[Downunder Dan]

The other issue is the attribution to Virgil Reilly. I don't pluck these out of the air. Pikitia Press (where I found this scan) says it's Virgil Reilly. AusReprints says the same. John Ryan (in 'Panel to Panel') talks about Reilly's work, including how he drew naval war stories, including in the 'Comics Library' series which mostly ran with three revolving sub-titles - 'Navy Combat', 'Fighting Forces' and 'Rocket Squadron' (Navy Combat was Australian, the other two reprinted American comics). And Kevin Patrick in his 'Comics Down Under' blog similarly refers to his work on naval war stories, including 4 issues of 'Navy Combat' (which I originally thought was the title of the comic, until I spotter the smaller 'True'). It's possible someone got it wrong and the rest just repeated it - wouldn't be the first time. But, to my eye, the style of art in this story looks like Reilly's work on 'Silver Flash'.

Link to the comment: True Navy Combat 3

[The Australian Panther]

Dan, I didn't say it wasn't Reilly, just suggested that it might be early work.
When I think of Virgil Reilly I think of work like this,
https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/theodorebruceauctions/62/710462/H3561-L268730900.JPG

Here are his 'Women's Weekly covers from the 1930s
The Australian Women's Weekly - Virgil Reilly 1939 Covers
https://www.pikitiapress.com/blog/2016/12/10/the-australian-womens-weekly-virgil-reilly-1939-covers

So you can see why I was skeptical about the work here, but the visual narrative he creates here is astounding good. A true genius.