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On 28 March, an [[IMAM Ro.43]] [[floatplane]] launched by ''Vittorio Veneto'' spotted the British cruiser squadron at 06:35. At 07:55, the ''Trento'' group encountered Admiral Pridham-Wippell's cruiser group south of the Greek island of [[Gavdos]]. The British squadron was heading to the southeast. Thinking they were attempting to run from their larger ships, the Italians gave chase, opening fire at 08:12 from {{convert|24059|yd|m|abbr=on}}. The Italian guns had trouble grouping their rounds, which had little effect. The [[rangefinder]]s also performed poorly, with the exception of those of ''Bolzano''.
On 28 March, an [[IMAM Ro.43]] [[floatplane]] launched by ''Vittorio Veneto'' spotted the British cruiser squadron at 06:35. At 07:55, the ''Trento'' group encountered Admiral Pridham-Wippell's cruiser group south of the Greek island of [[Gavdos]]. The British squadron was heading to the southeast. Thinking they were attempting to run from their larger ships, the Italians gave chase, opening fire at 08:12 from {{convert|24059|yd|m|abbr=on}}. The Italian guns had trouble grouping their rounds, which had little effect. The [[rangefinder]]s also performed poorly, with the exception of those of ''Bolzano''.


The three heavy cruisers fired a total of 535 mm 203 mm ammunitions<ref>Fraccaroli, Aldo: ''Lo combattimento navale di Gaudo'', Storia militare magazine jan 2001, Albertelli editions, Parma</ref>: RM Trieste fired 132 AP (Armour Piercing); Trento fired 204 AP and 10 HE (high explosive), and Bolzano fired another 189 AP, until 8.55 AM. HMS Gloucester fired back three salvos, but these were short, even if caused a change in the italian's ship direction.
The three heavy cruisers fired a total of 535 mm 203 mm ammunitions: RM Trieste fired 132 AP (Armour Piercing); Trento fired 204 AP and 10 HE (high explosive), and Bolzano fired another 189 AP, until 8.55 AM. HMS Gloucester fired back three salvos, but these were short, even if caused a change in the italian's ship direction<ref>Fraccaroli, Aldo: ''Lo combattimento navale di Gaudo'', Storia militare magazine jan 2001, Albertelli editions, Parma</ref>.


After an hour of pursuit, the Italian cruisers broke off the chase, as the distance did not was reduced, and turned northwest, under orders to rejoin ''Vittorio Veneto''. The Allied ships also reversed course, and followed the Italians at extreme range. Iachino's plan was to lure the British cruisers into the range of ''Vittorio Veneto''{{'}}s guns.<ref name=GV/>
After an hour of pursuit, the Italian cruisers broke off the chase, as the distance did not was reduced, and turned northwest, under orders to rejoin ''Vittorio Veneto''. The Allied ships also reversed course, and followed the Italians at extreme range. Iachino's plan was to lure the British cruisers into the range of ''Vittorio Veneto''{{'}}s guns.<ref name=GV/>


