The above photograph appeared in various editions of the British press, of the day, with captions like "Our cruisers bombard enemy positions in the Italian Campaign". The irony being that at the time of publication, in early March, the Spartan had already lain on the seabed off Anzio for over a month.
In more recent years some have believed this photograph has captured the incoming Henschel Hs 293 bomb (arrowed below) moments before impact. There are a number of factors that count against this. Firstly, ADM/507 records the Spartan was at anchor when she was hit. In the photograph the ship's wake is visible - she is clearly under way. Secondly, ADM 234/507 records the ship being struck at 1756 - that is 41 minutes after sunset. This is confirmed by footage in the film, ADM. 514 held at the Imperial War Museum, taken at the time of the sinking. This reveals the ship being abandoned in total darkness. By contrast, the image in question is clearly taken in broad daylight. The "bomb" is, as can be seen from the arrowed images below, a mark on the negative, where the lower image is from a newspaper of the time.
As a matter of interest. In the above photographs, can anyone identify the ship that appears between the Spartan's funnels? Please leave your opinion in the Guestbook.
"Bearing almost due West about two cables (400 yards) was the BISCAYNE and South Easterly about two cables was the DIDO. There were several Merchant Vessels further inshore - some were liberty ships. As far as I remember there were about five LSTs Sou'West approximately one mile, and various small craft were making smoke between BISCAYNE and Anzio."
