Battle of Calabria

The Battle of Calabria. more properly the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle between ships of the British Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina that occurred just to the east of the "toe" of Italy (Calabria) on 9 July 1940. Both sides claimed victory, while in fact the battle was a draw and both sides returned to their bases as soon as possible. However a massive propaganda effort on the part of the British served to convince the Italian forces that they had won outright, and from that point on the Italian fleet was hesitant to leave port.

Prior to battle

When World War II opened, it was much to the surprise of the Italian forces, who, like many in Europe, did not expect war until 1941 at the earliest. At the time their forces in Libya were woefully underprepared for war, and the Italian fleet was forced to start large resupply operations in order to bring them up to fighting condition.

On 6 July a convoy of four merchant ships left Naples on their way to Bengazi, while attempting to fool the British into thinking they were making for Tripoli. The next day their escort force teamed up to join them from Taranto, after being informed that the British had recently left port in Alexandria. The escort consisted of three groups; directly protecting the cargo ships were eight destroyers and four torpedo boats, while a second group sailed 35km to the east and contained six cruisers and another twelve destroyers. Finally the main battle group contained two battleships, six cruisers and another thirteen destroyers.

Meanwhile the British were involved in a similar convoy action from Alexandria, bound for Malta, intending to deliver supplies and take off civilians. Two groups of merchantmen were arranged, one at 13 knots and another at 9 knots. Protecting them were three groups of naval ships, one with five cruisers and a single destroyer, another with the old battleship Warspite and five destroyers, and the main battle group with the slightly newer battleships Royal Sovereign and Malaya, the aircraft carrier Eagle, and ten destroyers.

On the night of 8 July, Italian command deciphered British radio signals and told their fleet to prepare for action about 65 miles south east of Punta Stilo. Some British books suggest that the Italians had turned to avoid battle as they were moving north when encounted, but in fact they planned to keep the action close to Italy and were deliberately moving north. During the initial positioning they had technical problems on three destroyers and two light cruisers, so these and several destroyers were sent to refuel in Sicily. In order to make up for these "losses", another destroyer group was called for from Taranto.

Meanwhile the British were having problems as well. The day before the battle, Italian bombers from the mainland had attacked their fleet, and scored a direct hit on the Gloucester's bridge, killing the captain and many bridge crew. For the rest of the battle she would be commanded from the emergency stations. While a serious enough blow, it was perhaps more damaging to the Italians, who were convinced the aircraft had inflicted serious damage to a good deal of the fleet, and had reduced their fighting power considerably.

First engagement

At noon on 9 July the two fleets were 90 miles apart. The British commander could not close the distance with the slower Royal Sovereign and Malaya in tow, and took the Warspite in on its own. Meanwhile the Eagle launched several sorties by Fairey Swordfish, but had no success against the Italian ships. The cruiser groups were positioned spread out in front of the Warspite, and at 3:15PM caught sight of the Italian main battle force and the two groups opened fire at 21,500 metres.

Italian rangefinding equipment was better than their British counterparts, and within three minutes they had found the distance even though they were firing at extreme range. Although the British rangefinding was not as good and they had trouble with their rounds falling short, the British gunlaying equipment was better and they were able to place their rounds in much tighter groups. Generally the gunnery of the two forces was fairly well matched.

After only a few minutes the range was down to 20,000 meters and the British guns became useful. However by 3:22 the Italian fire came dangerously close to the British cruisers, and Admiral John Towey decided to disengage. At this point a shell from the Giuseppe Garibaldi hit the Neptune, damaging its catapult and the reconnaissance aircraft. The cruisers began drifting apart, and at 3:30 fire ceased.

Second engagement

One group of light cruisers, mistaken for the very latest Zara class, was on the British side of the battle line, and was soon within range of the charging Warspite. Once again the British rounds fell short, and neither of her targets, the Da Darbiano or Di Giussano, received any damage in the initial salvos. However by this time the Warspite was also out of position, and looped in place in order to allow the Malaya to catch up (the Royal Sovereign was still well to the rear).

