Second Battle of Sirte

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Second Battle of Sirte Part of the Mediterranean Theater of World War II Italian battleship Littorio, Admiral Iachino's flag ship Date 22 March 1942 Location Gulf of Sirte, Mediterranean Sea Result British tactical success[1] Axis strategic victory[2] Belligerents United Kingdom Italy Commanders Philip Vian Angelo Iachino Strength 4 light cruisers 1 anti-aircraft cruiser 18 destroyers 1 submarine 1 battleship 2 heavy cruisers 1 light cruiser 8 destroyers 1 submarine Casualties and losses 3 light cruisers damaged 6 destroyers damaged 39 KIA None

v • d • e Battle of the Mediterranean Espero¹² – Mers-el-Kébir – Calabria¹² – Spada – Cape Passero¹ – Taranto – Spartivento¹ – Excess¹ – Abstention – Matapan – Tarigo² – Crete – Substance¹ – Halberd¹ – Duisburg² – Bon² – 1st Sirte¹² – Alexandria raid – 2nd Sirte¹ – Harpoon¹ – Vigorous¹ – Pedestal¹ – Agreement – Torch – Stone Age¹ – Toulon – Skerki² – Cigno² – Sicily – Sinking of Roma ¹ - Involved an Allied convoy • ² - Involved an Axis convoy

The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval battle between most of the escorting warships of a British convoy and the bulk of a Regia Marina squadron. The British convoy included four merchant ships carrying supplies for Malta, escorted by four cruisers and eighteen destroyers, while the Italian force comprised a battleship, three cruisers and eight destroyers. The battle occurred on 22 March 1942, in the Mediterranean, north of the Gulf of Sirte, east of Malta, during the Second World War.

[edit] Background

By 1942, the tempo of action in the Mediterranean had increased, as the Italian and German air forces attempted to isolate Malta and remove it as a threat. Malta had long been a major factor in the Royal Navy and RAF success against Italian convoys to North Africa and in return had became the target of an increasing number of heavy Axis air raids by the end of the winter. After a series of Allied setbacks changed the overall scenario by spring 1942, Mussolini boasted that the Mediterranean sea was an Italian Mare Nostrum ("Our Sea"), reflecting the Italian naval supremacy at the time. As Malta was running short of aircraft, fuel, food and ammunition, convoy MW10 sailed from Alexandria on March 21.

The British expected opposition from German and Italian aircraft as well as Italian surface units. In December 1941, they had suffered the loss of their two battleships (HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant) in the eastern Mediterranean, after an underwater attack from the Italian frogmen led by Luigi Durand De La Penne, and so their Alexandria squadron consisted only of cruisers and destroyers. The British, however, deemed the Italian surface threat less dangerous than the air threat because of a string of British naval victories in the Mediterranean in 1941. Thus, three light cruisers were thought sufficient, while a diversion was organized from Gibraltar: on the morning of March 20, the battleship HMS Malaya with the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle and HMS Argus, supported by the cruiser HMS Hermione and eight destroyers set sail from the "Rock". Next day, the squadron returned to port, after having flown off aircraft reinforcements to Malta.

The escort of convoy MW10 relied heavily on destroyers, including lighter-built escort destroyers, to provide anti-submarine protection and included the anti-aircraft cruiser Carlisle to bolster the convoy's anti-aircraft capability. Additional destroyers and another light cruiser were also sent from Malta.

In the case of an Italian surface attack, the British planned to divide the convoy, with the light cruisers and half of the destroyers acting as a rearguard to lay smoke and delay the enemy while the Carlisle and the remaining destroyers proceeded with the cargo ships to Malta.

[edit] The battle

At 2:30pm next day, the British were faced by, not the expected small high-speed force, but rather a pair of heavy cruisers and escorting destroyers. Nonetheless, they immediately implemented their plan; the cargo ships and escorts turned away to the south while the light cruisers and remaining destroyers laid smoke and charged the Italians. After an exchange of fire, the two Italian heavy cruisers backed off to lure the British toward the incoming main Italian squadron, and at 4:37pm they returned to attack with the battleship Littorio, a light cruiser and their screening destroyers.

