Battle of Cape Matapan

Conflict	Battle of Cape Matapan
Partof	the Mediterranean Theater of the Second World War
Caption	Map of the battle
Date	27–29 March 1941
Place	Mediterranean Sea off Cape Matapan, Greece
Result	Decisive Allied victory
Combatant1
Combatant2
Commander1	Andrew Cunningham
Commander2	Angelo Iachino
Strength1	1 aircraft carrier3 battleships7 light cruisers17 destroyers
Strength2	1 battleship6 heavy cruisers2 light cruisers17 destroyers
Casualties1	4 light cruisers lightly damaged1 torpedo bomber destroyed3 dead
Casualties2	1 battleship heavily damaged3 heavy cruisers sunk2 destroyers sunk2,300+ dead

The Battle of Cape Matapan () 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 club in Egypt to avoid being seen going on board ship.

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.

Prelude

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

10th Flotilla: , and commanded by Commander Hec. Waller, RAN 14th Flotilla: , , and commanded by Philip Mack

Also present were and .

A second force, under Admiral Sir Henry Pridham-Wippell, consisted of the British light cruisers , and , the Australian light cruiser and the British destroyers , and . The Australian had returned to Alexandria.

In addition, Allied warships attached to convoys were available: , and waited in the Kithira Channel and , , , and were nearby.

The Italian fleet was led by Iachino's vessel, the modern battleship . It also included almost the entire Italian heavy cruiser force: (under Vice-Admiral Carlo Cattaneo), Fiume and Pola; four destroyers of the 9th Flotilla (Alfredo Oriani, , Vincenzo Gioberti and ). 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 (Vice-Admiral A. Legnano) and (7th cruiser division) and two destroyers of the 16th Flotilla (namely Emanuele Pessagno and Nicoloso de Recco) from Brindisi. None of the Italian ships had radar, although several Allied ships did.

Action off Gavdos

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 . The Italian guns had trouble grouping their rounds, which had little effect. The rangefinders also performed poorly, with the exception of those of Bolzano. After an hour of pursuit, the Italian cruisers broke off the chase 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 Venetos guns.

Air attacks

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.

A second sortie surprised the Italians at 15:09. Lieutenant-Commander Dalyell-Stead flew his Albacore to from Vittorio Veneto, hitting her outer port propeller and causing of water to be taken on. The ship stopped while damage was repaired, but was able to get underway again at 16:42, making . 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.

A third strike by six Albacores and two Swordfish from 826 and 828 Squadrons on Formidable—as well as two Swordfish from 815 Squadron on Crete—was made between 19:36 and 19:50. A torpedo, apparently dropped by Lieutenant F.M.A. Torrens-Spence, crippled the cruiser Pola, forcing her to stop. Unaware of Cunningham's pursuit, a squadron of cruisers and destroyers were ordered to return and help Pola, formed on Polas 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.

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. Italian ships were not supposed to meet enemy ships by night and had their main gun batteries disarmed; they also had no radar and could not detect British ships by means other than direct sight. 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 unnoticed by the Italian ships, 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.

Two Italian destroyers, and , 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. The British boarding parties seized a number of the much needed Breda anti-aircraft machine guns.

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 Zaras 40 mm guns in the direction of the British warships.

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.

Order of battle

Italy

Ammiraglio di squadra (equivalent to Vice Admiral for RN) Angelo Iachino

1 battleship: (damaged)

4 destroyers (13a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere): , , ,

Ammiraglio di divisione (equivalent to Rear Admiral in RN) Antonio Legnani

2 light cruisers (8a Divisione Incrociatori): ,

2 destroyers (6a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere): ,

Ammiraglio di divisione Luigi Sansonetti

3 heavy cruisers (3a Divisione Incrociatori): , ,

3 destroyers (12a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere): , ,

Ammiraglio di divisione Carlo Cattaneo

3 heavy cruisers (1a Divisione Incrociatori): (sunk), (sunk), (sunk)

4 destroyers (9a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere): (sunk), (sunk), ,

Allies

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

Admiral Andrew Cunningham

3 battleships: , , and

1 aircraft carrier:

9 destroyers: , , , , , , and , and

Admiral Sir Henry Pridham-Wippell

4 light cruisers: , and , and

3 destroyers: , and

AG 9 convoy (from Alexandria to Greece)

2 light cruisers: and

3 destroyers: and , and

GA 8 convoy (from Greece to Alexandria)

1 anti aircraft cruiser:

2 destroyers: and

*1 merchant ship: Thermopylæ (Norwegian)

Notes

References

Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro (1998). The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940–1943, Chatam Publishing, London. ISBN 1861760574.

Royal Navy Website history section, Battle of Cape Matapan

Regiamarina.net Operation Gaudo & Battle of Cape Matapan

Historynet.com Battle of Cape Matapan

External links

"Battle of Cape Matapan: World War II Italian Naval Massacre" by Anthony M. Scalzo at HistoryNet.com Battaglia di Gaudo at Plancia di Comando La notte di Matapan at Plancia di Comando

Category:Conflicts in 1941 Category:1941 in Italy Cape Matapan Category:Naval battles and operations of World War II (European theatre) Cape Matapan Cape Matapan Cape Matapan