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Second Battle of Sirte

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The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval battle between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina during the World War II. It took place on 22 March 1942, in the Mediterranean, north to the Gulf of Sirte, west of Malta. The action was an Italian victory but their timidity in pressing their advantage made it a minor one.

By 1942 the action in the Mediterranean had increased in tempo, with both the Italian and German air forces attempting to block the Royal Navy from supplying their forces engaged in North Africa. Malta had long been a major factor in the Royal Navy's success against similar missions by the Italians and had been receiving an increasing amount of Axis attention in the early spring. Short of aircraft, fuel and ammunition, convoy MW10 was arranged from Alexandria to supply the island, leaving on March 21st.

The British were aware that any attempt to supply the island would be met both by German and Italian aircraft as well as Italian surface units. However the threat from the ships was deemed smaller than that from the air as the battles during 1941 had made the Regia Marina fairly "gun shy". Thus the escort was heavy on destroyers and included anti-aircraft cruiser Carlisle to provide heavy anti-aircraft and anti-submarine forces and included only three light cruisers for protection from surface threats. Additional destroyers and another light cruiser were also sent for from Malta. British plans were to leave Carlisle and half the destroyers with the cargo ships under any circumstance, while the rest of the ships would lay smoke and delay the approach of Italian surface units if they approached.

At 2:30PM the next day smoke was spotted on the horizon. The British were surprised to learn they were facing not a small high-speed force as they expected but a force of heavy cruisers and escorting destroyers. They immediately put their plans into action, with the convoy and escorts turning away for Malta while the cruisers and destroyers laid smoke and charged the Italians. After an exchange of fire the Italian cruisers backed off, but soon returned with battleship Littorio and its screening destroyers.

The battle raged for two and a half hours, with the British ships exiting their huge smoke screen to fire a few volleys, returning when the Italian fire got too close. At 6:30PM the British decided to force the issue and sent their destroyers in to launch torpedo attacks from about six miles, the closest the Italians would close. None of the torpedoes hit their targets, but Havock and Kingston were both hit by shells from the Littorio. Meanwhile Littorio had been hit with minimal damage, while another cruiser was on fire but not damaged.

As darkness fell the Italians gave up and turned for home at about 7:00PM. Not equipped with radar, they would be at a significant disadvantage if the battle continued. Throughout the battle the Italians outgunned their British counterparts and could have easily charged the convoy with either of the two groups. However they appeared unwilling to close for a decisive blow, perhaps in fear of torpedo attacks from the numerically superior British destroyer force.

According to British reports, Cleopatra had its turret destroyed by Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, with the lost of 16 seamen. Cruisers Euryalus and Penelope were heavily damaged. Havock was dead in the water by a direct hit which killed at least 12 sailors (although later able to get underway), and the destroyers Sikh, 'Lively', Legion, 'Lance' and Kingston all had damage.

Most of the escort force, now short of fuel, turned back for Alexandria. The damaged destroyers and convoy were sent on to Malta, with Carlisle, Penelope and Legion. The next day they were subjected to continuous air attacks. Cargo ship Clan Campbell was sunk twenty miles from harbour, oil tanker Breconshire was damaged and anchored outside, while only Talabot and Pampas reached Grand Harbour intact. Breconshire was later towed to a protected bay.

The next day German dive bombers appeared, hitting all three of the remaining ships. Breconshire rolled over in the bay, but much of her oil was salvaged through the hole in her hull. Talabot and Pampas were both sunk in the harbour. By this point only about 5,000 tons of cargo had been unloaded, of the 26,000 tons that had been loaded in Alexandria.

The Italians were no more lucky after the battle. After failing to make any serious attacks, they were caught en-route to their bases by a severe storm that sank destroyers Scirocco and Lanciere.

Contents

Order of battle

Royal Navy

Royal Navy destroyers were:

References and external links

 

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