Battle of Cape Matapan
HMS Valiant , participant in the Battle of Matapan
| date | March 28, 1941 |
|---|---|
| place | South of Cape Matapan , Mediterranean |
| output | British victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 1 aircraft carrier , 3 battleships , 4 light cruisers , 13 destroyers |
1 battleship , 6 heavy cruisers , 2 light cruisers, 13 destroyers |
| losses | |
|
3 dead, |
2,400 dead, |
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The Battle of Cape Matapan took place on March 28, 1941 between British and Italian naval forces in the eastern Mediterranean between Cape Matapan and the island of Gavdos .
background
The British Mediterranean Fleet , which operated from Alexandria under its Commander-in-Chief Sir Andrew Cunningham , tried to engage the Italians in battle soon after Italy entered the war on June 11, 1940, as the numerous modern Italian units had to maintain a correspondingly strong British fleet made necessary ( fleet-in-being ). For the time being, however, there was no decisive battle , as the Italian Navy shifted to a defensive strategy after the sea battle at Punta Stilo , but especially after the British attack on Taranto .
The Italian attack on Greece began on October 28, 1940, but the Greek army was soon able to stop it and push the invaders back as far as Albania . The British High Command supported the Greeks by occupying Crete and stationing air forces. The Royal Air Force was thus able to bomb the oil production area of Ploiesti in Romania , which was important for the German warfare . To prevent the emergence of a new front in Southeastern Europe, Hitler decided in November to intervene in the conflict from the spring of 1941. The deployment of strong German units on the Greek- Bulgarian border from March 2nd led in return to a strengthening of the British contingent in Greece. The troops necessary for this could be withdrawn from the North African front, since the Italian offensive there had already collapsed in December. From March 5, troop convoys ran every three days from Alexandria to Piraeus , bringing 58,000 British soldiers to Greece by mid-April.
Introduction of the forces
The Italian plan
The Italian Navy planned, under considerable German pressure, an attack on these troop transports. She used the fast battleship Vittorio Veneto , six heavy and two light cruisers and a total of 13 destroyers . Under the command of Vice-Admiral Iachino, the units left Naples , Messina , Taranto and Brindisi on the evening of March 26 and headed for Crete in three groups. The British convoys had to pass through Crete west to stay out of range of Italian planes from the Dodecanese . The balance of power seemed favorable for the Italians, as German bomber pilots falsely reported the damage to two British battleships on March 16. Since the British Mediterranean fleet had a total of three such ships at the time, Iachino expected at best an operational battleship on the other side. With his supposed superiority, he wanted to penetrate the Aegean Sea and intercept British transports there.
British countermeasures
Through " Ultra " (see also: Mavis Lever ), Cunningham found out about the Italian project on March 25 and prepared the expiry of his armed forces. He ordered Vice Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell , who operated four light cruisers and four destroyers in the Aegean Sea, to take up a position south of Crete until the 28th, where he was to meet with Cunningham's ships. When one of the two Italian cruiser groups was sighted by a flying boat on the 27th, Cunningham ran under cover of darkness with his battleships HMS Warspite , HMS Barham and HMS Valiant , the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable and nine destroyers. A convoy already at sea was recalled.
