July 1940
General Events
| 3 | July | The British Fleet shelled the French Fleet at Mers-El-Kebir (Operation CATAPULT). |
| 9 | July | Inconclusive Battle of Punta Stilo. |
| 10 | July | The Battle of England began. |
| 19 | July | Battle of Cape Spada: HMAS Sydney sank the light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni. |
| 24 | July | The Regia Marina offered Germany several submarines to participate in the Battle of the Atlantic if a French base could be provided. |
| 25 | July | Germany accepted the proposal and offered Bordeaux as a base for Italian submarines. |
| 31 | July – 4 August | Operation HURRY (twelve Hurricane fighters were brought to Malta). |
With the French armistice now in effect, the Kriegsmarine and the Regia Marina were now at war with:
- Great Britain, its dominions and colonies. The Irish Free State was neutral.
- The French colonies that had declared allegiance to De Gaulle.
- Egypt.
- Irak.
- The Dutch colonies.
- The Belgian Congo.
Sombrely on 6 July, Maricosom noted the loss of six submarines in the Mediterranean and four submarines from Marisupao (East Africa Command) after four weeks of war. This represented nearly one-tenth of the strength of the Italian submarine fleet. It was clear that such a rate of attrition could not be sustained. The enemy had proven that it was quite adept at anti-submarine warfare, and the Mediterranean Theatre did not appear to be a very productive area. There was relatively little traffic and the large submarines were not suitable due to the noises they produced and their slow diving capabilities.
The Royal Navy had similar experiences when three large submarines from Alexandria were lost1 within the first two weeks of the war. The losses were attributed to the commanders’ lack of combat experience and the difficult conditions of submarine warfare in the Mediterranean. The transition from peacetime to combat was not always smooth, and several submarine commanders from all navies involved would have to be removed as they failed the test of war.
Another inhibiting factor was the shortage of 21-inch (533mm) torpedoes. Italian industries had failed to keep up with the growth of the submarine fleet. On 20 July, orders were issued that submarines in the Mediterranean would go on patrol without carrying reloads. This seems to have remained in effect throughout the war. Submariners were not encouraged to fire full salvoes for economic reasons, and this would adversely affect their performance. Atlantic submarines were exempted from this order.
On 28 July, Admiral Falangola issued a memorandum on the enemy anti-submarine measures to be distributed to all submarine groups. He noted that from 10 June to 20 July, 157 war patrols were carried out by seventy-nine submarines and that:
- Sixty-five times submarines were attacked with a total of 1,350 depth charges dropped [certainly an overestimate].
- Forty-three submarines were reported damaged, two slightly, ten seriously, and seven had to interrupt their mission.
- Four submarines were believed to have been lost through depth charging.
Admiral Falangola suggested that considering the effort deployed, the enemy anti-submarine measures had not proven very efficient, although he admitted that they managed to curtail the operations of the submarines. Operations were particularly dangerous near enemy bases, and there had been good co-operation between aircraft and anti-submarine vessels. Finally, he concluded that although submariners had to show great prudence, this should not dampen their offensive spirit.
Mediterranean
Italian submarine patrols in the Mediterranean during July 1940
| Bandiera (…1 July) | H.8 (…2 July) | Malachite (…2 July) |
| Salpa (…3 July)x | Corridoni (…3 July) Pt.1 | Bragadino (…4 July) Pt.1 |
| Ondina (…5 July)x | Barbarigo (…5 July)x | Tembien (…6 July) |
| Da Procida (…6 July) | Zaffiro (…9 July) | Ametista (…9 July) |
| Jalea (…9 July) | Gemma (…10 July) | Topazio (…14 July) |
| Jantina (…14 July) | Dandolo (…16 July) | Emo (…16 July) |
| Marconi (…17 July) | Zoea (…17 July) | Tarantini (…19 July) |
| H.6 (.1-6 July) | Neghelli (3-7 July) | Scirè (3-6 July) |
| Diaspro (3-6 July) | Turchese (3-6 July) | Aradam (3-6 July) |
| Glauco (3-6 July) | Alagi (3-6 July) | Axum (3-6 July) |
