Battle of Skerki Bank

The Battle of Skerki Bank was an engagement during the Second World War which took place near Skerki Bank in the Mediterranean Sea in the early hours of 2 December 1942. Force Q, a flotilla of Royal Navy cruisers and destroyers, attacked Convoy H, an Italian convoy and its escort of destroyers and torpedo boats.

Force Q sank the four Italian merchant ships and one of the escorting destroyers in exchange for minor splinter damage. Force Q was attacked by torpedo bombers at 06:30 on 3 December, sinking the destroyer ''Quentin'' with one torpedo and damaging the destroyer ''Quiberon''. The battle was the first and most significant success for Force Q.

Background

Force Q

Soon after the beginning of Operation Torch, the Allied commanders began to make arrangements to intensify the offensive against the Axis supply route from Italy to Tunis and Bizerta in Tunisia. On 30 November, once Allied fighter cover could give sufficient protection, Force Q was based at Bône, a port on the north-east Algerian coast, not far from the Tunisian border. Force Q (Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt) consisted of the light cruisers (flagship), and with the destroyers and .

Convoy H

Convoy H comprised the German transport ''KT-1'' (850 gross register tons RT, ''Aventino'' (3,794 GRT), ''Puccini'' (2,422 GRT) and the converted ferry ''Aspromonte'' (976 GRT). The ships were carrying reinforcements to Africa, which included 1,766 troops, of cargo (mainly ammunition), four tanks, 32 other vehicles and twelve artillery pieces. The escort was commanded by Captain Aldo Cocchia in the destroyer (flagship) with and , together with the torpedo boats and .

Prelude

On 1 December, Force Q sailed to attack Axis shipping on the convoy route from Trapani in Sicily to Tunis. Four convoys were at sea, comprising thirteen merchantmen escorted by seven destroyers and twelve torpedo boats. Three convoys were ordered to return after being spotted by British reconnaissance aircraft but Convoy H continued towards Tunis. The convoy was overflown by aircraft during the night of 1/2 December and flares marked the course of the ships; at 00:30 Force Q picked up the Italian ships on radar, north-east of Bizerta. Cocchia sent ''Procione'' ahead to sweep for mines. had emphasised the importance of the convoy keeping in close formation but realising that hostile ships were in the area, Cocchia ordered the convoy to make a 90° turn south south-east at 00:01. At 00:17 Cocchia ordered a turn to west south-west; the convoy should have doglegged to the south, which was close as was prudent to unmarked minefields. The convoy lost formation because ''Puccini'' missed the turn order and rammed ''Aspromonte''; ''KT 1'', which had no wireless, failed to follow ''Puccini'' and strayed to the north-west.

Battle

At 00:27, Force Q, sailing at , reached the convoy. ''De Recco'' was on a west south-west course, ahead of ''Aventino'', ''Clio'' and ''Aspromonte''. ''Puccini'' and ''Folgore'' were side by side, behind ''De Recco'', heading south south-west; ''Camicia Nera'' was to the north of ''Puccini'' and ''Procione'' was minesweeping south of ''De Recco'', all heading west south-west. Force Q approached with ''Aurora'' leading, followed by ''Sirius'', ''Argonaut'', ''Quiberon'' and ''Quentin''; at 00:38, distant, the leading ships fired on ''KT 1'' which exploded. ''Argonaut'' and ''Quiberon'' opened fire on ''Procione'' (or ''De Recco'') as Cocchia ordered the escorts to attack. Force Q went around the hulk of ''KT 1'' and ''Argonaut'' fired and launched a torpedo at ''KT 1'', then at 00:39 ''Argonaut'' sailed to the north-east to what turned out to be a false contact. After a couple of minutes, ''Argonaut'' fired at ''Camicia Nera'' as it advanced to the attack, ''Aurora'' also firing at the destroyer, under the impression that it was a merchant ship. ''Camicia Nera'' turned and launched six torpedoes in two minutes from 00:43 at range then turned north, amidst shell splashes. ''Aspromonte'' was to the left of ''Aurora'' and ''Aventino'' away. ''Argonaut'' was also preparing to fire on ''Aventino'' as ''Sirius'' fired on ''Folgore'' and ''Clio''.

''Folgore'' had attacked before receiving Cocchia's order and at 00:47 fired three torpedoes to port at ''Aurora'', at a range underestimated at and turned away. ''Sirius'' caught a freighter in one of its searchlights and at 00:50 ''Folgore'' turned tightly to port and fired its last three torpedoes at the searchlight; the torpedoes missed but two hits were claimed by mistake. ''Folgore'' made to the south-west at but at 00:52 it was hit by nine shells from ''Argonaut'' causing severe flooding and a large fire. ''Folgore'' listed by 20° and capsized at 01:16. When the British attack began, ''Procione'' tangled its paravane and failed to sight ''Sirius'' until it had closed to on the starboard side and opened fire at 00:53. The shells killed the forward gun crew and the captain took evasive action then headed towards the south-west. ''Clio'' began to make smoke, firing at searchlights and gun flashes; ''De Recco'' tried to make a torpedo attack.

