The Battle off Zuwarah (19/20 January 1943) was a naval night encounter during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The battle took place in

Libyan Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...

waters between the

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 ...

and the . An Italian flotilla of small minesweepers and auxiliary vessels evacuating Tripoli was destroyed by two British destroyers.

Background

On 15 January 1943, ''Kelvin'' and , blockading the port of Tripoli in Libya, had forced the to retire damaged and then sunk the 4,537 Gross register tonnage (GRT) ''D'Annunzio'', a merchant ship trying to escape from Tripoli, on 15 January. On the night of 19/20 January, the British destroyers and patrolled off

Zuwarah Zuwarah, or Zuwara or Zwara (Berber language: At Willul or Zwara, ) is a coastal Berber-speaking city in Libya. Zuwara or At Willul is famous for its beaches and seafood. It is situated west of Tripoli and from the Tunisian border. It is the ...

, Libya to cut off the escape of the last Italian ships from Tripoli.

Prelude

On the night of 19/20 January, the British destroyers ''Kelvin'' and ''Javelin'' patrolled off Zuwarah, Libya to cut off the escape of the last Italian ships from Tripoli. The Type 271 radar on ''Javelin'' detected ships heading towards the Tunisian coast from the direction of Tripoli. The ships were the Tripoli minesweeping flotilla (Lieutenant Giuseppe Di Bartolo), which had been ordered to leave the city for Tunisia and then to Italy, to avoid capture. The flotilla was made up of four small minesweeping tugs (''RD 31'', ''RD 36'', ''RD 37'' and ''RD 39'', of which ''RD 36'' and ''37'' had Italian crews); the trawler ''Scorfano'' (the largest ship in the convoy); the small tanker ''Irma''; the auxiliary minesweepers ''DM 12 Guglielmo Marconi'' (a requisitioned brigantine); ''R 26 Angelo Musco'' and ''R 224 Cinzia'' (two former fishing vessels); the auxiliary patrol vessel ''V 66 Astrea'' (a motor

sailing vessel A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...

) and the pump boat ''S. Barbara'' (towed by ''Scorfano'').

Battle

''Javelin'' and ''Kelvin'' moved to intercept the Italian ships and fired star shells to illuminate the ships. The British mistook the vessels for an Italian convoy. The Italians, under heavy fire, were able neither to fight back effectively (the RD minesweepers being armed with a 76 mm gun and two 6.5 mm machine-guns each, while the other ships carried only

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

s) nor to escape (having lower speed than the destroyers). ''RD 36'', the flotilla leader, tried to cover the retreat of the other ships but was soon sunk with all hands. The other vessels, fleeing towards the coast to allow their crews to escape, were picked off one-by-one. ''RD 37'' and ''Scorfano'' were sunk with no survivors; ''Marconi'' was set on fire but all of her crew escaped before she sank and ''Irma'' was finished off with a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

Aftermath

Analysis

By the morning of 20 January, the flotilla had been annihilated. ''Kelvin'' had expended 300 rounds of her 4.7-inch guns and ''Javelin'' 500 rounds. ''Javelin'' and ''Kelvin'' quickly headed for Malta, where they arrived safely the next day. ''RD 36'' and its crew were awarded the

Gold Medal of Military Valour The Gold Medal of Military Valour ( it, Medaglia d'oro al valor militare) is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers. The fac ...

for the action against overwhelming odds.

Casualties

The Italians suffered casualties and the survivors either swam ashore or were picked up by Italian vessels the next day.

Footnotes

References

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