The Italians knew that the British were coming after them. They knew it all too well. But the
thought of backing down was humiliating. If they went the easy way, the Germans
would mock them. The Regia Marina had to prove to the Kriegsmarine
that it could handle itself in combat. What the Italian sailors did not know,
however, was that the British had read the Italian naval Enigma and were following their every move.
Then, at 8:12am on March 28, 1941, Admiral Angelo Iachino's task force
spotted several Royal Navy warships off Cape Matapan in Greece and went after them.
Little did the Italians know that they were being lured into a lethal trap…
Italy Goes To War
In June of 1940, Adolf Hitler’s highly disciplined and trained soldiers
had the essence of an invisible army. The Blitzkrieg forces were sweeping through
Northern France, rendering the indomitable defenses of the Maginot line useless,
and outsmarting the largest army in the world. Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg,
and Poland had already faced the Germans, and many more nations would soon follow.
Meanwhile, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was facing several dilemmas. He was a friend
of Hitler but was still unsure about joining him to engage the Allied forces. Still,
Italy had some pending matters to settle with England and France as far back as World War 1.
Mussolini had to decide between joining Germany to conquer new territories
and extend Italy's influence, or to remain neutral and risk a surprise attack from the
British that would come sooner or later. Time was pressing, and Italy had to do
something. It all rested on El Duce's hands, and his fascination with recreating a new
Roman Army and Empire ultimately prevailed. In joining Hitler in the conquest of France,
he would become the new Caesar and go against the will of the King and the Pope.
The dictator then dispatched the Regia Marina to take over the Mediterranean
and make it the ancient Mare Nostrum of the Roman Empire once again.
To fulfill such a purpose, el Duce had been building a powerful navy starting in
the early 1930s to act as a deterrent against the influence of the British and French in the region.
However, the British had prepared for a possible Italian resurgence and even developed secret plans
to bomb the main Italian docks and shipbuilding facilities if a confrontation broke out.
While the Royal Navy was concentrated on protecting merchant convoys in the Atlantic from
the feared German U-boats, the British left the Mediterranean unguarded with second-rate ships.
In addition, the French fleet was out of the equation after
the Reich negotiated peace with the Vichy Government.
Mussolini was now ready to go to war against the United Kingdom.
Falling Into a Trap
Mussolini got more than he bargained for when he declared war on the United Kingdom
and forgot to consult his naval officers about Italy's scarce oil for his Regia Marina.
It was a mistake that he would continue to pay for months,
as the British would be quick to cut off the Italians from its valuable oil fields in Libya.
After some setbacks in Greece and North Africa, Mussolini called Germany for support.
The result was the creation of the Afrika Korps and the audacious Luftwaffe campaign in Crete.
During these critical months, Mussolini also launched Operation Gaudo,
a master plan to sweep the Royal Navy from the waters of Crete.
Veteran officer Admiral Angelo Iachino was put in charge of the operation,
which intended to demonstrate to the world that the Italian Navy was a worthy adversary.
On March 26, 1941, the Regia Marina task force set sail for the first time since
the highly damaging British attacks on the Italian fleet docket at Taranto.
Morale was high among the Italians, but Admiral Iachino remained skeptical.
The Luftwaffe had told him that they had sighted two British battleships that were severely damaged
and easy prey for the Italian sailors. Iachino smelled a trap, but he was not certain.
In reality, the alleged damaged ships were in pristine condition and waiting for them,
led by ruthless Admiral Sir Andrew B. Cunningham. Clash at Cape Matapan
Days before the Italian task force set sail, a cryptanalyst at Bletchley Park cracked the
Italian naval Enigma for the first time and intercepted messages from the Italian Navy.
The British then realized that the Regia Marina battle fleet ravaging merchant ships comprised
one battleship, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 13 destroyers.
Admiral Iachino's flagship was Vittorio Veneto,
a Littorio-class battleship and Italy's most powerful vessel.
With him were the Alpino, Granatiere, and Bersagliere destroyers from the 13th Flotilla,
the Zara, Fiume, and Pola heavy cruisers from the 9th Flotilla,
and the Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi and Giuseppe Garibaldi light cruisers from the 16th.
