The Second World War was a dramatic defeat for Italy and so, for the Italian Navy. There are several reasons for this naval disaster:

a) Wrong attitudes of Supermarina (Naval Headquarters) in conducting the war strategies. The crews and captains demonstrated an extraordinary courage and skill, but their initiatives were always frustrated by Supermarina’s too prudent policy;
b) Absolutely poor coordination with the Air Force;
c) Inadequate equipment in terms of radar and unsatisfactory precision of gun aiming systems;
d) Lack of fuel;
e) The enemy was the British Royal Navy, which for centuries had the most powerful armada in the world;
f) The Royal Navy was able to read the Italian secret codes throughout the entire war.

Most of the above reasons are the obvious consequences of the irresponsible political decision by the Mussolini Government to join the war, thinking it would last for only a few months with the victory of their German allies in all fronts.

Naturally, the Italian military had to obey the orders of their government and they went to a war well aware that there were no chances of victory for them. They were successful in the 1930’s against the Ethiopians and Spanish Republicans, but the enemy they were going to face was very different - but we will analyze just the military facts and not the political ones.

The war began for Italy on 10 June 1940 but only two battleships were combat ready, CONTE di CAVOUR and CUILIO CESARE. The battleships LITTORIO and VITTORIO VENETO were still going through shake down training cruises. Other ships, including CAIO DUILIO and ANDREA DORIA would not be ready for some months. The rest of the fleet included seven heavy cruisers, twelve light cruisers, one hundred twenty destroyers and more than one hundred submarines.

The British were slightly inferior in numbers. They were based at Alexandria (the Mediterranean Fleet) and Gibraltar (Force H). Two of the advantages held by the British were the availability of aircraft carriers and thus, the tactics that were based on the carrier in both reconnaissance and strike roles. The Italian Navy totally lacked an air arm, as all their airplanes were controlled by the Air Force which made sure that no aircraft carriers were built. Mussolini thought that the entire Italian peninsula was a huge aircraft carrier although this was proved to be tragically wrong.

In the first days of the Italian entry into the war, Italy lost five submarines and the British lost the cruiser CALYPSO which was sunk by the submarine BAGNOLINI. On 27 July 1940, the Italian destroyer ESPERO was sunk by five British cruisers.

The first actual battle between the navies came off Point Stilo when ships of both navies were escorting their respective convoys. The Italian fleet, under Admiral Campioni, included the battleships CESARE and CAVOUR with 14 cruisers and many destroyers. The British fleet, under Admiral Cunningham, included the battleships HMS WARSPITE, HMS MALAYA and HMS ROYAL SOVEREIGN with the aircraft carrier HMS EAGLE, five light cruisers and fourteen destroyers.

The battle produced only light damage to the battleship GIULIO CESARE, but it demonstrated the inferiority of the Italians since, even though they were in a more favorable position, they lost the chance to beat the British more significantly. The battle was off the Italian coast and if cooperation between the Italian Navy and Air Force had worked properly, Point Stilo would have been a great victory for the Italians.

To further rub salt into the wound, VENETO and LITTORIO were almost combat ready and the commander of that group asked permission to join in the battle, but was denied by Supermarina. Then on18 July, a British formation sank the cruiser COLLEONI and then on 20 July, twenty British planes attacked in Tobruk Harbor, sinking the destroyers NEMBO and OSTRO.

On the night of 12 October 1940, the British cruisers HMS AJAX, HMS ORION, HMS YORK and HMS SIDNEY sank the Italian torpedo boats AIRONE, ARIEL and ARTIGLIERE. After the battle, the British rescued the Italian survivors which caused heavy pressure on Admiral Cunningham. At that time, London was being bombed heavily on a daily basis by the Luftwaffe and his superiors weren’t pleased that he rescued these men. He countered by saying that these Italian torpedo boats fought with courage in a struggle in which they had no chance, and so he decided to save them.

The “Night of Taranto”, 11 November 1940, was the saddest in the history of Italian seamen, and one of the most brilliant for the British. That night, all of the six Italian battleships were in Taranto Harbor and the Royal Navy planned a daring action. Two strikes of torpedo carrying SWORDFISH aircraft took off from the carrier HMS ILLUSTRIOUS, which was only 170 miles from Taranto.