| Velella (3-15 July) | Tricheco (3-16 July) | Beilul (3-10 July) |
| Smeraldo (3-9 July)x | Lafolè (3-14 July) | Durbo (4-12 July) |
| Capponi (5-13 July) | Santarosa (5-12 July) | Santarosa (5-10 July) |
| Sciesa (8-12 July) | Settembrini (8-12 July) | Settimo (8-13 July)x |
| Pisani (9-12 July) | Brin (9-12 July) | Menotti (9-12 July) |
| Manara (9-12 July) | Ascianghi (9-12 July) | Turchese (9-12 July) |
| Glauco (9-12 July) | Axum (9-12 July) | H.2 (9-14 July) |
| Scirè (10-12 July) | Diaspro (10-12 July) | Argo (10-12 July) |
| Iride (10-12 July) | Berillo (11-13 July) | Faà di Bruno (11-26 July) |
| Morosini (11-26 July) | Nani (11-26 July) | Fisalia (12-13 July)x |
| Giuliani (12-27 July) | Bagnolini (12-27 July) | Bausan (12-14 July)x |
| Toti (12-29 July) | Balilla (12-19 July) | Tembien (12-14 July)x |
| Berillo (14-26 July) | Pisani (15-18 July) | Brin (15-17 July) |
| Atropo (15-27 July) Pt.2 | Delfino (15-22 July) | Alagi (15-16 July) |
| Serpente (15-16 July) | Bandiera (16 July) | Corridoni (16-19 July) Pt.2* |
| Serpente (17-18 July) | Bausan (19-24 July)x | Serpente (21-22 July) |
| Alagi (22 July…) | Aradam (22 July…) | Speri (22 July…) |
| Mameli (22 July…) | Serpente (22-28 July) | Mocenigo (22 July…) |
| Corridoni (22 July…) Pt.3 | Anfitrite (23 July…) | Narvalo (24 July…) |
| Ametista (24 July…) | Zaffiro (24 July…) | Squalo (24 July…) |
| Tembien (28 July…) | Cappellini (28-29 July) | Cappellini (30 July…) |
| Glauco (31 July…) | Argo (31 July…) | Neghelli (31 July…) |
In the early hours of 1st July, Gemma (C.C. Guido Cordero di Montezemolo) was about 25 miles north of Sidi Barrani. She had just finished charging her batteries when the conning tower of a submarine was glimpsed 2,000 metres away. There was an opportunity to avenge the loss of Diamante as this was most likely HMS Parthian returning to Alexandria. The Italian submarine tried to close at full speed. The enemy submarine dived, and contact was lost. About two hours later, contact was regained as noises were heard on the hydrophones, but it was lost before an attack could develop.
On their way to join Force C, HMS Hostile and HMAS Stuart were sweeping through the positions of the patrol line revealed by Uebi Scebeli papers. On the morning of 1 July, about sixty-five miles north-northeast of Derna, they discovered Salpa (C.C. Antonio Biondo) in her patrol position and carried out a depth charge attack. The Italian submarine had detected them with her hydrophones and went down to sixty metres but was damaged and would have to abort her patrol. She proceeded to Benghazi for temporary repairs.
The same morning, Bragadino (C.C. Bandino Bandini), still on her way back to Taranto, reported being attacked by aircraft and surface forces; this was not confirmed by British sources. However, Ondina (T.V. Vincenzo d’Amato) reported similar attacks in the vicinity. In the evening, west of Cape Matapan, unaware of their presence, Ondina opened fire on two Italian vessels, Principessa Giovanna and Piemonte. Fortunately, she missed, but Supermarina failed to make the connection, and for a long time, the incident was attributed to an enemy submarine.
Another attack due to mistaken identity occurred near Cape Colonne on 5 July when Settembrini (C.C. Alcide Bardi) attacked an Italian convoy and missed the armed merchant cruiser Caralis (3,510 GRT, built 1929).
A decrypt revealed to British Intelligence that the submarine Corridoni (C.C. Manlio Minucci) was bringing supplies to Tobruk and was due at 1700 hours on 3 July. Sunderland “R” of 230 Squadron was sent to intercept, but the submarine arrived a few hours late and was not disturbed.
Dramatic events were about to take place in the Western Mediterranean.
At dawn on 1 July, Da Procida (C.C. Guido d’Alterio) fired single torpedoes twice at a submarine, probably HMS Proteus. This submarine had sailed from Malta to participate in Operation CATAPULT, the attack on the French Fleet at Oran. Both torpedoes missed. The following day, south-east of Malaga, Guglielmo Marconi (C.C. Giulio Chialamberto) fired a single torpedo at HMS Vortigern, part of the destroyer screen of Force H which was also on its way to Oran from Gibraltar. The first torpedo was set at the wrong angle and missed; a second torpedo was fired and hit the stern but failed to explode.