An officer eating a sandwich on {{HMS|Orion|85|2}}'s bridge remarked to a companion, "What's that battleship over there? I thought ours were miles away." The Italians eavesdropped on {{HMS|Orion|85|2}}'s signal that she had sighted an unknown unit and was going to investigate.<ref>O'Hara, 2009 p. 89</ref> At 10:55, ''Vittorio Veneto'' met the Italian cruisers, and immediately opened fire on the shadowing Allied cruisers. She fired 94 rounds from a distance of {{convert|25153|yd|m|abbr=on}}, all well aimed, but again with the excessive spreading of her individual salvoes. The Allied cruisers, until then unaware of the presence of a battleship (HMS Orion even closed the distances, going to identifie that ship), withdrew, suffering slight damage from {{convert|15|in|mm|abbr=on}} shell splinters.<ref name=spl/><ref name=GV>Greene & Massignani, pp. 150–151</ref> A series of photographs taken from HMS ''Gloucester'' showing Italian salvoes falling amongst Allied warships was published by [[Life (magazine)|''Life'' magazine]] on 16 June 1941.<ref>[http://books.google.com.ar/books?id=kkwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32&dq=gloucester+matapan&hl=en&cd=1#v=onepage&q=gloucester%20matapan&f=false "Matapan: British fleet won sea victory over Italians"]</ref>. Veneto fired totally 94 shells in 29 salvoes. After the 10th, there as a jamming that interrupted the fire for three minutes. All the ammunitions used were 'a palla' (HE), but 11 of them 'failed' and caused jamming in the turrets. Italians were impressed by the very dense and well deployed smokescreen set up by british destroyers and cruisers.
An officer eating a sandwich on {{HMS|Orion|85|2}}'s bridge remarked to a companion, "What's that battleship over there? I thought ours were miles away." The Italians eavesdropped on {{HMS|Orion|85|2}}'s signal that she had sighted an unknown unit and was going to investigate.<ref>O'Hara, 2009 p. 89</ref> At 10:55, ''Vittorio Veneto'' met the Italian cruisers, and immediately opened fire on the shadowing Allied cruisers. She fired 94 rounds from a distance of {{convert|25153|yd|m|abbr=on}}, all well aimed, but again with the excessive spreading of her individual salvoes. The Allied cruisers, until then unaware of the presence of a battleship (HMS Orion even closed the distances, going to identifie that ship), withdrew, suffering slight damage from {{convert|15|in|mm|abbr=on}} shell splinters.<ref name=spl/><ref name=GV>Greene & Massignani, pp. 150–151</ref> A series of photographs taken from HMS ''Gloucester'' showing Italian salvoes falling amongst Allied warships was published by [[Life (magazine)|''Life'' magazine]] on 16 June 1941.<ref>[http://books.google.com.ar/books?id=kkwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32&dq=gloucester+matapan&hl=en&cd=1#v=onepage&q=gloucester%20matapan&f=false "Matapan: British fleet won sea victory over Italians"]</ref>. Veneto fired totally 94 shells in 29 salvoes. After the 10th, there as a jamming that interrupted the fire for three minutes. All the ammunitions used were 'a palla' (HE), but 11 of them 'failed' and caused jamming in the turrets. Italians were impressed by the very dense and well deployed smokescreen set up by british destroyers and cruisers.

HMS Gloucester was capable to hold the speed of the formation, despite a fault in the shaft reduced previously her speed at only 24 knots; despite this, she was capable to make 30-31 knots. Therefore, after 20 minutes of pursuit, ''Veneto'' was already distanced at 26,000 meters (3,000 more than the start) and, as the visibility was worsened by smokescreen and bad weather, she ceased to fire at british ships. Just few moments later, italians seen several biplanes closing. Initially they thinked that they were CR.42s, but they were british torpedo-bombers, escorted by some Fairey Fulmars. Italian ships fired with 152, 100, 90 and (when the enemy came very close) with 37, 20 and 13.2 mm guns, repealling the attack, while one of the two Junkers 88 escorting the italian fleet was shot down by a Fulmar<ref>Fraccaroli, Aldo: ''Lo combattimento navale di Gaudo'', Storia militare magazine jan 2001, Albertelli editions, Parma</ref>.


=== Air attacks ===
=== Air attacks ===

Revision as of 14:11, 12 April 2012

For the 18th century battle, see Battle of Matapan.
Battle of Cape Matapan
Part of the Mediterranean Theater of the Second World War

Map of the battle
Date27–29 March 1941
Location
Mediterranean Sea off Cape Matapan, Greece
Result Decisive Allied victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 Australia		  Italy
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Andrew Cunningham Kingdom of Italy Angelo Iachino
Strength
1 aircraft carrier
3 battleships
7 light cruisers
17 destroyers		 1 battleship
6 heavy cruisers
2 light cruisers
17 destroyers
Casualties and losses
4 light cruisers lightly damaged[1]
1 torpedo bomber lost
3 dead		 1 battleship heavily damaged
3 heavy cruisers sunk
2 destroyers sunk
2,300+ dead

The Battle of Cape Matapan (Greek: Ναυμαχία του Ταίναρου) was a Second World War naval battle fought from 27–29 March 1941. The cape is on the southwest coast of Greece's Peloponnesian peninsula. A force of British Royal Navy ships accompanied by several Royal Australian Navy ships, under command of British Admiral Andrew Cunningham, intercepted and sank or severely damaged the ships of the Italian Regia Marina under Admiral Angelo Iachino. The opening actions of the battle are also known in Italy as the Battle of Gaudo.

Background

As ships of the Mediterranean Fleet covered troop movements to Greece, intelligence was received reporting the sailing of an Italian battle fleet with one battleship, six heavy and two light cruisers plus destroyers to attack the convoys. The interception was made possible by Ultra decryptions of intercepted signals, but, as ever, this was concealed from the enemy by ensuring there was a plausible reason for the Allies to have detected and intercepted the Italian fleet. In this case, it was a carefully directed reconnaissance plane. As a further deception, Admiral Cunningham is said to have made a surreptitious exit from a golf club in Alexandria to avoid being seen going on board ship. He had made a point of arriving at the club the same afternoon, with his suitcase prominently paraded as if for an overnight stay, and an evening party on his flagship was advertised for that night but never meant to take place.

