On September 27, 1941, British and Italian heavy units almost fought a surfacr action fifty miles off of Sardinia. Using the Command at Sea scenario for it, my friend Alex and I fought it out with GQIII.
BRITISH FORCES (Admiral E P McEneely KCB FRS ONL RN)
Force A
HMS Prince of Wales (Vice-Admiral A T B Curteis)
HMS Rodney
HMS Duncan
HMS Gurkha
HMS Legion
HMS Lance
HMS Lively
Force X
HMS Kenya (Rear-Admiral H. M Burrough)
HMS Edinburgh
HMS Cossack
HMS Zulu
ITALIAN FORCES (Admiral A Kaempen FOIS)
9th Battleship Division
Littorio (Admiral A Iachino)
Vittorio Veneto
13th Destroyer Squadron
Granatiere
Alpino
Bersagliere
Fuciliere
3rd Cruiser Division
Trento
Trieste (Vice-Admiral B Brivonesi)
Gorizia
12th Destroyer Squadron
Corazziere
Carabiniere
Ascari
Lanciere
7th Cruiser Division
Muzio Attendolo
Luigi Di Savoia Duca Dela Abruzzi
10th Destroyer Squadron
Maestrale
Grecale
Sirocco
Both sides deployed with their cruiser forces leading, destroyers screening the flanks, and their heavy ships bringing up the rear. Visibility was poor, and Force X sighted the leading cruisers at 1630 at only 10,000 yards range and turned 60 degrees to port in an attempt to open their A arcs.
The 3rd Cruiser squadron in turn began a sharp turn to starboard to unmask their own main armaments, but their screening destroyers neglected to turn with them, instead porceeding towards the British ships. As a result, tragedy struck when at 1632, Trento rammed Maestrale while attempting to pass astern of her; Trento's speed dropped to 28 knots, and Maestrale's fell to 15. Moments later, Carabiniere collided with Sirocco, slowing both ships to a top speed of little more than 20 knots each. The Italian fleet was thrown into disarray before the first shots had even been fired.
At 1633, HMS Edinburgh and HMS Kenya opened rapid fire with their forward turrets on Trento and Gorizia, socring a telling hit on Trento's bridge and knocking out B turret. Italian return fire failed to inflict serious damage.
Force X and the Italian cruiser/destroyer forces continued to close the range as both sides' battleships veered away from the confused melee that was developing and headed directly for each other.
In the close-range fighting that ensued between the cruisers, the Italians fired a total of 68 torpedoes in the course of 45 minutes, sinking all four of the gallant ships of Force X, although in the process, their ships collided several more times, and Trento and Trieste both were left helplessly circling, unable to unjam their rudders. Gorizia's speed was reduced to 24 knots and her B turret was blown apart, Muzio Attendolo lost her A and C turrets, Abruzzi lost her C turret and was reduced to 14 knots, and Grecale and Corraziere were sunk outright by torpedoes. Every Italian ship was damaged to one extent or another, and they were drawn too far away from Force A to intervene in its battle with the Italian battleships.
Prince of Wales and Rodney traded long-range fire with Veneto and Littorio, with a lucky salvo from Rodney knocking out both of Littorio's forward turrets early on. The four battleships closed to within 1,000 yards of each other, trading lethal blows, but at 1726, Littorio's magazines exploded in an eyeblinding flash, taking Admiral Iachino and 1,920 other sailors with her. The Veneto, with her forward director and two turrets knocked out, fought on valiantly, finally damaging the old Rodney so badly that she sank, but at 1738, a torpedo from HMS Lance found its mark, and she rolled under the waves. Secondary gunfire from Prince of Wales sank Granatiere and Fuciliere was torpedoed by HMS Gurkha, and Sirocco was reduced to a wreck by the sinking HMS Zulu.
British losses had also been heavy, worsened when the withdrawing Gurkha and Legion blundered into the retreating Italian cruisers and were sunk; Prince of Wales' long-range gunfire finished off the helpless Trento, and Trieste and Scirocco were scuttled by their own side as they were no longer maneuverable and Swordfish torpedo bombers were known to be approaching.
Total Losses
BRITISH
HMS Rodney (BB)
HMS Kenya (CL)
HMS Edinburgh (CL)
HMS Duncan (DD)
HMS Legion (DD)
HMS Gurkha (DD)
HMS Lively (DD)
HMS Zulu (DD)
HMS Cossack (DD)
Italian
Littorio (BB)
Vittorio Veneto (BB)
Trento (CA)
Trieste (CA)
Ascari (DD)
Corraziere (DD)
Granatiere (DD)
Fuciliere (DD)
Lanciere (DD)
Grecale (DD)
Scirocco (DD)
AFTERMATH
The loss of the highly valuable Rodney made the British victory bittersweet; the Royal Navy could not afford to lose such a powerful warship. This was somewhat compensated for by the destruction of Italy's two most powerful battleships, which were serious threats to surface traffic between Gibraltar and Alexandria. The loss of two modern and powerful light cruisers was also countered by the destruction of two Italian heavy cruisers and numerous destroyers. The loss of all of the AA-equipped L/M destroyers but one meant that convoy escorts would be less well-equipped to deal with air attack in the future.
Admiral McEneely was assigned as liason to Washington DC and never again received a command afloat.
tries the naval wargame in the Axis & Allies series.