The battleships CONTE di CAVOUR, CAIO DUILIO and LITTORIO were hit by torpedoes. LITTORIA and DUILIO were beached to prevent their sinking and they were repaired in a few months, but CAVOUR sank with only the superstructure above water and she was fully battle ready at the time of the surrender.

EDITOR NOTE - We did quite an article on this action some years ago. There is no question that this action, where only 24 antiquated SWORDFISH aircraft did so much damage to an anchored fleet with only two aircraft lost, gave rise to the strategy by Admiral Isoruko Yamamoto for his massive attack on the anchored American Fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7th.

On 27 November the Italian and British Fleets met again to the SW of Sardinia which has been called the Battle of Capo Teulada. The Italians fired first and the cruiser HMS BERWICK was hit almost immediately. The Italian destroyer LANCIERE was damaged. The action was then no more than sporadic firing and then they broke off the encounter. Once again, the Italian Navy could have had better results if Admiral Campioni and Supermarina had not been so prudent - and if there had been air support.

On 9 February 1941, Force H out of Gibraltar comprised of the battleship HMS MALAYA, the battlecruiser HMS RENOWN, the aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL, one cruiser and ten destroyers bombarded Genoa for half an hour, totally undisturbed! After all that, due to an incredible series of misunderstandings and poor communication, Italian forces just let the British sail away.

EDITOR NOTE - Force H came out of Gibraltar one time too many and on 13 November 1941, U-81 under GUGGENBERGER (269-+-1987), sank HMS ARK ROYAL and put HMS MALAYA into the shipyard for extensive repairs. GERRY RICHTER (214-LIFE-1986) was on the radio in U-81 during that action.

25 February 1941, the British submarine HMS UPRIGHT sank the Italian cruiser DIAZ.

28 March 1941, an Italian task force under Admiral Iachino, made up of battleship VENETO, eight cruisers and thirteen destroyers neared the Cape of Matapan to attack convoy traffic between Malta and Egypt. They came upon four Royal Navy light cruisers accompanied by eight destroyers. It looked like an easy victory in the making for the Italian forces, but wily Admiral Cunningham had merely laid a trap and these Italian ships sailed right into it.

This small (by comparison) force was merely a scouting force for the Mediterranean Fleet consisting of battleships HMS BARHAM, HMS WARSPITE, HMS FORMIDABLE and HMS VALIANT accompanied by nine destroyers. The trap was about to spring.

After chasing the British light cruisers for quite some time, the Italian ships were attacked from the air. Admiral Iachino decided to return to base, but the air strikes had slowed the Italian force down and they waited, in vain, through the day for German air cover which never came. At sunset, the heavy cruiser POLA was hit by a torpedo and went dead in the water.

Admiral Iachino ordered the heavy cruisers ZARA and FIUME to stand by to assist POLA, accompanied by four destroyers. Again, due to the lack of a naval air arm, there was no aerial reconnaissance and they were not aware that the British Fleet was quite close. It was a very costly oversight.

The British ships had radar, the Italians did not. Completely unaware of the British heavies nearby, the Italian ships were caught totally by surprise and the British sank all three heavy cruisers POLA, FIUME and ZARA along with the destroyers CARDUCCI and ALFIERI. 2,303 Italian sailors perished. The Royal Navy lost the cruiser BONAVENTURE to the Italian submarine AMBRA, but that was in an independent action far from this battle. The day belonged to the Royal Navy.

The British ships attempted to rescue the Italian sailors in the water but had to pull back due to the arrival of the Luftwaffe. They did however, radio the position to the Italian hospital ships. British propaganda said that the sailors aboard POLA were drunk and panicked. This was not true.

In August of 1952, a bottle washed up on the beach at Cagliari and in it was a note from a sailor on the FIUME which said: “I beg you sir, to inform my dear mother that I die for the country.”

It was signed by Seaman Chirico Francesco. The mother was given the message, and Seaman Chirico Francesco received the Italian Bronze Medal for Military Valor.

Many thanks VINCENT. More great reading. To you other Members, we’d welcome your articles too. Veterans, we’d love to have your memories so that we can save them forever when you have begun your ‘Eternal Patrol’. Researchers - be careful and be accurate. Send photos when you can - we’ll scan them and return them to you.

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