Ships involved
Italian armed forces
| Commander | Ships |
|---|---|
| Angelo Iachino | Battleship Vittorio Veneto ; Destroyer Alpino , Bersagliere , fuciliere and Granatiere (13th Destroyer Flotilla) |
| Luigi Sansonetti | Heavy cruisers Trieste , Trento and Bolzano ; Destroyers Corazziere , Carabiniere and Ascari (12th Destroyer Flotilla) |
| Carlo Cattaneo | Heavy cruisers Zara , Pola and Fiume ; Destroyers Gioberti , Alfieri , Oriani and Carducci (9th Destroyer Flotilla) |
| Antonio Legnani | Light cruisers Duca degli Abruzzi and Giuseppe Garibaldi ; Destroyers Da Recco and Pessagno (16th Destroyer Flotilla) |
| Total: | 1 battleship, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 13 destroyers |
Allied forces
| Commander | Ships |
|---|---|
| Andrew Cunningham | Battleships HMS Warspite , HMS Barham and HMS Valiant ; Aircraft carrier HMS Formidable ; 9 destroyers |
| Henry Pridham-Wippell | Light cruisers HMS Orion , HMS Ajax , HMS Gloucester and HMAS Perth ( Australian Navy ) ; 4 destroyers |
| Total : | 3 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 4 cruisers, 13 destroyers |
Course of the battle
First phase: cruiser battle
At around 6:00 a.m. on March 28, reconnaissance aircraft took off from the deck of the Formidable and soon afterwards sighted the Sansonettis cruiser group. The Italian units were already south of Crete near the island of Gavdos . The cruiser association Pridham-Wippell, which had unknowingly crossed the course behind Sansonetti and had himself been spotted by an on-board aircraft of the Vittorio Veneto , got the Italian cruisers in sight around 7.45 a.m. Pridham-Wippell increased speed and set a south-easterly course, hoping that if the Italians should pursue them, they would be able to pull them within range of their own battleships steaming from that direction. Both sides opened fire at the highest distance, but scored no hits. After about an hour, Sansonetti turned off Iachino's orders and set out on a north-westerly course - with the same ulterior motive as Pridham-Wippell before. He turned again and chased the Italian cruisers so as not to lose touch with the enemy fleet. British planes rose from both the HMS Formidable aircraft carrier and Maleme in Crete to attack the Italian cruisers.
After a one-hour chase, the HMS Orion , which belongs to Pridham-Wippell's cruiser association, sighted the Italian battleship shortly before 11:00 a.m., which opened fire immediately. Immediately let Pridham Wippell a smokescreen place and went at top speed on a reciprocal course to the southeast. After half an hour, in which the Italian battleship could not score, appeared six torpedo bombers , which came from the HMS Formidable , which was moving further away with the battleships , and attacked the Vittorio Veneto . Although the ship was able to avoid all torpedoes, Iachino, who himself had no air cover, came to the conclusion that staying within range of enemy bombers posed too high a risk for his ships. He broke off the battle with the British cruisers and set out on a west-northwest course, back to Italy.
Second phase: air strikes
At around 12:30 p.m., Pridham-Wippell's cruiser met with Cunningham's headquarters. Together they ran after the Italian fleet, using the cruisers as advanced scouts. Since the old British battleships reached a maximum of 24 knots , the modern Italian but 30 knots, Cunningham could only hope to catch up with the Vittorio Veneto if her speed were to be reduced by damage. Another five “ Fairey Swordfish ” aircraft took off from Cunningham's aircraft carrier HMS Formidable and attacked the Vittorio Veneto from two sides at 3:20 pm. The squadron leader's Swordfish was shot down, but one of the five torpedoes hit the battleship at the stern . Due to the penetrating water, the machines had to be stopped temporarily.
When Cunningham received this report, he did not know for sure the extent to which the Italian ship was damaged and whether he could still reach it with his main force. He therefore once again sent the cruisers to contact and ordered another air strike, which started at 17:35 with eight aircraft.
One hour later, the aircraft on board, launched from the Warspite catapult , reported that the Vittorio Veneto had resumed 13 knots of speed. In addition, the Italian fleet had taken an anti-aircraft formation in which the cruisers flanked the damaged battleship on both sides. At this speed, Cunningham could not hope to reach the Italian formation before the next day, but this would have exposed him to the risk of enemy air attacks due to the proximity to the mainland.
Towards nightfall at 7:30 p.m., the British carrier aircraft attacked one last time. A torpedo hit the heavy cruiser Pola , which had to withdraw from the formation. Due to ingress of water, the propulsion and power supply of the ship failed and it remained motionless.
Third phase: night battle
When Iachino learned of the severity of the damage on the Pola , he ordered Cattaneo to run back with the rest of his bandage and protect the Pola . Apparently Iachino still had no knowledge of the presence of the British battleships. Corresponding view messages Italian reconnaissance he had given no faith in the course of the day. So Cattaneo expected at most to run into Pridham-Wippell's light cruiser as he headed south-easterly towards the main British forces.