The battle ^[3] raged for two and a half hours, with the British ships leaving the safety of their huge smoke screen to fire a few volleys and then returning to it when the Italian return fire got too close. At 6:30pm the British decided to force the issue and sent their destroyers in to launch torpedo attacks from about six miles, the closest the Italians would allow the British to approach. None of the torpedoes hit their targets, but Havock and Kingston were both hit by 15" shells from the Littorio. Lively was also struck by shrapnel from the battleship's main guns, penetrating a bulkhead, causing some flooding but no casualties. Meanwhile Littorio had been hit, with negligible damage, while another Italian cruiser was on fire from the burst of her own guns but undamaged.^[4]

Italian light cruiser Giovanni dalle Bande Nere.

HMS Cleopatra

At dusk, about 7pm, the Italians gave up and turned for home. Without radar, they would have been at a significant disadvantage in a night action (as in the Battle of Cape Matapan). The Italians outgunned their British counterparts and might have easily attacked the convoy with either battle group, but they appeared unwilling to close for a decisive blow, perhaps wary of the torpedo threat from the numerically superior British destroyer force.

According to British reports, Cleopatra had one of her turrets destroyed by Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, with the loss of 16 seamen. Cruisers Euryalus and Penelope were also damaged. A direct hit on Havock killed eight sailors and left the ship dead in the water for a time, although it was able to get underway later. Kingston was also badly damaged amidships, suffering 15 deaths. Lively was forced to retreat to Tobruk for repairs.^[5] Three more destroyers, Sikh, Legion and Lance, suffered lesser damage from 8" cruiser fire.^[6]

[edit] Follow-up actions

Most of the escort force, now short of fuel and ammunition due to the protracted engagement and unable to find the convoy, turned back for Alexandria.^[7] The damaged destroyers and the cargo ships were sent on to Malta, with Carlisle, Penelope and Legion. The next day they were subjected to continuous air attacks. The cargo ship Clan Campbell was sunk twenty miles from harbour, and the oil tanker Breconshire was heavily damaged. Nonetheless, the other two merchantmen, Talabot and steamer Pampas, reached Malta's Grand Harbour virtually unharmed, save for two bombs that hit Pampas but failed to explode.^[8] Breconshire was later towed to a protected bay.^[9]

Intense Axis air raids against Malta on March 24 and March 24 failed to damage the three surviving convoy ships.^[10] However, on March 26, German dive bombers scored bomb hits on all three ships, sinking Talabot and Pampas that day with Breconshire capsizing on March 27.^[11] Much of Breconshire's oil was salvaged through the hole in her hull. Only about 5,000 tons of cargo had been unloaded, of the 26,000 tons that had been loaded in Alexandria.

The Italian fleet units were no more lucky after the battle. After failing to destroy the convoy by themselves, they were caught en-route to their bases by a severe storm that sank destroyers Scirocco and Lanciere.

Destroyer HMS Kingston was hit in the battle by a 15" shell fired by the Italian battleship Littorio.^[12]

Destroyer HMS Kingston suffered heavy damage by the Littorio's guns in the battle, and while in drydock she was successively attacked by German bombers which damaged her beyond repair

Fifteen men of her crew were killed in this incident, which left the destroyer dead in the water, almost broken in two, her whaler torn apart, her anti-aircraft guns, searchlight tower and torpedo launchers shattered by the explosion. Although she had an engine in flames and a flooded boiler, she managed however to recover speed, reaching Malta the next day.

Whilst under repair in dry dock at Malta, Kingston was attacked a few days later by German aircraft and suffered further damage, this time beyond repair. HMS Kingston was scrapped at Malta in the following months.

[edit] Assessments

Several authors have assessed the encounter as a British tactical victory.^[1] On the other side, the fascist propaganda, through some prominent members of the Party (Starace, Grandi, Ciano) called the battle an "Italian victory" and some Italian authors^[13] write of the battle as a partial victory "not well exploited" by Admiral Iachino because of bad weather and lack of radar, which prevented him from continuing the pursuit of the convoy at night.

Nevertheless, almost all sources acknowledge the fact that the Italian fleet inflicted significant damage to the British warships which degraded their combat readiness, without any casualties of their own.^[14] Consequently, these references suggest that the Italian fleet prevailed in the gunnery engagement,^[15] but also that the action represented a failure on the Italian's part to exploit their advantage. Indeed, they were unable to sink or cripple a single cargo ship. This was due to Admiral Vian's vigorous and skillful defense in the face of a superior adversary.

