THE BATTLE OF CAPE SPARTIVENTO
THE PRINCIPAL 16 ROYAL NAVY PARTICIPANTS
(Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy)
On 27th
November 1940, sixteen days after the Royal Navy incapacitated or destroyed
half of the Italian fleet's battleships in a daring aerial raid at Taranto, an
Italian force consisting of two battleships, the Vittorio Veneto and Giuio
Cesare plus a number of supporting units attempted to intercept HMS Ark
Royal and HMS Argus and
their cruiser escorts, who were en route to Malta. When warned of the Italian approach the
carriers immediately turned about and returned to Gibraltar
The Italians' success in
disrupting the reinforcement of Malta cast serious doubt upon British plans to
send a further convoy to supply the island. However, the convoy was attempted,
with increased support, including ships from Gibraltar-based Force H and
Force D out of Alexandria. The convoy was spotted by the Italian intelligence
service, and once again the Italian fleet sailed out to intercept. The
Italians made visual contact with the convoy on the night of 26 November.
The British, aware of the Italian fleet's movements, sent forces north
to intercept before they could come
anywhere near the merchantmen.
At 0956, Admiral Somerville
received a report from an aircraft of HMS Ark Royal about the
presence of five Italian cruisers and five destroyers closing for
battle. The two forces were fairly even; although the Italian ships
possessed both longer-ranged armament and larger guns. The Italian Admiral had
been given orders to avoid combat unless it was heavily in his favour, so a
decisive battle was out of the question.
Admiral Somerville deployed his forces into two main groups, with five
cruisers under Rear Admiral Holland in front and two battleships and
seven destroyers in a second group following to the south. Even further to
the south, Ark Royal was preparing to launch its complement of
Fairey Swordfish. The Italians had organized 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.
At 1207, after a report received
from one of his cruisers, the Italian Admiral realised 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. However, by
this point, the lead cruiser formation had already angled toward the British
and was beginning to engage them in battle.
At 1222, the lead groups of both cruiser forces came into range and Fiume opened fire at 25,700 yds.
Rapid fire between the two forces continued 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 HMS Ramillies helped to even the odds, but she was too slow to
maintain formation and dropped out of battle after a few salvoes at 1226. Four
minutes later, the Italian Admiral commanding the Italian cruiser group,
received orders to disengage, although the battle had swung slightly in their
favour. The Italian force laid smoke and
started to withdraw.
At this time, the Italian destroyer Lanciere was
hit by a broadside from HMS Manchester and
seriously damaged. The heavy cruiser HMS Berwick was
hit at 1222 by an 8ins shell, which knocked out her "Y" turret, killing
seven men and wounding nine others. A
second hit at 1235 destroyed the after electrical switchboard room and cut
power to the ship's aft section, including the remaining aft turret.
For the next few minutes, the tables turned in favour of the Royal Navy when HMS Renown closed the distance on the Italian cruisers, and straddled Trieste with two salvoes. The advantage was soon evened out when at 1300, Vittorio Veneto opened fire from 30,000 yds. Vittorio Veneto fired 19 rounds in seven salvoes from long range. Now outgunned, the British cruisers turned back to the southeast to close with Renown. Manchester was holed by splinters from Vittorio Veneto's rounds. Both forces withdrew