At the same time, there was a failure of intelligence on the Axis side. The Italians had been wrongly informed that the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet had only one operational battleship. In fact, there were three, and a lost British aircraft carrier had been replaced.[citation needed]

Prelude

The Allied force was the British Mediterranean fleet, consisting of the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, the modernized World War I battleships HMS Barham, Valiant and Warspite (as flagship). The main fleet was accompanied by two flotillas of destroyers:

Also present were HMS Hotspur and Havock.

A second force, under Admiral Sir Henry Pridham-Wippell, consisted of the British light cruisers HMS Ajax, Gloucester and Orion, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth and the British destroyers HMS Hasty, Hereward and Ilex. The Australian HMAS Vendetta had returned to Alexandria.

In addition, Allied warships attached to convoys were available: HMS Defender, Jaguar and Juno waited in the Kithira Channel and Decoy, Carlisle, Calcutta, Bonaventure and HMAS Vampire were nearby.

The Italian fleet was led by Iachino's vessel, the modern battleship Vittorio Veneto. It also included almost the entire Italian heavy cruiser force: Zara (under Vice-Admiral Carlo Cattaneo), Fiume and Pola; four destroyers of the 9th Flotilla (Alfredo Oriani, Giosué Carducci, Vincenzo Gioberti and Vittorio Alfieri). The heavy cruisers Trieste (carrying Vice-Admiral Luigi Sansonetti), Trento and Bolzano were accompanied by three destroyers of the 12th Flotilla (Ascari, Corazziere and Carabiniere), plus the light cruisers Duca degli Abruzzi (Vice-Admiral A. Legnano) and Giuseppe Garibaldi (7th cruiser division) and two destroyers of the 16th Flotilla (namely Emanuele Pessagno and Nicoloso de Recco) from Brindisi.[2] None of the Italian ships had radar, although several Allied ships did.[3]

The 13th Flotilla of Italian destroyers, Alpino, Bersagliere, Fuciliere, Granatierewas also involved screening the flagship.

Battle

On 27 March, Vice-Admiral Pridham-Wippell—with the cruisers Ajax, Gloucester, Orion and Perth and a number of destroyers—sailed from Greek waters for a position south of Crete. Admiral Cunningham with Formidable, Warspite, Barham and Valiant left Alexandria on the same day to meet the cruisers.[4]

The Italian Fleet was spotted by a Short Sunderland flying boat at noon, thus Iachino lost the advantage of surprise. The Italian Admiral also learned that Formidable was at sea thanks to the decryption team aboard Vittorio Veneto. Nevertheless, after some discussion, the Italian headquarters decided to go ahead with the operation, in order to show the Germans their will to fight and confidence in the higher speed of their warships.[4]

Action off Gavdos

The battleship Vittorio Veneto firing upon the Allied cruisers during the battle

On 28 March, an IMAM Ro.43 floatplane launched by Vittorio Veneto spotted the British cruiser squadron at 06:35. At 07:55, the Trento group encountered Admiral Pridham-Wippell's cruiser group south of the Greek island of Gavdos. The British squadron was heading to the southeast. Thinking they were attempting to run from their larger ships, the Italians gave chase, opening fire at 08:12 from 24,059 yd (22,000 m). The Italian guns had trouble grouping their rounds, which had little effect. The rangefinders also performed poorly, with the exception of those of Bolzano.

The three heavy cruisers fired a total of 535 mm 203 mm ammunitions: RM Trieste fired 132 AP (Armour Piercing); Trento fired 204 AP and 10 HE (high explosive), and Bolzano fired another 189 AP, until 8.55 AM. HMS Gloucester fired back three salvos, but these were short, even if caused a change in the italian's ship direction[5].

