Battle of the Campobasso Convoy
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The Battle of the Campobasso Convoy was a naval engagement between three British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
destroyers In navy, naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a Naval fleet, fleet, convoy or Carrier battle group, battle group and defend them against powerful short range attack ...
and an Italian
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...
which took place off
Cape Bon Cape Bon ("Good Cape") is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia, also known as Ras at-Taib ( ar, الرأس الطيب), Sharīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli; Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as Ra ...
in the Mediterranean sea on the night of 3/4 May 1943. The Italians were escorting the 3,566 gross register ton (GRT) freighter ''Campobasso'' to
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
.


Background

As the North Africa campaign neared its conclusion, and of
Force K Force K was the name given to three British Royal Navy groups of ships during the Second World War. The first Force K operated from West Africa in 1939, to intercept commerce raiders. The second Force K was formed in October 1941 at Malta, to op ...
patrolled the waters off
Cape Bon Cape Bon ("Good Cape") is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia, also known as Ras at-Taib ( ar, الرأس الطيب), Sharīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli; Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as Ra ...
. On the night of 29/30 April, the destroyers made a sweep along the south coast of
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
and encountered the merchant ship ''Fauna'' (575 gross register tons (GRT) escorted by German
E-boat E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft (German: ''Schnellboot'', or ''S-Boot'', meaning "fast boat") of the Kriegsmarine during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a patrol craft from an armed motorboat to a lar ...
s. The British destroyers sank ''Fauna'' without loss.


Prelude

A few days later, alerted by signals intelligence, ''Nubian'', ''Paladin'' and , were sent to wait in ambush for an Italian convoy. The Italian merchant ship ''Campobasso'' (3,566 GRT) had left
Pantelleria island Pantelleria (; Sicilian: ''Pantiddirìa'', Maltese: ''Pantellerija'' or ''Qawsra''), the ancient Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and east of the Tunis ...
at 19:00 on 3 May, loaded with bombs, land-mines, motor transport and other supplies to the Axis forces in Tunisia. The merchant ship was joined by its escort, the commanded by Saverio Marotta soon after departure. The two ships undertook a winding course through the Axis and Allied minefields. On the night of 3/4 May off
Kelibia Kelibia (Kélibia) ( ar, قليبية, link=no '), often referred to as Klibia or Gallipia by European writers, is a coastal town on the Cap Bon peninsula, Nabeul Governorate in the far north-eastern part of Tunisia. Its sand beaches are considere ...
on the
Cap Bon Cape Bon ("Good Cape") is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia, also known as Ras at-Taib ( ar, الرأس الطيب), Sharīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli; Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as Ra ...
peninsula, the British destroyers picked up radar contacts of vessels heading towards the Tunisian coast. ''Perseo'', equipped with a
Metox radar detector The R600A Metox, named after its manufacturer, was a pioneering high-frequency radar warning receiver (RWR) manufactured by a small French company in occupied Paris. It was tuned to receive the signals used by many British radars of the early a ...
, picked up the transmissions from the British destroyers and signalled a warning to , the headquarters of the , that the convoy had been found.


Action

At 23:35 star shells burst overhead when the Italian ships were about east of Kelibia (Cape Bon) and ''Campobasso'' was hit soon after and caught fire. After the action a crewman on ''Perseo'' wrote ''Perseo'' launched its two starboard torpedoes from then sailed at full speed to the north-west towards Cape Bon. ''Campobasso'' exploded at 23:48 illuminating ''Perseo''. The British ships fired more star shell and ''Perseo'' began abrupt evasive action until 23:52 when its rudder suffered a mechanical fault. Before the crew could steer manually the hull was hit by two shells then more shells hit the bridge and the engine rooms. Steam escaped from the hull and covered the deck as the engines stopped operating. The British destroyers came as close as , firing their main guns and anti-aircraft armament and at 23:58 Marotta ordered the ship to be abandoned. ''Perseo'' remained afloat for about an hour, when the magazine exploded and the ship sank by the stern at 01:00. The next day the Italian hospital ship ''Principessa Giovanna'' picked up four survivors from ''Campobasso'' (twenty men reached the coast in a lifeboat) and ''Perseo''. On 6 May the hospital ship was bombed and damaged by
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
aircraft, with killed and


Aftermath


Casualties

The crew of ''Campobasso'' suffered casualties out of the crew of the complement of ''Perseo'' suffered and were rescued; Marotta was among those killed.


Subsequent operations

A second convoy, led by the
Ciclone-class torpedo boat The ''Ciclone'' class were a group of torpedo boats or destroyer escorts built for the Regia Marina, Italian Navy which fought in the Second World War. They were modified, slightly heavier, versions of the previous Orsa class torpedo boat, Orsa cla ...
, loaded with aviation spirit, escorted the merchant ship ''Belluno'' to Tunis from
Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an impor ...
and managed to evade the British destroyers, after witnessing the destruction of ''Campobasso''. The ''Tifone'' convoy arrived on 4 May and was the last Axis supply run to reach Africa during the war. Another Italian convoy composed by the Italian
lighter A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or c ...
''MZ 724'' and the water supply ship ''Scrivia'' sailed on 4 May and evacuated 200 Italian troops from Bizerte, reaching
Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...
undetected the following day.


Operation Retribution

As Axis airfields in Tunisia were captured, Allied fighters could escort Allied ships in the seas between
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
and Sicily, making day patrols feasible. Allied convoys along the coast and to Malta were stopped to divert their escorts to the blockade of Tunisia. Aircraft were to attack Axis ships within of the Tunisian shore and beyond the limit, Allied ships would have freedom of movement. British mines had been timed to sink in early May and intelligence on Axis minefields was judged sufficient to risk sailing in some areas. From the night of 8/9 May, ''Paladin'', with , ''Petard'' and ''Nubian'', from Force K bombarded Kelibia on 7 and 9 May and with Force Q based at
Bône Annaba ( ar, عنّابة,  "Place of the Jujubes"; ber, Aânavaen), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse River ...
, comprising , , and with the
Hunt-class destroyer The Hunt class was a class of escort destroyer of the Royal Navy. The first vessels were ordered early in 1939, and the class saw extensive service in the Second World War, particularly on the British east coast and Mediterranean convoys. They ...
s , , ''Aldenham'', , , , and RHS ''Kanaris'' maintained a daylight blockade off Cape Bon but had to paint their superstructures red to avoid attacks by friendly aircraft. British
Motor Gun Boat The motor gun boat (MGB) was a small, high-speed British military vessel of the Second World War, which was armed with a mix of guns, in contrast to the physically similar motor torpedo boat (MTB), whose main offensive weapon were torpedoes. ...
s, Motor Torpedo Boats and US
PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...
s patrolled closer inshore at night. Allied superiority was so great that decided that an evacuation attempt would be futile. Sporadic attempts were made to flee Tunisia; after 7 May, the German ''KT 22'', some Axis torpedo boats and MAS boats () were the only vessels to run the blockade. By the Axis surrender, the blockading vessels had taken


Notes


Footnotes


References

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Further reading

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Campobasso convoy Allied naval victories in the battle of the Mediterranean 1943 in Italy Naval battles of World War II involving Italy
Campobasso Campobasso (, ; nap, label= Campobassan, Cambuàsce ) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Molise and of the province of Campobasso. It is located in the high basin of the Biferno river, surrounded by Sann ...
Conflicts in 1943 Mediterranean convoys of World War II May 1943 events