On 3 July 1940, Force H bombarded the French Fleet anchored at Oran after Admiral Gensoul rejected the terms of an ultimatum enjoining him to join the British or scuttle his ships. The battleship Bretagne was sunk with heavy loss of life. The modern battle cruiser Dunkerque, the battleship Provence, and the large destroyer Mogador were badly damaged. The battle-cruiser Strasbourg was the only major warship able to escape to Toulon.
However, the French Squadron (Force X) at Alexandria was demilitarised without incident after Admiral Godfroy and Admiral Cunningham reached an understanding.
Upon the news of the attack on the French Fleet at Oran, the submarines Alagi, Aradam, Axum, Glauco, Neghelli, and Turchese of VII Grupsom, were immediately sailed to form a barrage line between Sardinia and the Algerian coast. The enemy was not sighted, though some heard distant noises on their hydrophones. It was probably the battle cruiser Strasbourg on her way to Toulon. The submarines were recalled after three days.
While on patrol east of Gibraltar, Barbarigo (C.C. Giulio Ghiglieri) was detected by the destroyer HMS Faulknor and attacked with depth charges. The submarine escaped by going down to sixty metres, but soon the intense hunt forced her down to 110 metres. At 0340 hours on 4 July, the situation was desperate. She surfaced to fight it out with two torpedo tubes forward and two aft loaded. Fortunately, the destroyer was gone. However, the submarine would have to abort her mission because of the damage incurred. Emo (C.C. Carlo Liannazza) sighted HMS Hood but was too far to attack.
In the early hours of 4 July, Zoea (C.C. Giorgio Bernabò) started to lay a minefield near Ras Kenayis (between Mersa Matruh and El Alamein), but after the sixth mine, an explosion occurred; two more mines were planted, but Bernabò decided to abort his mission. The minesweeper HMS Cromer (leader of the 14th Minesweeping Flotilla) would sink on a mine about fifteen miles west of this position on 9 November 1942. It is uncertain if one can attribute this loss to Zoea’s mines; an error of navigation may have occurred, but the truth will probably never be known.
Tobruk harbour was raided on the evening of 5 July. Nereide (C.C. Mario Spano) was attacked by Swordfish E4H (Lt D.N. Collins, RN) from 813 Squadron (FAA) belonging to HMS Eagle but operating from Dekheila airfield, just west of Alexandria. The aircraft launched a torpedo from about 350-400 yards and claimed a hit but missed. The submarine replied with her machine guns; only three rounds hit the Swordfish, causing minor damage. Also present were Galatea (C.C. Bruno Pilli) and Fisalia (T.V. Girolamo Acunto); they also opened fire on the attackers, the former claiming to have shot down two aircraft and the second to have damaged one. Collins would be shot down by an Italian fighter while piloting the same aircraft during a raid on Rhodes in September 1940. The crew would survive and become prisoners of war.
The next afternoon, Emo (C.C. Carlo Liannazza), operating east of Gibraltar, discovered a British squadron believed to include two capital ships, one of them HMS Hood, an aircraft carrier, and five destroyers. This was indeed Force H returning from Operation CATAPULT. The other ships were the battleships Valiant and Resolution, the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, and their escorts. The force was 13,000 metres away, and the Italian submarine was unable to close to less than 9,000 metres before giving up the chase.
The focus would now shift to the eastern and central basins of the Mediterranean.
Battle of Calabria (Punta Stilo)
Late on the evening of 7 July, Admiral Andrew B. Cunningham sailed from Alexandria with the Mediterranean Fleet to cover the eastward passage of two convoys from Malta (operation M.A.5)2. Before midnight, northwest of Alexandria, Beilul (C.C. Paolo Vagliasindi) fired a single torpedo at a destroyer of the W-class and claimed a hit. The attack had missed HMS Hasty, screening Group C, which now turned the tables on her assailant, dropping a full pattern of depth charges. The submarine was damaged, and she had to abort her mission. Italian Intelligence believed that she had sunk HMS Whirlwind, but this destroyer was lost in home waters two days before.
With the first major fleet action of the war underway, Sciesa, Settembrini, Settimo, Pisani, and Brin were now ordered to sail from Augusta and form a patrol line east of Malta. The submarines Argo, Iride, Diaspro, and Scirè were sailed from La Maddalena to form a patrol line west of Sardinia, while Ascianghi, Axum, Glauco, and Turchese were sailed from Cagliari to form a patrol line near the Tunisian coast. The submarines Durbo and Capponi were still patrolling off Malta in the aftermath of Operation CATAPULT, and the latter would carry out the only attack on British forces.