After an hour of pursuit, the Italian cruisers broke off the chase, as the distance did not was reduced, and turned northwest, under orders to rejoin Vittorio Veneto. The Allied ships also reversed course, and followed the Italians at extreme range. Iachino's plan was to lure the British cruisers into the range of Vittorio Veneto's guns.[6]

An officer eating a sandwich on Orion's bridge remarked to a companion, "What's that battleship over there? I thought ours were miles away." The Italians eavesdropped on Orion's signal that she had sighted an unknown unit and was going to investigate.[7] At 10:55, Vittorio Veneto met the Italian cruisers, and immediately opened fire on the shadowing Allied cruisers. She fired 94 rounds from a distance of 25,153 yd (23,000 m), all well aimed, but again with the excessive spreading of her individual salvoes. The Allied cruisers, until then unaware of the presence of a battleship (HMS Orion even closed the distances, going to identifie that ship), withdrew, suffering slight damage from 15 in (380 mm) shell splinters.[1][6] A series of photographs taken from HMS Gloucester showing Italian salvoes falling amongst Allied warships was published by Life magazine on 16 June 1941.[8]. Veneto fired totally 94 shells in 29 salvoes. After the 10th, there as a jamming that interrupted the fire for three minutes. All the ammunitions used were 'a palla' (HE), but 11 of them 'failed' and caused jamming in the turrets. Italians were impressed by the very dense and well deployed smokescreen set up by british destroyers and cruisers.

HMS Gloucester was capable to hold the speed of the formation, despite a fault in the shaft reduced previously her speed at only 24 knots; despite this, she was capable to make 30-31 knots. Therefore, after 20 minutes of pursuit, Veneto was already distanced at 26,000 meters (3,000 more than the start) and, as the visibility was worsened by smokescreen and bad weather, she ceased to fire at british ships. Just few moments later, italians seen several biplanes closing. Initially they thinked that they were CR.42s, but they were british torpedo-bombers, escorted by some Fairey Fulmars. Italian ships fired with 152, 100, 90 and (when the enemy came very close) with 37, 20 and 13.2 mm guns, repealling the attack, while one of the two Junkers 88 escorting the italian fleet was shot down by a Fulmar[9].

Air attacks

Vittorio Veneto withdraws from the battle area after being torpedoed by RN aircraft.

By this point, Cunningham's forces, which had been attempting to join up with Pridham-Wippell's, had launched a sortie of Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers from HMS Formidable at 09:38. They attacked Vittorio Veneto without direct effect, but the required manoeuvring made it difficult for the Italian ships to maintain their pursuit. Realising that they might not be so lucky next time, Iachino broke off the pursuit at 12:20, retiring towards his own air cover at Taranto.[10]

A second sortie surprised the Italians at 15:09. Lieutenant-Commander Dalyell-Stead flew his Albacore to 1,094 yd (1,000 m) from Vittorio Veneto, hitting her outer port propeller and causing 4,000 long tons (4,100 t) of water to be taken on. The ship stopped while damage was repaired, but was able to get underway again at 16:42, making 19 kn (22 mph; 35 km/h). Cunningham heard of the damage to Vittorio Veneto, and started to pursue her. Dalyell-Stead and his crew were killed when their aircraft was shot down by AA fire from the battleship.[11]

A third strike by six Albacores and two Swordfish from 826 and 828 Naval Air Squadrons on Formidable—as well as two Swordfish from 815 Squadron on Crete—was made between 19:36 and 19:50. Admiral Iachino deployed his ships in three columns and used smoke, searchlights and a heavy barrage to protect Vittorio Veneto. This tactic succeeded, but one torpedo hit Pola, which had nearly stopped in order to avoid running into Fiume and could not take avoiding action. This blow knocked out five boilers and the main steam line. Pola lost electric power and drifted to a stop.[12] The torpedo was apparently dropped by Lieutenant F.M.A. Torrens-Spence. Unaware of Cunningham's pursuit, a squadron of cruisers and destroyers were ordered to return and help Pola, formed on Pola's sister ships, Zara and Fiume. The squadron did not start to return towards Pola until about an hour after the order had been given by Iachino, officially due to communication problems, while Vittorio Veneto and the other ships continued to Taranto.[13]

Night action

At 20:15, HMS Ajax´s radar picked up a ship six miles to port, apparently dead in the water; she was the crippled Pola. The bulk of the Allied forces detected the Italian squadron on radar shortly after 22:00, and were able to close without being uncovered. The Italian ships had no radar and could not detect British ships by means other than direct sight; the resulting military doctrine did not envisage night actions and the Italians had their main gun batteries disarmed. They managed to spot the Allied squadron at 22:20, which they thought to be Italian ships. Therefore the British battleships Barham, Valiant and Warspite were able to close to 3,828 yd (3,500 m) unnoticed by the Italian ships – extremely close range for battleship guns – from where they opened fire. The Allied searchlights illuminated their enemy. Some British gunners witnessed the cruiser's main turrets popping up dozens of metres into the air. After just three minutes, two Italian heavy cruisers—Fiume and Zara—had been destroyed. Fiume sank at 23:30, while Zara was finished off by a torpedo from the destroyer HMS Jervis at 02:40 of 29 March.[14]

