AP (Tunis): The small Tunisian navy sailed out to meet its doom against the modern Italian fleet. Tunisian sailor: "Yeah, we were just hoping to survive. At the first boom of the guns...we were just going to scuttle the boat, get in lifeboats, row back to Tunis, and claim we fought a great battle and lost...but then a miracle!"

The miracle was that when the Italian fleet saw Admiral Khaled's flotilla...they ran! Admiral Khaled: "The Italians were cowards. They knew they were going to be defeated so they retreated! We won a great victory and saved Tunis!" Wild celebrations broke out in Tunis. We are saved! We are saved! A statue of Admiral Khaled was constructed. The Tunisian government gave a medal to Admiral Khaled with the inscription: Savior of Tunis.

Italian Foreign Minister Butlano was asked for comment: "Tunis? Naval battle? We did not even know
Tunis had a navy. Our fleet was headed towards Tunis but made a left turn to be used against the Turks..."