When the main objective, to re-supply Malta, is included in the assessment, however, the outcome is clearer. The British intention to reach Malta before dawn with a substantial escort was disrupted by the Regia Marina´s intervention. This left the cargo ships exposed to axis air supremacy.^[16]

Thereafter, Italian and German aircraft caught the British convoy at sea and chased the surviving steamers to the harbour; more than 80% of the supplies were lost. The British convoy operation was, therefore, a clear failure.^[17]

[edit] Order of battle

[edit] Italy

• Admiral Angelo Iachino
  • 1 battleship: Littorio
  • 6 destroyers: Alfredo Oriani, Ascari, Aviere, Geniere, Grecale, Scirocco (sunk by a storm after the action)
• 2nd division, Admiral Parona
  • 2 heavy cruisers: Gorizia, Trento
  • 1 light cruiser: Giovanni dalle Bande Nere (damaged)
  • 4 destroyers: Alpino, Bersagliere, Fuciliere, Lanciere (sunk by a storm after the action)
• Submarine: Platino

[edit] United Kingdom

• Carlisle squadron:

1 cruiser: Carlisle;

5th Destroyer Flotilla (Hunt class): Southwold (sunk by a mine on March 23); Beaufort; Dulverton; Hurworth; Avon Vale; Eridge.

4 cargo ships;

• 15th Cruiser Squadron (Admiral Vian):

3 cruisers: Dido; Euryalus (slightly damaged); Cleopatra (seriously damaged).

14th Destroyer Flotilla: Jervis; Kipling; Kelvin; Kingston (heavily damaged).

22nd Destroyer Flotilla: Hasty; Havock (heavily damaged); Hero; Lance (damaged); Lively (seriously damaged); Sikh (slightly damaged); Zulu (damaged).

• Support squadron from Malta:

1 cruiser: Penelope;

1 destroyer: Legion (damaged);

4 submarines: Unbeaten, Upholder, P-34 and Proteus.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] Sources

• Belot, Raymond de: The Struggle for the Mediterranean 1939-1945, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1951.

• Bernotti, Romeo: La guerra sui mari nel conflitto mondiale:1940-1945 Tirrena Editoriale. Livorno, 1954. (in Italian)

• Bradford, Ernle: Siege: Malta 1940-1943, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1986.

• Bragadin, Marc'Antonio: The Italian Navy in World War II, United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, 1957. ISBN 0405130317.

• Cunningham, Andrew: A Sailor's Life, New York, 1955.

• Giorgerini, Giorgio: Le navi da battaglia della seconda guerra mondiale. Albertelli editore. Parma, 1972. (in Italian)

• Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro: The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940-1943, Chatam Publishing, London, 1998. ISBN 1861760574.

• Holland, James: Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege, 1940-1943, Miramax Books, New York, 2003.

• Jellison, Charles A.: Besieged: The World War II Ordeal of Malta, 1940-1942, University Press of New England, 1984.

• Llewellyn, M. L.: The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean convoys, Naval Staff series, London, 2006.

• Macintyre, Donald: The Battle for the Mediterranean. Norton ed., New York, 1965.

• Playfair, I.S.O., et.al.: British Fortunes reach their Lowest Ebb, History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series, The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume III (September 1941 to September 1942), Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1960.

• Roskill, S.W.: The Period of Balance, History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series, The War at Sea 1939-1945, Volume III, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1956.

• Sadkovich, James: The Italian Navy in World War II, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1994.

• Shores, Christopher and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia: Malta: The Spitfire Year, 1942. Grub Street, London, 1991. ISBN 094881716X.

• Sierra, Luis de la: La guerra naval en el Mediterráneo, 1940-1943, Ed. Juventud, Barcelona, 1976. ISBN 8426102646. (In Spanish).

• Simpson, Michael: A life of Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Cunningham. A Twentieth-century Naval Leader. Rutledge Ed., 2004. ISBN 0714651974.

• Thomas, David A.: Malta Convoys, Leo Cooper Ed., South Yorkshire, 1999. ISBN 0850526639.

• Trizzino, Antonino: Navi e poltrone. Longanesi Editore. Milano, 1952. (in Italian)

• Weichold, Eberhard:Die deutsche Führung und das Mittelmeer unter Blickwinkel der Seestrategie. Wehrwissenschaftlichen Rundschau, 1959. (In German).

• Woodman, Richard: Malta Convoys, 1940-1943, Jack Murray Ltd., London, 2000. ISBN 0719557534.

[edit] References and external links

• Second battle of the Gulf of Syrte
• The 2nd Battle of the Sirte
• Seconda Battaglia della Sirte - Plancia di Comando