Battle off Zuwarah

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Battle off Zuwarah
Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of World War II
HMS Javelin 1941 IWM FL 10524.jpg
HMS Javelin (1941)
Date19/20 January 1943
Location 32°56′N12°05′E / 32.933°N 12.083°E / 32.933; 12.083
Result British victory
Belligerents
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg  Italy
Commanders and leaders
Michael Townsend Giuseppe Di Bartolo  
Strength
2 destroyers 6 minesweepers
1 trawler
1 patrol boat
1 pump boat [1]
Casualties and losses
7 wounded 180 killed
6 minesweepers sunk
1 trawler sunk
1 patrol boat sunk
1 pump boat sunk [2]

The Battle off Zuwarah (19/20 January 1943) was a night encounter during the Second World War. The battle took place in Libyan waters between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina . An Italian flotilla of small minesweepers and auxiliary vessels evacuating Tripoli was destroyed by two British destroyers.

Contents

Background

On 15 January 1943, the destroyers HMS Kelvin and HMS Nubian, blockading the port of Tripoli in Libya, had forced the Italian torpedo boat Perseo to retire damaged and then sunk the 4,537  GRT D'Annunzio, a merchant ship trying to escape from Tripoli, on 15 January. On the night of 19/20 January, the British destroyers Kelvin and Javelin patrolled off Zuwarah, about 55 nmi (102 km; 63 mi) west of Tripoli, to cut off the escape of the last Italian ships from Tripoli. [3]

Prelude

The Type 271 radar on Javelin detected ships heading west towards the Tunisian coast, from the direction of Tripoli. The ships were the Tripoli minesweeping flotilla (Lieutenant Giuseppe Di Bartolo), which had been ordered to leave the city for Tunisia and then to Italy, to avoid capture. The flotilla was made up of four small minesweeping tugs (RD 31, RD 36, RD 37 and RD 39, of which RD 36 and 37 had Italian Guardia di Finanza crews; the naval trawler Scorfano, the largest ship in the convoy, the small tanker Irma; the auxiliary minesweepers DM 12 Guglielmo Marconi (a requisitioned brigantine); R 26 Angelo Musco and R 224 Cinzia (two former fishing vessels); the auxiliary patrol vessel V 66 Astrea (a motor sailing vessel) and the pump boat S. Barbara (towed by Scorfano). [2]

Battle

Map of Libya, Tripoli and Zuwarah lie to the west LocationLibya.svg
Map of Libya, Tripoli and Zuwarah lie to the west

Javelin and Kelvin moved to intercept the Italian ships, fired star shells to illuminate them and then mistook the vessels for an Italian convoy. [2] The Italians were able neither to fight back (the RD minesweepers being armed with a 76 mm gun and two 6.5 mm machine-guns each, while the other ships carried only machine guns) nor to escape, being slower than the destroyers. RD 36, the flotilla leader, tried to cover the retreat of the other ships but was soon sunk with all hands. The other vessels, fleeing towards the coast to allow their crews to escape, were picked off one-by-one. RD 37 and Scorfano were sunk with no survivors; Marconi was set on fire but all of her crew escaped before she sank and Irma was finished off with a torpedo. [4]

Aftermath

Analysis

By the morning of 20 January, the flotilla had been annihilated. Kelvin had expended 300 rounds of 4.7-inch ammunition and Javelin 500 rounds. [2] Javelin and Kelvin quickly headed for Malta, where they arrived safely the next day. [5] RD 36 and its crew were awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour for the action against overwhelming odds.[ citation needed ]

Casualties

The Italians suffered 180 fatal casualties and the survivors either swam ashore or were picked up by Italian vessels the next day.[ citation needed ]

Orders of battle

British destroyers

British anti-shipping patrol [2]
NameFlagTypeNotes
HMS Kelvin Naval ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy K-class destroyer Fired 300 4.7-inch shells, returned to Malta
HMS Nubian Naval ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy Tribal-class destroyer Fired 500 4.7-inch shells, returned to Malta

Italian convoy

Italian evacuation convoy [2]
NameFlagTypeNotes
RD 31 Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy RD 31-class minesweeper Guardia di Finanza , sunk
RD 36 Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy RD 31-class minesweeper Guardia di Finanza flag Giuseppe Di Bartolo, sunk
RD 37 Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy RD 31-class minesweeper Guardia di Finanza , sunk
RD 39 Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy RD 31-class minesweeper Guardia di Finanza , sunk
ScorfanoFlag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy Naval trawler Towed Santa Barbara, sunk
R 224 CinziaFlag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy Auxiliary minesweeper71 GRT, sunk
DM 12 Guglielmo MarconiFlag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy Auxiliary minesweeperBrigantine, 304 GRT, sunk
R 26 Angelo MuscoFlag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy Auxiliary minesweeper69 GRT, sunk
IrmaFlag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy Tanker305 GRT, sunk
V 66 AstreaFlag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy Tanker136 GRT, sunk
Santa BarbaraFlag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy BargeTowed by Scorfano, sunk

Footnotes

  1. Tomblin 2004, p. 104.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 O'Hara 2009, p. 206.
  3. O'Hara 2009, pp. 205–206.
  4. Cuccuru 2007; Dragamine 2025.
  5. Langtree 2002, p. 157.

References

Further reading