The Italian commander, Campioni, decided to take on the Warspite, and started moving his own two battleships into position for a duel. At 3:52 the Giulio Cesare opened fire at a range of 26,400 meters. Their other battleship, the Conte di Cavour, did not fire, a decision many have questioned. Their strategy was to have only one ship targetted at a time, as it was learned during the Battle of Jutland that with more than one firing at a single target it became very difficult for the rangefinding parties to tell which rounds were theirs. The Cavour was thus tasked with taking on the Malaya and Royal Sovereign when the arrived, thereby nullifying the gun advantage they had at the time.

The Warspite, not aware of the Italian firing patterns, split her guns between the two ships. During the exchange one of the Cesare's rounds fell long and caused minor damage to the Warspite's escorting destroyers, which had formed up on he far side of the action. At 3:54 the Malaya started firing, well out of range, hoping to cause some confusion on the Italian ships. Meanwhile the Italian heavy cruisers came into action and started firing on the Warspite at 3:55, but had to break off as the British cruisers returned.

At 3:59 two shells from the Cesare fell very close to the Warspite. Almost immediately thereafter one of the Warspite's rounds hit the rear deck of the Cesare, setting off the stored ammunition for one of her 37mm anti-aircraft guns. The fumes from the burning ammunition were sucked down into the engine room, which had to evacuate and shut down several boilers. The Cesare's speed quickly fell off, and the Cavour took over. In fact the damage was fairly minor, and two of the four boilers were soon up and running.

It would appear that the Warspite was now in excellent position to deal some serious blows to the now-slowing Cesare, but at this point she executed another tight turn to allow the Malaya to catch up. With her guns suddenly silenced during the turn, the rangefinders on the Malaya discovered what the Italians had been intending to avoid, that her rounds were falling 2,700 yards short of the Cesare and they had been watching the Warspite's rounds all along.

At 4:01 Italians generated smoke and started to withdraw. There is some debate about this point today, the British position being that they were leaving battle, the Italian that they were attempting to made a torpedo attack with their destroyers from within the smoke.

Final actions

The Italian heavy cruisers were a serious threat in their own right, and could have evened the battle between the main battleships, but with the Warspite in the battle the British cruisers returned and the Italians turned to restart their initial fight with them.

At 3:58 the Fiume re-opened fire on her counterpart in the British line, the Liverpool, and soon two groups of Italian cruisers were in combat with the main British cruiser battle group. Firing continued as both groups attempted to form up, and at 4:07 the Italian cruiser Bolzano took three hits, temporarily locking her rudder. A near miss on the destroyer Vittorio Afieri caused minor damage.

Over the next hour both fleets attempted to make torpedo runs with their destroyer groups without success. The battle finally concluded at 4:55PM with both sides withdrawing. One final victim was the Pancaldom, sent to Augusta in Sicily, which was hit by a torpedo launched from a Swordfish at 9:40PM the next day.

Outcome

After the battle both fleets turned for home. This allowed the Italians to claim a victory of sorts, as their cargo ships were already past the action by this time and sailed safely for Libya, while the British ships turned for home along with their escort. However British gunnery proved superior, and while the damage to the Cesare was light and repaired within a month, the British claimed that they had suffered no damage at all, and eventually it seems the Italians came to believe them. Italian fleet was "gun shy" from that point on. While in general terms the battle was a draw, strategically it was a British win.

One question is why the Italians did not sortie their two remaining battleships at Taranto, both ready for action and only a few hours from the scene. The answer appears to be that they were afraid to send them out without the destroyer escort, which had been sent out earlier to make up for "losses" in the main fleet. These two ships would have tipped the balance of fire well onto the Italian side.

Even without these ships the fleets were fairly evenly matched. The Italian superiority in aircraft due to the nearby land-based aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica should have been overwhelming. In fact they played almost no part at all, with the exception of the damage to the Gloucester, yet their battle reports were inflated to the point of claiming damage to half of the British fleet.

External link

• Action off Calabria