Battle of Cape Spartivento

The Battle of Cape Spartivento () was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War, fought between naval forces of the Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina on 27 November 1940.

Origins

On the night of 11 November 1940, the British incapacitated or destroyed half of the battleships of the Italian fleet in a daring aerial assault as they lay at rest at Taranto. Until then, the Italians had mostly left their capital ships in harbour, hoping its mere presence as a fleet in being would deter British shipping through the area, though they would not decline battle if given the opportunity.Template:Sfn

Six days later, on the night of 17 November, an Italian force consisting of two battleships ( and ) and a number of supporting units attempted to intercept two British aircraft carriers, and and their cruiser escorts, who were en route to Malta to ferry aeroplanes to reinforce its defences (Operation White). The British were warned of their approach and immediately turned about and returned to Gibraltar, launching their aircraft (two Blackburn Skuas and 12 Hurricanes) prematurely. One Skua and eight Hurricanes ran out of fuel and were lost with the loss of seven airmen.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The Italians' success in disrupting the reinforcement of Malta cast serious doubt upon British plans to send a further convoy to supply the island (Operation Collar). The convoy was attempted, with increased support, including Force H from Gibraltar and Force D from Alexandria. The convoy was spotted by the Italian intelligence service and the Italian fleet sailed to intercept it. The first Italian naval unit to make visual contact with the convoy was the torpedo boat on the night of 26 November. After launching two torpedoes from long range, which missed, Sirio reported seven enemy warships heading eastwards.Template:Sfn

Battle

The British knew of the Italian fleet's movements, sent their forces north to intercept them before they could close on the freighters. At 09:45 on 27 November, an IMAM Ro.43 reconnaissance floatplane from the heavy cruiser Bolzano discovered a British squadron steaming to the east, north of Chetaïbi.Template:Sfn

Shortly after, at 9:56, Admiral James Somerville received the report of his own aircraft from the carrier Ark Royal about the presence of five cruisers and five destroyers, and assumed that these were Italian units closing for battle. Force D had not yet arrived from Alexandria and the British were outgunned but 15 minutes later, Force D was spotted and the tables turned.Template:Sfn The two forces were fairly even; although the Italian ships possessed larger and longer-ranged guns, the British had an aircraft carrier, which had shown several advantages over the battleship at Taranto. The Italian admiral, Inigo Campioni, had been given orders to avoid combat unless it was in his favour, making a decisive battle unlikely.Template:Sfn

Somerville deployed his forces into two main groups, with five cruisers (Rear-Admiral Lancelot Holland) in front and two battleships and seven destroyers in a second group following to the south. Further to the south, Ark Royal was preparing to launch its Swordfish. The Italians had organised their fleet into three groups, two composed of the six heavy cruisers and seven of the destroyers and a third group of the two battleships and another seven escorting destroyers bringing up the rear. At 12:07, after a report received from the cruiser Template:'s floatplane, Campioni realized the closeness in strengths of the two forces and in accordance with his orders commanded the cruiser groups to re-form on the battleships and prepare to depart. By this point, the lead cruiser formation had already angled toward the British and was beginning to engage them in battle.Template:Sfn

At 12:22, the lead groups of both cruiser forces came into range and opened fire at Template:Cvt. Fire was exchanged as the distance between them closed, but as the range shortened Italian firepower began to put pressure on the outgunned British. The arrival of the battleship on the British side helped to even the odds but she was too slow to maintain formation and dropped out of battle after a few salvoes at 12:26. Four minutes later, Vice-Admiral Angelo Iachino, commander of the Italian cruiser group, received orders to disengage, although the battle had swung slightly in their favour. Iachino ordered an increase in speed to Template:Cvt, laid smoke and started to withdraw.

The Italian destroyer was hit by a broadside from and seriously damaged, although she was towed to port after the battle. The heavy cruiser was hit at 12:22 by a Template:Cvt shell, which knocked out "Y" turret, killed seven men, wounded nine others and ignited a fire that took an hour to subdue. A second hit at 12:35 destroyed the after breaker (electrical switchboard) room and cut power to the ship's aft section, including the remaining aft turret.Template:Sfn Most sources believe that the first hit was scored by an Italian heavy cruiser from the 1º Cruiser Division, either from Fiume or ,Template:Sfn The second round came from the 3º Cruiser Division, either from or , at the time the only Italian warships within range.Template:Sfn

was also hit once, by either Gorizia, Fiume, Pola, Trieste or Trento; the shell hit her belt at about Template:Cvt range.Template:SfnAt around 12:40, eleven Swordfish from Ark Royal attacked Vittorio Veneto with torpedoes, but did not score any hits.