Two Italian destroyers, Vittorio Alfieri and Giosué Carducci, were sunk in the first five minutes. The other two destroyers, Gioberti and Oriani, managed to escape, the former with heavy damage. Towing Pola to Alexandria as a prize was considered, but daylight was approaching and it was thought that the danger of enemy air attack was too high.[3] The British boarding parties seized a number of the much needed Breda anti-aircraft machine guns.[15]

Pola was eventually sunk with torpedoes by the destroyers Jervis and Nubian after her crew was taken off, shortly after 04:00. The only known Italian reaction after the shocking surprise was a fruitless torpedo charge by some destroyers and the aimless fire of one of Zara's 40 mm guns in the direction of the British warships.[3]

The Allied ships took on survivors, but left the scene in the morning, fearing Axis air strikes. Admiral Cunningham ordered a signal to be made on the Merchant Marine emergency band. This signal was received by the Italian High Command. It informed them that due to air strikes the Allied ships had ceased their rescue operations, and it granted safe passage to a hospital ship for rescue purposes. The location of remaining survivors was broadcast and the Italian hospital ship Gradisca came to recover them.[3]

Allied casualties during the battle were a single torpedo bomber shot down by Vittorio Veneto's 3.5 in (89 mm) anti-aircraft batteries, with the loss of the three-man crew. Italian losses were up to 2,303 sailors, most of them from Zara and Fiume. The Allies rescued 1,015 survivors, while the Italians saved another 160.[3]

Aftermath

Matapan was Italy's greatest defeat at sea, subtracting from its order of battle a cruiser division, but the battle was hardly decisive. The British in the Mediterranean lost the heavy cruiser York and the new light cruiser Bonaventure in the same period (26–31 March 1941). The fact that the Italians had sortied so far to the east established a threat potential that forced the British to keep their battleships ready to face another such sortie during the operations off Greece and Crete.[16] After the defeat at Cape Matapan, the Italian Admiral Iachino wrote that the battle had "the consequence of limiting for some time our operational activities, not for the serious moral effect of the losses, as the British believed, but because the operation revealed our inferiority in effective aero-naval cooperation and the backwardness of our night battle technology."[16] In fact the Italian fleet did not venture into the Eastern Mediterranean again until the fall of Crete two months later. Despite his impressive victory, Admiral Cunningham was somewhat disappointed with the failure of the destroyers to make contact with Vittorio Veneto. The escape of the Italian battleship was, in the words of the British Admiral, "much to be regretted".[17]

There is still controversy in Italy regarding the orders given by the Italian Admiral Angelo Iachino to Zara division in order to recover Pola, when it was clear that an enemy battleship force was steaming from the opposite direction.[3]

Order of battle

Italy

Allies

Force A, 14th Destroyer Flotilla, 10th Destroyer Flotilla (of Force C), Force B, 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, Force D

Notes

  1. ^ a b Rivista Marittima Template:It
  2. ^ history.net – Battle of cape Matapan (2)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Greene & Massignani, pp. 157–159
  4. ^ a b Greene & Massignani, pp. 148–150
  5. ^ Fraccaroli, Aldo: Lo combattimento navale di Gaudo, Storia militare magazine jan 2001, Albertelli editions, Parma
  6. ^ a b Greene & Massignani, pp. 150–151
  7. ^ O'Hara, 2009 p. 89
  8. ^ "Matapan: British fleet won sea victory over Italians"
  9. ^ Fraccaroli, Aldo: Lo combattimento navale di Gaudo, Storia militare magazine jan 2001, Albertelli editions, Parma
  10. ^ Greene & Massignani, pp. 152–153
  11. ^ Greene & Massignani, p. 153
  12. ^ O'Hara, 2009 p. 91
  13. ^ Greene & Massignani, pp. 152–156
  14. ^ Greene & Massignani, pp. 156–157
  15. ^ Pack, S. W. C. (1961). The Battle of Matapan. British Battles Series. MacMillan, p. 151
  16. ^ a b O'Hara, 2009 p. 98
  17. ^ Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: November 1940 – December 1941. Routledge, p. 76. ISBN 0-7146-5205-9
  18. ^ equivalent to Vice Admiral for RN
  19. ^ equivalent to Rear Admiral in RN)

References

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