ia INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OTHER THAN TREATIES [61 STAT. 4. Statu of Italian Navy. Under this modification of the armis- tice terms, all the Italian ships will continue to fly their flags. A large proportion of the Italian Navy will thus remain in active com- mission operating their own ships and fighting alongside the forces of the United Nations against the Axis Powers. Liaison officer The requisite Liaison officers will be supplied to facilitate the work- ing of the Italian ships in co-operation with allied forces. A small Italian liaison mission will be attached to the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, to deal with matters affecting the Italian Fleet. 5. Mercantile Marine. It is the intention that the Italian Mer- cantile Marine should operate under the same conditions as the mer- chant ships of the Allied Nations. That is to say, all mercantile ship- ping of the United Nations is formed into a pool which is employed as may be considered necessary for the benefit of all the United Nations. In this will naturally be included the requirements for the supply and maintenance of Italy. The system will be analogous to that used in North Africa, where the North Africa Shipping Board controls all United States, British and French shipping under certain agreements which will have to be arranged in detail in so far as Italian ships are concerned. While it may be expected that a pro- portion of Italian ships will be working within the Mediterranean and to and from Italian ports, it must be appreciated that this will not always necessarily be the case and ships flying the Italian flag may be expected to be used elsewhere as is done with the merchant ships of Ad.. 2em all the United Nations. Italian ships employed as outlined in this paragraph will be manned so far as possible by crews provided by Italian Ministry of Marine and will fly the Italian flag.
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