Following her interrupted minelaying mission, Zoea (C.C. Giorgio Bernabò) had been ordered to patrol south of Cape Kupho (eastern tip of Crete). In the early hours of 8 July, having heard noises with her hydrophones, she surfaced, but nothing was seen. She was suddenly surprised by an aircraft that dropped two bombs. This was a Swordfish from 824 Squadron from HMS Eagle piloted by Lt (A) P.S. Touchbourne who had spotted the submarine from about 5-6 miles. The aircraft swooped down on its target from a height of 2,000 feet and released six 100-lb anti-submarine bombs, causing some damage to her bows. Zoea managed to carry on her patrol.
During the day, the Mediterranean Fleet was subjected to repeated air attacks. Only the cruiser HMS Gloucester was damaged by a direct hit, killing her Captain, six officers, and eleven ratings and wounded another nine.
In the afternoon, Smeraldo (T.V. Carlo Todaro) was patrolling near Tobruk when she was located and hunted by HMS Hasty and HMS Ilex, who were screening the battleship HMS Malaya. The submarine was severely depth charged—Todaro claimed that 200 depth charges were dropped—but managed to elude her tormentors and return to Tobruk.
By coincidence, the Italian Battle Fleet was at sea, covering an important convoy to Benghazi. Admiral Campioni had taken the battleships Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare, six heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, and twenty-six destroyers. Contact would be made but with relatively little damage to either side; Giulio Cesare received a 15-inch shell hit from the battleship Warspite, and the Italian Fleet withdrew. The British battleships heavily outgunned their Italian opponents but were not fast enough to force a decisive engagement.
The following day, West of Zante, Benedetto Brin (T.V. Luigi Longanesi Cattani) was strafed by an aircraft, probably a Swordfish from HMS Eagle, as the battle of Punta Stilo developed. She was hit on the conning tower without causing serious damage or casualties. The submarine replied with its anti-aircraft weapons and drove the plane away. But two hours later, Sunderland ‘T’ (L5803) of 230 Squadron caught Brin on the surface and claimed a direct bomb hit. However, she was undamaged and dived to sixty meters. A few hours later, Giuseppe Finzi (C.C. Alberto Dominici) reported being attacked by a bomber west of Sardinia, a bomb falling very close but causing no damage. The aircraft was probably Italian, as the Regia Aeronautica conducted indiscriminate attacks that day on both the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina.
At dusk on 10 July, Topazio (C.C. Emilio Berengan), returning to Taranto after a patrol off Tobruk, rescued six exhausted survivors from the destroyer Espero who had drifted in a lifeboat for twelve days. Confronted by a British cruiser squadron, Espero, one of three destroyers on a supply run to Tobruk, had sacrificed herself heroically to allow her two sister ships to escape.
Informed by Italian Intelligence of the passage of an enemy submarine, Marconi (C.C. Giulio Chialamberto) had prudently surfaced to recharge her batteries only at 0100 hours on 11 July. At about 0300 hours, Midshipman Boffito spotted two shadows astern, one of which appeared to be a large submarine. Chialambarto manoeuvred his submarine to fire a torpedo at a range of 2,000 metres. Absorbed by his action, he had not seen a third vessel, a destroyer, trying to ram the submarine. The enemy vessel was only 600 metres away when the Italian captain ordered his submarine on an emergency dive. The submarine had barely reached a depth of 40 meters when a gratifying explosion was heard; the torpedo had hit. Chialamberto was convinced he had sunk an enemy submarine. In fact, he had sunk the destroyer HMS Escort, travelling in company with HMS Forester and HMS Faulknor. They were returning to Gibraltar after screening Force H during its raid on Cagliari. Two ratings were killed and thirteen wounded; her survivors were picked up by her two companions. Forester had sighted the submarine at short range, opened fire, and attempted to ram. Her depth charges were set to ‘safe’ and could not be released in time. She dropped six of them on a second run but it was too late, the submarine had managed to steal away.
