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The Battle of Cape Matapan was a World War II naval battle fought off the Peloponnesian coast of Greece from March 27 to March 29, 1941. A combined force of British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships under the command of the British Admiral Andrew Cunningham intercepted and sank or severely damaged those of the Italian Regia Marina, under Admiral Angelo Iachino.

Forces

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

Also present were HMS Hotspur and Havock.

A second force, under Admiral Sir Henry Pridham-Wippell, consisted of the British light cruisers HMS Ajax, Gloucester and Orion, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth and the British destroyers HMS Hasty, Hereward and Ilex — the Australian Vendetta had returned to Alexandria.

In addition, Allied warships attached to convoys were available: HMS Defender, Jaguar and Juno waited in the Kithira Channel and HMS Decoy, Carlisle, Calcutta Bonaventure and HMAS Vampire were nearby.

The Italian fleet was led by Iachino's vessel, the modern battleship Vittorio Veneto. It also included almost the entire Italian heavy cruiser force: the Zara (under Vice-Admiral Carlo Cattaneo), Fiume and Pola; four destroyers of the 9th Flotilla (Alfredo Oriani, Giosué Carducci, Vincenzo Gioberti and Vittorio Alfieri). 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 Luigi di Savoia Duca Degli Abruzzi (Vice-Admiral A. Legnano) and Giuseppe Garibaldi and nine destroyers of the 6th Flotilla (including Emanuel Pessagno and Nicolosa de Recco). None of the Italian ships had radar, although several British ships did.

The 10th and 13th Flotillas of Italian destroyers: the Alpino, Bersagliere, Fuciliere, Granatiere, Grecale, Libeccio, Maestrale and Scirocco were also involved.

Background

The interception was made possible by Ultra (cryptanalysis 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 aboard ship.

At the same time, there was a failure of intelligence on the Axis side. The Italians had been wrongly informed that the Mediterranean fleet had only one operational battleship. In fact there were three and a lost British aircraft carrier had been replaced.

The British force was well served with radar and had night fighting experience which would tell against the Italian ships which had neither.

As ships of the Mediterranean Fleet covered troop movements to Greece, 'Ultra' intelligence was received reporting the sailing of an Italian battlefleet with one battleship, six heavy and two light cruisers plus destroyers to attack the convoys.

The battle

On the 27th, Vice-Admiral Pridham-Wippell with the cruisers Ajax, Gloucester, Orion and the Australian Perth and destroyers sailed from Greek waters for a position south of Crete. Admiral Cunningham with Formidable, Warspite, Barham and Valiant left Alexandria on the same day to meet the cruisers. Around 08.30 on the 28th, south of Crete, Adm Pridham-Wippell was in action with an Italian cruiser squadron.

Air attacks

Albacore torpedo-bombers from HMS Formidable attacked the Italian battleship. They had no effect but Iachino realised that without air cover his force was vulnerable and ordered his ships to retire. A second aerial attack at 1510 hrs, hit the Veneto only once with the effect of reducing her speed but not so badly that she would not escape. A third and final strike was ordered which attacked at dusk. The Veneto was undamaged but the Pola was torpedoed successfully and left dead in the water.

Night action

Unaware of Cunningham’s pursuit, a squadron of cruisers and destroyers were ordered to return and protect Pola. The British detected the Italians on radar shortly after 2200, and were able to close without detection. The battleships Barham, Valiant and Warspite were able to open fire at only 3,500 metres. The British searchlights illuminated their enemy. In five minutes two Italian heavy cruisers, Fiume and Zara, had been utterly destroyed. The Italian destroyers moved to attack the battleships but were intercepted by the British destroyers. Two Italian destroyers (Vittorio Alfieri and Giosué Carducci) were sunk. Towing Pola to Alexandria as a prize was considered but it was getting light and it was thought that the danger of enemy planes was too high. Pola was sunk with torpedoes after her crew had been taken off.

The British ships took on survivors but left the scene in the morning when German bombers appeared and attacked them. The location of remaining survivors was broadcast and the Italian hospital ship Gradisca came to recover them.

Result

  • The Allies sank three heavy cruisers and two destroyers and damaged a battleship.
  • The British lost one torpedo bomber and suffered some light damage.

Impact of the Battle

After the heavy Italian defeat at Cape Matapan, the Regia Marina never ventured into the Eastern Mediterranean conceding it to the British fleet. The Italian naval command lost all faith in German promises to protect their fleet from attack here. Hence, Cape Matapan was an important strategic victory for the British who could now concentrate most of their stretched resources against the Afrika Korps in North Africa under General Rommel after the Fall of Greece to German forces in late April 1941.

Order of battle

From *

Regia Marina

  • Admiral of Squad Angelo Iachino
    • 1 battleship: Vittorio Veneto (damaged)
    • 4 destroyers (10a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere): Grecale, Libeccio, Maestrale, Scirocco
    • 4 destroyers (13a Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere): Alpino, Bersagliere, Fuciliere, Granatiere

  • Admiral of Division Sansonetti

  • Admiral of Division Carlo Cattaneo

Allies

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

External links

Naval battles | Battle of the Mediterranean | History of Greece | Naval battles of Italy

Schlacht bei Kap Matapan | Battaglia di Capo Matapan | マタパン岬沖海戦 | Битка код рта Матапан

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Battle of Cape Matapan".

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