Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1940)
Part of The Battle of the Mediterranean of the Second World War

HMAS Sydney in 1940
Date12 November 1940 (1940-11-12)
Location
Strait of Otranto, Adriatic Sea
Result British victory
Belligerents
  Italy
Commanders and leaders
Henry Pridham-Wippell Giovanni Barbini (WIA)
Strength
  • 3 light cruisers
  • 2 destroyers
  • 1 torpedo boat
  • 1 auxiliary cruiser
  • 4 merchantmen
Casualties and losses
None 36 killed
42 wounded
4 merchantmen sunk
1 torpedo boat damaged

The Battle of the Strait of Otranto was the destruction of an Italian convoy on 12 November 1940 during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. It took place in the Strait of Otranto in the Adriatic Sea, between the Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina.

Background

British/Italian naval operations

On 4 November Convoy AN 6 and Convoy MW 3 sailed from Port Said and Alexandria for Greece and Malta escorted by the anti-aircraft cruisers HMS Calcutta and Coventry and the destroyers HMS Dainty, Vampire, Voyager and HMAS Waterhen. After escorting Convoy AN 6 to Suda Bay the ships, less Voyager which stayed with the ships in Suda Bay, were to sail westwards with Convoy MW 3. Force B, the light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMAS Sydney sailed from Alexandria on 5 November, landed supplies at Suda Bay in Crete the next day then sailed to rendezvous with the Mediterranean Fleet.[1]

Convoy MW 3 sailed for Malta as part of Operation MB 8, supported by the Mediterranean Fleet, comprising the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, the battleships Warspite, Valiant, Ramillies and Malaya, the 3rd Cruiser Squadron with the heavy cruiser York, the light cruiser Gloucester and HMS Orion of the 7th Cruiser Squadron (Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell) to be joined by Ajax and Sydney.[1][lower-alpha 1] The 13 destroyers HMS Nubian from the 14th Destroyer Flotilla, Mohawk, Jervis, Janus, Juno, Hyperion of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, Hasty, Hero, Hereward, Havoc, Ilex and Decoy and Defender, detached from the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, accompanied the bigger ships.[1]

On 7 November, Operation Coat began when Force H (Vice-Admiral James Somerville) sailed from Gibraltar with the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, the light cruiser HMS Sheffield and the destroyers Faulknor of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla, HMS Duncan, Firedrake, Forester, Fortune and Fury to cover Force F, reinforcements for the Mediterranean Fleet, consisting of the battleship HMS Barham, the heavy cruiser HMS Berwick and the light cruiser Glasgow with the destroyers Encounter, Gallant, Greyhound and Griffin as far as the area south of Sardinia on 9 November. Operation Crack, subsidiary to Operation Coat, took place on 9 November when Swordfish bombers of 810 Naval Air Squadron, 818 Naval Air Squadron and 820 Naval Air Squadron from Ark Royal attacked Cagliari in Sardinia.[1]

The Operation Coat ships were discovered by the Regia Aeronautica and attacked on 9 November but was able only to obtain near misses on Ark Royal, Barham and Duncan. The Italian submarines Alagi, Axum, Aradam, Medusa and Diaspro took position south-west of Sardinia on 9 November but encountered no British ships. The 14th Destroyer Squadron with Vivaldi, Da Noli, Pancaldo and Malocello was sent into the Sicilian Channel but passed Force F, detached from Force H on the night of 9/10 November, without making contact. Force F met the Mediterranean Fleet from the east early on 10 November, south of Malta, then put in to Malta to disembark 2,150 troops and anti-aircraft guns.[1]

Prelude

Force X

The Adriatic Sea and the Strait of Otranto circled in red}}

The Regia Marina sent the submarines Mameli, Corallo, Bandiera, Topazio and Capponi to the east of Malta but only Capponi was able to get into position and fire torpedoes at Ramillies, which missed; the battleship docked at Malta with Coventry, Dainty, Vampire and Waterhen and Convoy MW 3. On 10 November Convoy ME 3 with the four unloaded ships and the escorts from Convoy MF 3, Coventry and its three destroyers, sailed eastwards and survived an attack by the submarine Topazio the next day, followed by the destroyer Vendetta and the monitor Terror which arrived in Suda Bay on 13 November.[1][lower-alpha 2]

The destroyers Faulknor, Fortune and Fury, which had acted as minesweepers for Force F, returned to Force H, south of Sardinia, for the return journey to Gibraltar. After rendezvous with the ships from the west, the Mediterranean Fleet sailed east and Italian aircraft trying to shadow the ships suffered losses to attacks by Fulmars from Illustrious. On 11 November, Illustrious with the cruisers Gloucester, Berwick, Glasgow and York, with the destroyers Hasty, Havelock. Hyperion and Ilex turned towards Taranto and Force X (Vice Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell) the Leander-class light cruisers Orion, Sydney and Ajax, with the Tribal-class destroyers Mohawk and Nubian turned north to raid Italian convoys carrying troops and supplies to Albania across the Strait of Otranto at the entrance to the Adriatic Sea.[1][lower-alpha 3]