At 00:55 ''Quiberon'' broke formation to attack ''Clio'', was bracketed by return fire. ''Sirius'' and ''Argonaut'' were firing on ''Puccini'' and at 00:58, ''Argonaut'' fired a torpedo at ''Puccini'' then one to port soon after at ''Aventino'' which was on fire. At 01:12 ''Sirius'' also launched a torpedo at ''Aventino'' which exploded and sank. At 01:16 ''Quiberon'' sailed through water full of survivors and attacked ''Puccini'' and at 01:12 ''Quentin'' followed ''Quiberon'', both destroyers setting ''Puccini'' on fire; ''Aurora'' was engaging ''Aspromonte'' from which began to sink; the British cruisers changed target to ''Clio'' but after five minutes ''Clio'' escaped without damage. ''De Recco'' had got within of Force Q by 01:30 and launched torpedoes which missed; shell hits from ''Sirius'', ''Quiberon'' and ''Quentin'' killed 118 members of the crew and left ''De Recco'' stopped in the water, eventually to be towed to port by ''Pigafetta''. The British ships completed their circuit around the Italian ships and set course for Bône. Force Q was attacked by torpedo bombers at 06:30 on 3 December, sinking ''Quentin'' with one torpedo and damaging ''Quiberon''.

Aftermath

Analysis

In 1966 the British official historians wrote that Force Q has a "spectacular success"; in an hour, Force Q had sunk of shipping during a "one-sided engagement" for no damage. Just after dawn, as Force Q was on the return journey to Bône, ''Quentin'' was sunk by a torpedo bomber. In 2009, Vincent O'Hara wrote that the battle was a serious Italian defeat, in which a large escort force had failed to prevent the four supply ships from being sunk. The minor damage inflicted by the Italian ships on their opponents stood in stark contrast, despite the convoy escorts managing launch so many torpedoes at such close range. The convoy had been attacked while disorganised and could not achieve a co-ordinated reply. After more than two years of war, the was still incapable of accurately aiming torpedoes at night, partly because accepted claims of torpedo hits uncritically, which obscured the significance of the failing.

Casualties

Of the four freighters of Convoy H, three were sunk and one scuttled; the escort ''Folgore'' was also sunk. Two hundred members of the merchant and crews and 1,527 troops, embarked on ''Aventino'' and ''Puccini'' were killed. The crew of ''Folgore'' suffered 126 casualties, ''Nicoloso da Recco'' 118, ''Aspromonte'' 39, ''Procione'' three. The British ships had minor splinter damage but lost ''Quentin'' to a torpedo bomber on the return journey to Bône, with the loss of 20 men.

Subsequent operations

At 16:00 the 14th Destroyer Flotilla, from Force K, comprising , , and sailed from Malta, untroubled by Axis aircraft, to attack Convoy C, the merchant ships ''Veloce'' and ''Chisone'' for Tripoli, escorted by the torpedo boats , and . Near the Kerkenah Banks, Fairey Albacores of the Fleet Air Arm torpedoed ''Veloce'', which was carrying benzene and caught fire, burning brightly. Force K sailed towards the illumination as ''Lupo'' prepared to take on survivors and the rest of the convoy hugged the coast. ''Jervis'' lit up ''Lupo'' with a searchlight and opened fire at surprising the Italian torpedo boat and destroying the bridge. The rest of the flotilla joined in and ''Lupo'' was unable to reply, all but twelve of the crew being killed. The rest of the convoy stole away into the shallow water of the Kerkenah Banks.

Convoy "B", a simultaneous Axis shipping move, composed of the Italian freighters ''Arlesiana'', ''Achille Lauro'' and ''Campania'' and the German ''Menes'' and ''Lisboa'', was sailing that night from Naples to Tunis. The cargo ships were escorted by the torpedo boats , , and . After the convoy was overflown by Allied reconnaissance aircraft in the afternoon of 30 November, the escort was reinforced with the destroyers , '' Ascari'' and , joined later by the torpedo boat . The convoy was recalled to Trapani when the presence of Force Q in the area was discovered by German aerial surveillance at 23:30. While sailing back, Convoy "B" witnessed the destruction of Convoy "H". Numerous flares were sighted to the south, in the direction of the Axis force. At 01:00, the commander of ''Maestrale'', the leading escort, ordered the convoy to change course to Palermo, a route further to the north, to avoid detection by Force Q.

Notes

Footnotes

References

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External links

Convoy Battle near Skerki Bank

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skerki Bank
1942 in Italy
Allied naval victories in the battle of the Mediterranean
December 1942 events
Mediterranean convoys of World War II
Skerki Bank