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Mediterranean and North Africa · Britain and Australia vs Italy

Battle of Cape Matapan

27 March 1941 – 29 March 1941

Warned by Ultra of an Italian sortie against the Greek convoys, Cunningham's fleet caught the Italians off the Peloponnese. Three heavy cruisers and two destroyers were sunk in a night action for the loss of one aircraft.

Explore Battle of Cape Matapan on the interactive map · Wikipedia

Day by day

— Ultra

Bletchley Park had read the Italian signals and Cunningham knew that a battleship and eight cruisers were coming east against the troop convoys to Greece. He stopped the convoys, sailed Pridham-Wippell's four cruisers to a point south of Crete, and left Alexandria himself after dark with Warspite, Barham, Valiant and the carrier Formidable, having spent the afternoon ashore with a golf bag so that the Japanese consul would see nothing unusual. A Sunderland sighted the Italian cruisers at 12:20.

— The night action

At 08:12 the Italian cruisers opened on Pridham-Wippell south of Gavdos, and chased him east until Vittorio Veneto appeared ahead of him at 10:58 and nearly caught him between the two. Air strikes from Formidable and from Maleme put a torpedo into the battleship at 15:20 and stopped the heavy cruiser Pola at 19:46. Iachino, believing the British fleet far behind, sent Zara and Fiume back to help her; at 22:27 the three battleships found them at 3,500 yards with their guns trained fore and aft, and destroyed all three cruisers and two destroyers in a few minutes.

— The rescue

British and Greek destroyers picked up 900 survivors through the morning until German aircraft drove them off; Cunningham then signalled the position to Rome so that the Italian hospital ship Gradisca could come for the rest. About 2,300 Italian sailors were lost and one Albacore with its crew of three. The Italian fleet did not come out again in strength for the rest of the war, and the Greek convoys ran on.

Battle map summary of Battle of Cape Matapan, 28th March 1941 Map by Gordon Smith, Naval-History.Net, details from Roskill's "The War at Sea"
Battle map summary of Battle of Cape Matapan, 28th March 1941 Map by Gordon Smith, Naval-History.Net, details from Roskill's "The War at Sea"NavalHistory at English Wikipedia · Public domain · source
The Italian heavy cruiser Bolzano under attack by Swordfish of the Fleet Air Arm on 28th March 1941. The photograph taken from the second aircraft shows the splash of a torpedo entering the water.
The Italian heavy cruiser Bolzano under attack by Swordfish of the Fleet Air Arm on 28th March 1941. The photograph taken from the second aircraft shows the splash of a torpedo entering the water.unknown, Royal Navy · Public domain · source
The Italian Battleship Vittorio Veneto firing her 15in guns on British cruisers during a brief engagement near Gaudo Island, the afternoon before the battle of Matapan.
The Italian Battleship Vittorio Veneto firing her 15in guns on British cruisers during a brief engagement near Gaudo Island, the afternoon before the battle of Matapan.An unknown serviceman of the Regia Marina · Public domain · source
Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto after being torpedoed by British aircraft during the Battle of Matapan.
Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto after being torpedoed by British aircraft during the Battle of Matapan.An unknown serviceman of the Regia Marina · PD-Italy · source

Equipment in this battle

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