On 12 July at 2000 hours, patrolling in a position 310 degrees – Asinara Point (northwest Sardinia) – 54 miles, Scirè (T.V. Adriano Pini) discovered a ship on a southerly course navigating without lights. Thirty minutes later, the submarine had closed to 600 metres and fired a stern shot. The ship was hit and sank very quickly. This was the French Cheik (941 GRT, built 1920) on a trip from Marseille to Algiers with a cargo of cement, oil, wood, and soap. Her passage had been announced to the Italian authorities, and it was a needless tragedy. Thirteen lives were lost, and the submarine picked up ten survivors. After the war, the French government tried to prosecute Pini for war crimes. The matter was dropped at the urging of the British Admiralty, as sinking without warning had become quite common practice among all belligerents3.
At the other end of the Mediterranean, Tarantini (C.C. Alfredo Iaschi) observed a vessel leaving Haifa at dusk on 11 July. There was no time for a submerged attack, and the submarine followed a parallel course as the target moved westward. At 2300 hours, a 450mm torpedo was fired, but it missed. The submarine now opened fire, the first shell hitting the stern and the second one in the engine room. The firing was now checked, as the ship was being abandoned. This was the Panamanian Beme (3,039 GRT, built 1904) on passage from Haifa to Istanbul. The submarine closed one of the lifeboats, and the Master, the Latvian A. Domberg, was invited to bring his papers on board the submarine, where he was interrogated by Iaschi. After voicing his fears that some of the crew might still be on board, he was allowed to return to his ship and given twenty minutes to find anyone left behind. The Panamanian ship was finally finished off with a torpedo at 2343 hours. The lifeboats were shown the direction to the coast, which was about 100 miles away before the submarine cleared the area. The lifeboats set sail, and the twenty-two survivors reached the coast north of Haifa some 46 hours later. There were no casualties.
A great opportunity was missed when Pier Capponi (T.V. Romeo Romei) claimed an attack on the British Battle Fleet fifteen miles southwest of Cape Passero. Shortly before midnight, she only fired two torpedoes from a distance of 1,500 metres at what was described as three battleships of the Malaya class and four destroyers; the attack apparently was unobserved. In fact, HMS Warspite was some 250 miles southeast of Malta at the time. A few hours later, the submarine was attacked by the armed trawlers HMT Coral and HMT Jade; she was hit aft by a shell while a single machine gun bullet perforated the conning tower. She fired a torpedo to discourage approach and made good her escape by diving to the bottom at ninety-seven metres; her conning tower was completely flooded.
Before dawn on 12 July, approximately fifty miles south of Cagliari, Turchese (C.C. Gustavo Miniero) fired two single torpedoes at a vessel suspected to be an enemy minelayer that had not been identified. Both torpedoes passed under the target.
The Regia Aeronautica continued to attack Italian units indiscriminately, and on the morning of 12 July, Glauco (C.F. Candido Corvetti) was machine-gunned by an Italian seaplane. The submarine answered with her Breda machine guns, firing fifty-six rounds before the error was recognised and fire was checked.
An hour later, Ruggiero Settimo (T.V. Giovanni Cantù) was located by Sunderland ‘W’ of 228 Squadron (N.9020), piloted by Squadron Leader G. L. Menzies, flying at 2,000 feet. The aircraft released three 250-lb anti-submarine bombs and strafed the submarine. Settimo replied with her starboard machine gun until it jammed. The submarine turned to starboard to take evasive action and bring her port side machine gun to bear but was hit by a bomb on the stern, just abaft the engine compartment. Luckily, the damage was not serious, and there were no casualties. The submarine managed to dive but was near-missed by bombs. The damage was serious this time, and the patrol had to be aborted.
The same afternoon, Fisalia (T.V. Girolamo Acunto) was east of Tobruk; she reported being depth-charged by anti-submarine craft and also had to interrupt her mission. The submarine was not much safer in Tobruk. On 13 July, she had barely returned when, that same evening, the base came under air attack. She was near-missed by three bombs and had to submerge. A fourth bomb exploded near her, and when she surfaced a few hours later, several fragments were found to have punctured her hull.
Four destroyers4 of the British Second Destroyer Flotilla carried out an anti-submarine sweep of the Kaso Strait without result (18-19 July). They were scouting ahead of the cruiser HMAS Sydney who, escorted by Havock, was looking for enemy shipping. The only Italian submarines operating in the Aegean now were Atropo patrolling in the Cerigotto Channel and Delfino in the Doro Channel. Delfino reported being missed by two torpedoes and fired a single torpedo at an enemy submarine, which Italian Intelligence believed to have been Orpheus, but the attack was bogus. There was no enemy submarine in the vicinity. The closest was HMS Osiris, which was at least one hundred miles away. Yet Aicardi was awarded the Bronze medal for this attack. The sweep still yielded an important result as Sydney and the destroyers came across the cruisers Bartolomeo Colleoni and Giovanni delle Bande Nere and sank the former at the battle of Cape Spada.