For the next few minutes, the tables turned in favour of the British when the battlecruiser closed the distance on the Italian cruisers and straddled Trieste with two salvoes, hitting it with splinters.Template:Sfn At 13:00, Vittorio Veneto opened fire from Template:Cvt. Vittorio Veneto fired 19 rounds in seven salvoes from long range and that was enough for the outgunned British cruisers, which turned back at the fourth salvo. As giant water-spouts erupted around Berwick and Manchester, Holland ordered smoke and his ships fled south-east to close with Renown.Template:Sfn Manchester was holed by splinters from Vittorio Veneto's rounds.Template:Sfn Both forces withdrew, the battle lasting for 54 minutes and causing little damage to either side.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Aftermath

After the battle Winston Churchill wanted Somerville to be replaced, having questioned his offensive spirit ever since his objections to attacking the French at the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir. A board of inquiry exonerated Somerville, who enjoyed the strong support of several fellow admirals. As for Campioni, although he had a mandate to be conservative, he had presided over the loss of Italy's best opportunity to deal the British a sharp setback in a fleet action. His days of command at sea were numbered. As Iachino remarked, "the use of these ships, which constituted at that moment nearly all of our fleet's effective units after the blow at Taranto, was decided by mainly for reasons of morale and to demonstrate that our combative spirit remained intact".Template:Sfn

Italian order of battle

Italian shipsTemplate:Sfn

Name	Flag	Type	Notes
1st Fleet, Admiral Inigo Campioni
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
7th Destroyer Squadron
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
13th Destroyer Squadron
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
2nd Fleet, Vice-Admiral Angelo Iachino
1st Cruiser Division
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
3rd Cruiser Division
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy	Heavy cruiser
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
9th Destroyer Squadron
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
12th Destroyer Squadron
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy
	Template:Country data Kingdom of Italy		Damaged

British order of battle

Royal Navy

Name	Flag	Type	Notes
Force H, admiral James Somerville
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval	Aircraft carrier
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval
Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Andrew Cunningham
Force D
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval
Force F, Admiral Lancelot Holland
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval	H-class destroyer
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval

Fleet Air Arm

SquadronsTemplate:Sfn

NAS	Flag	Type	Notes
810 Naval Air Squadron	Template:Naval	Swordfish	12 aircraft
818 Naval Air Squadron	Template:Naval	Swordfish	9 aircraft
820 Naval Air Squadron	Template:Naval	Swordfish	9 aircraft
800 Naval Air Squadron	Template:Naval	Skua	12 aircraft
808 Naval Air Squadron	Template:Naval	Fulmar	12 aircraft

Convoys

Operation Collar

Operation CollarTemplate:Sfn

Ship	Year	Flag	GRT.	Notes
	1938	Template:Naval	7,529	To Malta
	1939	Template:Naval	7,529	To Malta
	1935	Template:Naval	10,941	To Alexandria

Convoy MW 4

Alexandria to MaltaTemplate:Sfn

Ship	Year	Flag	GRT.	Notes
Clan Ferguson	1938	Template:Naval	7,347
Clan Macaulay	1936	Template:Naval	10,492
Memnon	1930	Template:Naval	7,506
HMS Breconshire	1939	Template:Naval	9,776

Convoy escorts

Escorts for Convoy MW 4

Name	Flag	Type	Notes
	Template:Naval	H-class destroyer
	Template:Naval	H-class destroyer
	Template:Naval	H-class destroyer
	Template:Naval	H-class destroyer
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval	V-class destroyer
	Template:Naval	V-class destroyer
	Template:Naval	W-class destroyer

Force E

Distant escorts for MW 4

Name	Flag	Type	Notes
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval
	Template:Naval

See also

• Jean Chiappe – thought to have died during the battle after the mail plane he was travelling in, La Verrier, was shot-down.

References

• .

External links

• The Battle of Cape Teulada
• Battaglia di Capo Teulada - Plancia di Commando (in Italian)