Although the Italian fleet was ready to wreak havoc in the Mediterranean,
it lacked air support and, more importantly, radar.
This made it highly vulnerable against a surprise attack or an air assault from an aircraft carrier.
One day before the Italians set sail, Admiral Cunnigham secretly got aboard his flagship,
HMS Warspite, and began gathering his force to hunt down the Italians.
His Mediterranean fleet consisted of the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, 3 battleships,
7 light cruisers, and 17 destroyers. The Italians would be somewhat outnumbered and
already at a disadvantage without air support. On March 27, Vice Admiral Pridham-Wippell set sail
from the south of Crete to meet with Cunningham's force and prepare the attack against the Italians.
Meanwhile, Iachino's force steamed around the same area hoping to catch any British merchant ship.
Unfortunately for the Italians, no Axis aircraft made further reconnaissance flights over
Alexandria to let them know that the British had just left the harbor to meet them at sea.
Then, at 6:35am on March 28, Iachino launched a small scout plane from Vittorio Veneto
and spotted the British squadron. The Italian admiral knew there was no turning back.
If the British were there, it was because they knew the Italians’ location.
Still, the Italian task force decided to engage and avenge the disaster at Taranto
while showing the Germans their will to fight.
The Air Attacks Begin At 7:55am, Trento encountered
Admiral Pridham-Wippell's force south of the Greek island of Gavdos. Iachino then
opened fire at 8:15am and went after them. After failing to catch up with the British
and firing over 400 rounds that caused little damage to the enemy,
the Italians broke the chase and regrouped.
Meanwhile, the 7th cruiser squadron turned back and started to follow them.
The colossal Vittorio Veneto waited for them to get within shooting range and fire at them.
Veneto then fired over 90 accurate shots with an excessive dispersal of her salvos,
resulting in light damage. When the rest of the British
ships arrived at the scene with Cunningham, he immediately ordered an air attack. Fairey
Albacore torpedo bombers left HMS Formidable at 9:38am and went directly for Veneto.
Although the attack failed, the maneuvering broke off the Italian formation. Admiral Iachino then
ordered his fleet to set course for the port of Taranto, where he could call in air support.
However, at 3:00pm, Cunningham ordered another air attack.
In the hellish firefight between the small Albacores and the Italian guns,
Lieutenant-Commander John Dalyell-Stead managed to approach Veneto and release
a torpedo that hit her outer port. Dalyell-Stead and his crew did not survive
the counterattack, but the damage was done. The torpedo had caused 4,000 long tons of flooding.
Iachino stopped Veneto to perform repairs and adopted a defensive
position while the British ships closed in.
Then, an hour later, the formation began moving again at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour.
Knowing the extent of the damage the British had caused, Cunningham ordered another violent
air attack two hours later. At 7:30pm, a dozen Albacores and Fairey Swordfish
went after the capital ship once again. Iachino then ordered a three-column formation
and made use of smoke and searchlights to fight the aircraft. It worked, but a torpedo hit Pola,
causing the ship to lose power. Her sister ships Zara and Fiume then
approached to provide cover while Veneto and the rest of the formation made way to Taranto.
Final Stroke At 10:00pm, the British task
force spotted Fiume, Zara, and Pola in the middle of the darkness. As the Italians lacked radar,
they could only detect enemy ships visually. The British battleships immediately opened fire
at a distance of 3,500 meters, and minutes later, Fiume and Zara were torn to pieces from all sides.
As both ships began to sink, the Vittorio Alfieri and Giosuè Carducci destroyers sailing nearby
were also eliminated. Gioberti and Oriani managed to escape, albeit with heavy damage.
The British tried to rescue as many sailors as they could before leaving the scene,
and transmitted the location of the remaining sailors to the Italian high command.
Ultimately, they managed to save 1,020 survivors.
The total Italian casualties amounted to over 2,300 sailors, most of them from Zara and Fiume.
As for Vittorio Veneto, she managed to reach the base at Taranto
with the rest of the surviving ships.
The Italian Navy would not perform any other offensive operation for the rest of the war.
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