The Royal Air Force raided Tobruk again in the late afternoon of 19 July. The submarines Galatea (C.C. Bruno Pilli) and Nereide (T.V. Mario Spano) participated in the air defence, and they came through unscathed.
Before dawn on 22 July, while patrolling east of Gibraltar, Nani (C.C. Gioacchino Polizzi) attacked a large destroyer or sloop with two torpedoes but missed. The target has not been identified.
On 23 July, Lafolè (T.V. Renato Barletta) had just left Tobruk on passage for Taranto when an approaching aircraft was sighted. It may have been Italian and recognised the submarine for it turned away after a burst of machine gun was fired in its direction.
Tragedy struck Reginaldo Giuliani (T.V. Bruno Zelik), patrolling off Derna on 23 July; she dived at dawn and, in a freak accident, the hatch fell heavily on the head of gunner Cesario Verardo. A few hours later, he succumbed to his injuries. Four days later, as Giuliani returned to Taranto, Zelik sighted an unidentified vessel and believed it to be an enemy submarine. Suspecting it to have fired a torpedo at him, Zelik took avoiding action. There was no such attack, and the submarine was certainly Bagnolini, who sighted an unknown submarine simultaneously.
In the early hours of 24 July, Mameli (C.C. Nicola Maiorana) was on her way for a patrol south of Crete when a large ship was encountered some 90 miles south-southeast of Crotone. The submarine opened fire, but her gun jammed after the fourteenth round, and the target escaped. This was lucky, as it was an Italian ship on its way to Libya.
West of Sardinia, during the evening of 25 July, Berillo (T.V. Camillo Milesi Ferretti) stopped the French transport Gouverneur Général Chanzy (4,226 GRT, built 1922). She was carrying 1,100 passengers, including 680 coloured troops, from Marseille to Algiers. After examination, she was allowed to proceed.
Atlantic
Italian submarine patrols in the Atlantic during July 1940
| Finzi (…10 July) | Veniero (2 July…) | Calvi (3 July…) |
| Malaspina (29 July…) | Durbo (29 July…) |
Veniero (C.C. Folco Buonamici) and Calvi (C.C. Giuseppe Caridi) entered the Atlantic and operated in the Canary Islands and Madeira areas, respectively. They encountered mostly neutral traffic and returned home without sinking any ships.
On 24 July, Supermarina proposed to send up to forty submarines to operate in the Atlantic and to be based in French ports. This was well received at the Seekriegsleitung. Grand Admiral Raeder was anxious to ensure for good co-operation with the Italian Navy; three days later Rear-Admiral Weichold informed Admiral Somigli (Vice-Chief of Naval Staff) that the proposal had been accepted. At the beginning of August, Weichold and Rear-Admiral Parona, who was given the command of this force, travelled to the Atlantic coast to examine the most suitable French ports and chose Bordeaux.
Malaspina (C.F. Mario Leoni) sailed from La Spezia on 29 July; she would be the first submarine to join the new base of Betasom (Beta or “B” for Bordeaux).
Red Sea and Indian Ocean
Italian submarine patrols in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean during July 1940
| Perla (…20 July) | Guglielmotti (12-15 July) | Guglielmotti (26-29 July) |
There were no notable events. Surviving Italian submarines licked their wounds. Perla was finally towed to Massawa.
- HMS Odin, Grampus, and Orpheus. ↩︎
- The Mediterranean Fleet was divided into three groups:
Group A: included the 7th Cruiser Squadron (five light cruisers) and the destroyer HMAS Stuart.
Group B: included the battleship HMS Warspite (flagship) and the five destroyers.
Group C: included the battleships Royal Sovereign (BCS.1) and Malaya, the aircraft carrier Eagle, and eleven destroyers.
The convoys were: MF.1 (fast convoy: Egyptian El Nil, ex-Italian Rodi, and the British Knight of Malta) and MS.1 (slow convoy: British Zeeland, Kirkland and Masirah and the Norwegian Novasli). ↩︎ - Cf. ADM1/18358 (TNA). ↩︎
- HMS Hyperion, Ilex, Hero, and Hasty. ↩︎