Italian convoy

On 12 November, a Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) convoy of four empty merchant ships, Antonio Locatelli, Premuda, Capo Vado and Catalani, were on their way back from Valona, Albania to Brindisi, Italy escorted by the First World War-era torpedo boat Nicola Fabrizi (Tenente di vascello Giovanni Barbini) and the auxiliary cruiser Ramb III (Capitano di fregata Francesco De Angelis). The ships were travelling darkened without navigational lights.[5]

Battle

The Strait of Otranto

The British ships proceeded north during the night of 11 November and reached a line between Bari and Durazzo by 01:00 without incident, then turned to run southward. Twenty minutes later, the raiders encountered six darkened ships, including what they thought were two destroyers and four merchantmen. The vessels passed across their front and were making for the Italian mainland. Mohawk opened fire at 01:27 and action became general. In a confused night action, Sydney attacked the leading freighter at a range of 11 km (5.9 nmi; 6.8 mi), setting it on fire. Over the next 23 minutes, the other three merchantmen were either sunk or damaged and left burning. Fabrizi was hit, severely damaged and limped toward Valona with 11 dead and 17 wounded. Ramb III, after an initial discharge of 19 salvoes from her 120 mm (4.7 in) guns, broke off the action unscathed. The merchantmen were all sunk in the action. The British force suffered no damage or casualties, although a torpedo narrowly missed Sydney's stern at 01:40. The Italians suffered 36 dead and 42 wounded.

Aftermath

Ramb III, the only surviving participant in the battle, is on display at Rijeka as the museum ship Galeb.

The Regia Aeronautica searched for the British naval squadron but the CANT flying boats which eventually found it were shot down. The Regia Marina sent motor torpedo boats located north of Valona, Cruiser Squadron 7, consisting of the light cruisers Muzio Attendolo, Eugenio di Savoia, Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta, the 15th Destroyer Division from Brindisi, Cruiser Squadron 8, consisting of the light cruisers Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi and Giuseppe Garibaldi, with the 7th and 8th Destroyer Divisions from Taranto sailed to intercept the British naval squadron in the Otranto Straits but they failed to make contact. The day after the battle, two Italian torpedo boats, Curtatone and Solferino, rescued 140 sailors.

Orders of battle

Regia Marina

Photograph of Angelo Bassini, of the same class as Nicola Fabrizi

Data from O'Hara (2009)[6]

Freighters

Data from O'Hara (2009)[6]

    • Antonio Locatelli 5,691 GRT (sunk)
    • Premuda 4,427 GRT (sunk)
    • Capo Vado 4,391 GRT (sunk)
    • Catalani 2,429 GRT (sunk)

Royal Navy

Data from O'Hara (2009)[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Convoy MW 3 consisted of the RFA Plumleaf, the merchant ships Volo and Rodi, Devis (6,054 GRT) and the liner Weiwera.[2]
  2. ↑ The freighters Memnon, Lanarkshire, Clan Ferguson and Clan Macaulay.[3]
  3. ↑ Pridham-Wippell had taken over as Vice-Admiral, Light Forces (second in command of the Mediterranean Fleet) when Admiral John Tovey had been recalled to Britain to take command of the Home Fleet.[4]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 47.
  2. ↑ Woodman 2003, p. 84.
  3. ↑ Woodman 2003, p. 86.
  4. ↑ Playfair 1959, p. 238.
  5. ↑ Jordan 2006, p. 226.
  6. 1 2 3 O'Hara 2009, p. 62.

References

  • Greene, Jack; Massignani, Alessandro (2002) [1998]. The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940–1943. Rochester: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-057-9.
  • Jordan, Roger (2006). The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars And Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-959-2.
  • O'Hara, Vincent P. (2009). Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940–1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-648-3.
  • Playfair, I. S. O.; et al. (1959) [1954]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Early Successes Against Italy (to May 1941). History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. I (3rd impr. ed.). HMSO. OCLC 494123451. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
  • Woodman, R. (2003). Malta Convoys 1940–1943 (pbk. ed.). London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-6408-6.

Further reading

  • Coulthard-Clark, Chris (1998). Where Australians Fought: The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-611-2.
  • Gill, G. Hermon (1957). Royal Australian Navy, 1939–1942. Australia in the War of 1939-1945 (1st ed.). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 66895943.
  • Stasi, Carlo (2003). "Otranto e l'Inghilterra (episodi bellici in Puglia e nel Salento)". Note di Storia e Cultura Salentina, anno XV, (in Italian). Lecce: Argo.
  • Stasi, Carlo (2018). Otranto nel Mondo. Dal "Castello" di Walpole al "Barone" di Voltaire (in Italian). Galatina: Editrice Salentina. ISBN 978-88-31964-06-7.
  • Lowry, Thomas P. (2000). The Attack on Taranto:Blueprint for Pearl Harbor. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpoole Books paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-81-172654-2.
  • Stephen, Martin (1988). Grove, Eric (ed.). Sea Battles in close-up : World War 2. London: Ian Allan ltd. ISBN 0-7110-1596-1.
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