The battle was one of the few in the Mediterranean campaign involving large numbers of ships on both sides. The battle was indecisive and the ships returned to base; it was the first battleship engagement between the Italians and the British.
Background
When Italy entered the Second World War, its forces in Libya were ill-equipped for offensive operations and the Italian fleet was forced to start large supply convoys.[1] On 6 July a convoy of four merchant ships left Naples for Benghazi, while attempting to fool the British into thinking they were making for Tripoli. That evening two torpedo boats from Catania and another freighter met them off Messina and the next day their escort force joined the convoy from Taranto after being informed that the British had recently left port in Alexandria. The transports carried 2,190 troops, 72 Fiat M11/39 tanks, 232 other vehicles, 10,445 long tons (10,613t) of supplies and 5,720 long tons (5,810t) of fuel. The escort, commanded by Admiral Inigo Campioni, consisted of three groups. The first, comprising four destroyers and six torpedo boats, was close escort for the cargo ships. A second group sailed 35mi (56km) to the east consisting of six heavy cruisers and another four destroyers. The main battle group consisted of the battleships (Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour), eight light cruisers and another 16 destroyers.[2]
The British were involved in a similar convoy action. The fleet sailed from Alexandria bound for Malta where the destroyers would deliver supplies and a limited number of specialist reinforcements. Two convoys were arranged to take off fleet stores and civilians from Malta to Alexandria. Two groups of merchantmen sailed, a fast convoy at 13kn (24km/h; 15mph) and slow one at 9kn (17km/h; 10mph). Protecting them were three groups of ships, Force A, with five cruisers and a destroyer; Force B, with the battleship Warspite and five destroyers and Force C, the main battle group, with the battleships HMSRoyal Sovereign and Malaya, the aircraft carrierHMSEagle and eleven destroyers.[3]Imperial, had to return to Alexandria with a burst steam pipe on the early hours of 8 July. All were under the direction of Admiral Andrew Cunningham.[citation needed]
At 14:40 on 8 July two Italian Cant Z.506 seaplanes from Tobruk spotted the British fleet and shadowed it for nearly four hours. Campioni ordered his fleet to defend the convoy by turning eastwards and preparing for action. Comando Supremo (supreme command of the armed forces) was reluctant to risk its warships in a night action and they ordered the fleet to avoid contact.[4] The Italians suffered technical problems on three destroyers and two light cruisers that, with several additional destroyers, were detached to refuel in Sicily. To make up for the detachments another destroyer group was summoned from Taranto. The Italian fleet had 16 destroyers available.[5]
From 10:00 to 18:40, 72 land-based bombers of the Regia Aeronautica (the Italian Royal Air Force) attacked the British. Unlike the dive-bombers favoured by the Germans, Italian bombers operated in formations from about 12,000ft (3,700m). Scores of bombs were dropped by the Italians and hit HMSGloucester on its compass platform. The captain, six officers and eleven ratings were killed, three officers and six ratings were wounded. The forward fire control and the steering equipment was destroyed and command was moved to the emergency station.[6]
At 15:10 on 8 July, Cunningham's fleet steamed toward Taranto, to cut the Italians' return route. At dusk, Cunningham changed course from 310° to 260° and slowed the fleet speed. During the first hours of 9 July, they took a 305° course, to avoid the Italian air reconnaissance while keeping their fleet between the Italian squadron and the Gulf of Taranto.[7] By 12:30, the Italian Supreme Command was unaware of the situation of the British fleet. Campioni told his fleet to scramble by 14:00 about 60 nautical miles (110km; 69mi) south east of Cape Spartivento in search of the British. Campioni eventually received reports of the British position at 13:30, and six Ro.43 floatplanes launched shortly after by the Italian cruisers spotted the British warships 30 miles closer than supposed. By late evening of 8 July, the Italian convoy had arrived in Benghazi unscathed.[8]
Battle
Cruiser engagement
Italian sailors watch British shells land near their ship in the Battle of Calabria
At noon on 9 July the two fleets were 90 miles (140km) apart. Cunningham could not close the distance to engage with the further back formation of Malaya and the significantly slower Royal Sovereign (18kn (33km/h; 21mph) vs 28kn (52km/h; 32mph)) and advanced with Warspite. At 13:15, Eagle launched several unsuccessful sorties by Swordfish torpedo-bombers against the Italian heavy cruisers, which they mistook for battleships. At 13:10, Comando Supremo had instructed Campioni to engage one of the two forces facing him but they had planned to keep the action close to Italy and were deliberately moving north to draw the British closer to their airbases. By 14:00 Cunningham had cut off the Italian fleet from Taranto.[9]
The British cruiser group was spread out in front of Warspite and at 15:15 they caught sight of the Italian main battle force. The two groups opened fire at 70,500ft (21,500m). Italian range finding was better than the British and within three minutes they had found the distance even though they were firing at extreme range. Although British range finding was not as good and they had trouble with their rounds falling short, British gun laying was better and they were able to place their rounds in much tighter groups. Generally the gunnery of the two forces was fairly well matched. After only a few minutes the range was down to 66,000ft (20,000m) and British gunnery improved. By 15:22, the Italian fire came dangerously close to the British cruisers and Vice Admiral John Tovey decided to disengage.[10] At this point splinters from a 6in (152mm) shell fired by the cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi hit HMSNeptune, damaging her catapult and the Fairey Seafox reconnaissance aircraft beyond repair. The cruisers continued to open the range and by 15:30 fire ceased.[10]
Battleship engagement
