiers. The American Squadron consisted of one 35,000 ton battleship, a cruiser and two destroyers. Fire was opened by the Americans on a Vichy coastal battery which had attacked the squadron on it's arrival late in the afternoon; but by 8 o'clock all firing had stopped and the city was blacked out; only the blaze from burning petrol dumps redden the sky. In this drawing the 35,000 ton battleship, seen on the inshore side, is the California (she is a 14 gun ship launched in 1919); on the right is the US Cruise of the Portland class (of 9,800 tons, armed with 8" guns); whilst the other two vessels are "Mahon" class destroyers (of 1,500 tons, which date back to the years 1936 and 1937).