Around 8:30 p.m., Cunningham decided to send a formation of eight destroyers ahead at top speed to catch up with the departing Italian fleet and attack with torpedoes. Since the speed of the Vittorio Veneto was underestimated (she was now running at 20 knots again) and Iachino had made a minor change of course, these destroyers came to nothing. They recorded Cattaneo's cruisers on the radar, but mistook them for their own ships. At the same time, the British cruisers got radar contact with a stopped ship that Pridham-Wippell held for the Vittorio Veneto , as well as with several unidentified ships that were heading in a southeastern direction. Assuming that it was his own destroyers who wanted to attack the Vittorio Veneto , he ordered a course that increased the distance to these ships - he wanted to prevent the British units from accidentally shooting at each other. Both formations were therefore too far away to intervene in the following battle.
On the battleships it was also hoped that the ship that was stopped was the Vittorio Veneto , and the heavy artillery was made ready for action. At around 10:20 p.m., the destroyer HMAS Stuart suddenly sighted Cattaneo's ships only two nautical miles away. The British battleships immediately turned in keel line towards the enemy and fired at the Italian ships with all their main and middle artillery. The HMS Formidable , which was not suitable for an artillery battle , left the formation in the meantime. The Italians' guns were at rest and the crews had not been put on alert. The battle was already decided after three minutes, when the destroyer Alfieri, leading the Italian keel line, and the two cruisers Fiume and Zara that followed him were shot down to burning wrecks. Fiume and Alfieri sank half an hour later, Zara was sunk by torpedoes at 02:40.
In order not to run the risk of being hit by torpedoes from the three other Italian destroyers, Cunningham ordered the removal of all " armed forces not directly involved in sinking enemy ships " to the northeast. Mainly the own battleships were meant, but the destroyer and cruiser associations also received this order and broke off the pursuit of the Italian bulk.
Around midnight, the British destroyer HMS Havock came across the Pola , which was still without any propulsion or electricity. Three quarters of the crew had left the ship, the remainder were completely demoralized. When the destroyer HMS Jervis went alongside and sent a boarding party on board, they surrendered without resistance. Towing the incapable of maneuvering ship was out of the question due to the proximity to Italian air bases, so the Pola was sunk with torpedoes after the crew was captured around 4:00 a.m. Five out of seven ships were sunk by the 1st cruiser division under Vice Admiral Carlo Cattaneo.
Summary and consequences
After the British fleet had regrouped, they searched for survivors of the battle at dawn on March 29th. About 650 Italians were saved before Cunningham withdrew to Alexandria. After the coordinates of the battlefield were announced , Italian and Greek ships were able to save another 270 survivors. On the Italian side, over 2,400 men died, almost all of them in the brief nocturnal firefight. Vice Admiral Carlo Cattaneo also died. On the British side, only the crew of the “Fairey Swordfish” were killed - otherwise there were no losses or damage. Cunningham was then highly decorated.
In the immediate aftermath, the Italian fleet was no longer able to take offensive action. The evacuation of British troops from Greece and Crete ('Operation Demon') could only be disrupted by air strikes. The British Mediterranean Fleet covered the repatriation of around 67,000 soldiers to North Africa until the end of May 1941; in the process she suffered heavy losses. In Libya, the Afrikakorps under Erwin Rommel began an offensive on March 31 .
The indirect consequence of the battle was that Malta could no longer be captured, as the Italian Navy was not powerful enough to attack at sea and Hitler refused further airborne operations after the heavy losses in the airborne battle of Crete (→ " Operation Hercules ").
literature
- Geoffrey Martin Bennett: Naval Battles in World War II. Weltbild-Verlag, Augsburg 1989, ISBN 3-89350-065-0 .
- Stanley Walter Croucher Pack: The Battle of Matapan . Batsford, London 1961.
- Stephen Wentworth Roskill: The war at Sea 1939-1945 , Vol. 1: The defensive . Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1954.