One group of Italian light cruisers, mistaken for the heavy cruisers of the Zara class, was on the British side of the battle line and was soon within range of Warspite. Once again the British fire fell short and neither target, Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto di Giussano, were hit in the initial salvos. By this time Warspite was also out of position and circled to allow Malaya to catch up. Royal Sovereign was still well to the rear.[11] The Italian commander decided to take on Warspite, and started moving his two battleships into position. At 15:52 Giulio Cesare opened fire at a range of 86,600ft (26,400m). Conte di Cavour held her fire, as Italian doctrine was for battleships to fight one-on-one. It had been discovered during the Battle of Jutland that more than one ship firing at a single target made it very difficult to identify the fall of shot. Conte di Cavour had been assigned to Malaya and Royal Sovereign, which did not enter the engagement.[12]
Warspite, not aware of the Italian firing patterns, split her guns between the two ships. During the exchange one of Giulio Cesare's rounds fell long and caused splinter damage to Warspite's escorting destroyers Hereward and Decoy, which had formed up on the far side of the action.[13] At 15:54 Malaya opened fire, well out of range, hoping to cause some confusion on the Italian ships. The Italian heavy cruisers came into action and started firing on Warspite at 15:55 but had to break off as the British cruisers returned.[10]
At 15:59 two shells from Giulio Cesare fell very close to Warspite, then one of Warspite's 15in (381mm) rounds hit the rear deck of Giulio Cesare, exploding in the funnel, and setting off the stored ammunition for one of her 37mm (1.5in) anti-aircraft guns. Two seamen were killed and several wounded.[11] The fumes from the burning ammunition were sucked down into the engine room, which had to evacuate and shut down half of the boilers. Giulio Cesare's speed quickly fell off to 18kn (33km/h; 21mph) and Conte di Cavour took over. Giulio Cesare and Warspite were well over 79,000 feet (24,000m) apart and the hit was one of the longest-range naval gunfire successes in history.[a]
It would appear that Warspite was in an excellent position to deal some serious blows to the slowing Giulio Cesare but she once again executed a tight turn to allow Malaya to catch up. With her guns suddenly silenced during the turn, rangefinders on Malaya discovered what the Italians had been intending to avoid, that her rounds were falling 2,700yd (2,500m) short of Giulio Cesare and they had been watching Warspite's rounds, not theirs.[citation needed] At 16:01 the Italian destroyers generated smoke and the battleships got under cover.[14]
Final actions
At 15:58 Fiume re-opened fire on her counterpart in the British line, Liverpool and soon two groups of Italian cruisers (Zara, Bolzano and Pola, closely followed by Gorizia and Trento) came into range with the main British cruiser group. Firing continued as both groups attempted to form up and at 16:07 Bolzano was hit three times by 6-inch shells from Neptune, temporarily locking her rudder and causing two fatalities in the torpedo room. A near miss on the destroyer Vittorio Alfieri caused minor damage.[15] Two of the four damaged boilers in Giulio Cesare were repaired, allowing the battleship to reach 22kn (41km/h; 25mph).[16] Admiral Campioni, considering the possibility of his remaining battleship, Conte di Cavour, having to face three enemy battleships and an aircraft carrier, decided to withdraw the battleships towards Messina.[17]Giulio Cesare was out of action for 30 days.[15]
Over the next hour both fleets made long-range torpedo runs with their destroyers, without success. At 16:40, Italian aircraft made an attack with 126 aircraft, reporting damage on Eagle, Warspite and Malaya; because of a misunderstanding, fifty of the Italian aircraft attacked the Italian ships for six hours, without damage. The battle ended at 16:50 with both sides withdrawing.[18] The destroyer Leone Pancaldo, sent to Augusta in Sicily, was hit by a torpedo launched from a Swordfish at 09:40 the next day and sank in shallow water. She was refloated and returned to service in December 1941.[19]
Aftermath
Analysis
After the battle both fleets turned for home. This allowed the Italians to claim a victory of sorts, as their cargo ships were already past the action by this time and sailed safely for Libya.[20] The British ships also reached Alexandria along with their escort. Although the battle was indecisive, Allied sources claimed that the Royal Navy asserted an important "moral ascendancy" over their Italian counterpart.[21]
Other sources dispute those claims, pointing out that, in the immediate aftermath of the battle, the moods of the two commanders were quite different. Campioni wrote that, even having been able to employ only two old refurbished battleships, the battle gave to every man in the fleet, from the senior officers to the seamen, the impression of being able to cope with the British on equal terms. Cunningham was dismayed by the performance of his two older units, whose lack of speed permitted the Italians to dictate the course of the action and whose guns were out-ranged by those of the two Italian battleships and those of the heavy cruisers. Cunningham dismissed the Royal Sovereign as a "constant source of anxiety", and asked the Admiralty for two or three more Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, possibly equipped with radar, a new carrier with an armoured deck, the heavy cruisers York and Exeter and enough smaller ships to cover the major units.[22][23]
The Italian Littorio class battleships Littorio and Vittorio Veneto at Taranto, both almost ready for action were only a few hours from the scene. The ships were still undergoing trials, and Littorio had suffered an electrical fault on one of her main turrets. The battleships would have tipped the balance of firepower well onto the Italian side.[24] Even without these ships the fleets were fairly even. Despite Italian superiority in aircraft, due to the nearby land-based aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica, the attacks proved ineffective, achieving little apart from the damage to Gloucester. Despite this, the battle reports of the airmen were exaggerated to the point of claiming damage to half of the British fleet.[25] British gunnery proved superior, while the Italian salvos were too widely dispersed due to technical reasons.[26]
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