April 19, 1941 0744 Southwest of Gavdos
Four Italian heavy cruisers and three light cruisers presented their broadsides to the three British cruisers and the single Australian light cruiser. Both forces were moving on almost parallel courses to the northwest. The Italians were moving at twenty two knots while the Royal Navy was was attempting to cut the chord slightly at twenty six knots. The range was 18,000 yards and slowly closing. All the cruisers as well as the destroyers in the space between the two main elements were firing rapidly to little effect.
Seventeen miles behind the battle, the three refurbished British superdreadnoughts strained to maintain twenty three knots. They were gaining ground slowly. Every time the Italian cruisers twisted to chase a splash, the battleships gained a few more yards. Thirty miles behind the battleships,
Formidable and
Eagle turned into the wind to launch two squadrons of torpedo bombers and half a dozen fighters to cover the cruisers.
York and four destroyers marked their time until the carriers edged east to an operations box and away from any inadvertent contact that would kill them just like
Argus.
A rain squall interrupted the battle that had been inconclusively fought for an hour.
Gloucester and
Liverpool maintained a steady slow rate of fire with their radar directed guns.
Gloucester finally scored a pair of hits against a light cruiser, knocking out the forward most turret and setting afire a berthing area but otherwise not impinging on the Italian’s fighting ability. As the Italian cruisers emerged from the northwest edge of the rain squall, they saw their succor.
A pair of modernized battleships was on the horizon. They were steaming south at twenty four knots. Their five forward guns were elevating and pointing towards the radioed position of the British cruisers. They waited as the cruisers and the destroyers of the van formed up on their mass and extended the line.
Four minutes later, the first British cruiser emerged from the squall. Two minutes later, five ships were visible and two were targeted.
Conte de Cavour chose the nearer cruiser while
Caio Duillo fired on the largest cruiser. As the range closed to 24,000 yards, both battle wagons skewed their courses from southeast to almost due west, opening up their broadside arcs. The first salvos erupted.
As the shells arced past the height of heavy bombers at work, the Royal Navy cruisers accelerated to flank speed and turned to port until they were settling on a course just one point south of east. The shells dove through the sky and landed several hundred yards short. The light cruisers did not fire back, their guns were too light and too short ranged to matter. They wiggled their course as another three salvos reached for them.
Liverpool shook as a half salvo straddled her without a direct hit. Her captain ordered smoke to be made and a hard rudder to head south for thirty seconds. The follow-on salvo from the straddle would have destroyed the cruiser without the rapid course change. As it was a single 12.6 inch shell hit the cruiser and detonated in X turret. Her speed was not impaired and she soon was hidden behind the smoke screen and she entered the squall line to disappear.
Even as the British cruiser force was trying to break contact, seven Swordfish and ten Albacores escorted by six Martlets arrived. The Swordfish from
Eagle were flown mainly by inexperienced crews, replacements for the pilots who had stuck their head into the lion’s mouth at Taranto. They decreased their speed and lowered their altitude. Heavy anti-aircraft guns boomed and then the lighter rat-a-tat of Bredas peppered the bombers with shells. One biplane tumbled into the sea, the observer escaping as the other men drowned. They curved their attacks and focused on a flanking attack on the most exposed cruiser,
Zara. They dropped at 1,200 yards. The cruiser twisted like a ballerina and dodged the six torpedoes. A single torpedo went long and almost hit a destroyer but a fast seeing lookout saw the miss and the ship turned into the track. It went parallel to the ship by 20 yards.
The more experienced Albacore crews pressed their atttacks straight into the teeth of the anti-aircraft defenses. Four swung wide, while the other six pressed along the flank of
Caio Duillo. She had accelerated to flank speed and was trying to turn into the threat, but the hammer and anvil attack denied her an easy refuge. Two bombers were shot down and another damaged before they could drop. The seven torpedoes entered the water from six hundred yards away. The three bow torpedoes all missed but they did their job. They kept their target’s course straight and true. The four flanking torpedoes scored twice.
Caio Duillo slowed as water rushed into the two gashes near her bow. The damage would not be fatal as damage control teams had learned their lessons well. Soon men were isolating compartments and creating temporary cofferdams to drain the water. The torpedo defense system was severely compromised but within an hour the battleship was steaming at eighteen knots to the northwest. Behind her the heavy cruisers formed a rear guard. Ahead of her, the light cruisers of the fleet probed for any British flankers while the destroyers circled her. Besides her steamed her older sister.
Even as repairs on the targeted battleship were being completed, the British cruisers joined the three dreadnougths of the Mediterranean Fleet.
Warspite led,
Valiant flew Admiral Cunningham’s flag while
Queen Elizabeth guarded the rear of the battle line. They pressed north and then slightly west at twenty one knots as twenty three knots could not be held for long. Anti-aircraft crews had been in position since the start of the battle. The gun crews for the majestic fifteen inch rifles were not in their turrets. They rested and they ate to stay fresh and alert as they knew action could come today but not quite yet.
An hour later, an Albacore radioed that the Italian fleet was only thirty miles away. Blenheims from Crete had attacked the force again and they had slowed it temporarily as the ships clustered for protection but they did no damage. Another squadron of eight Albacores from Formidable flew by the battle line. Twenty minutes later, they returned, short two aircraft but claiming to have torpedoed
Bolzano.
By early afternoon, the range had closed. The approach had been delayed as two dozen SM-79 torpedo bombers had attempted to attack the battleships. Six Martlets and four Fulmars broke up the attack, the destroyer
Stuart was quickly abandoned after being torpedoed twice. Yet this only bought the Italian fleet a few more miles to run.
By late afternoon, the sun was still above the horizon offering no protection for the Italian fleet that was now only 31,000 yards from the two veterans of Jutland and their freshly modernized sister ship. Twenty 12.6 inch guns against twenty four 15 inch guns was not a fight the Italians could afford. The ships that could still steam at high speed increased the pressure in their boilers and soon headed north at twenty seven knots.
Warspite focused on destroying
Bolzano.
Valiant and
Queen Elizabeth began to shell
Caio Duilio from 26,000 yards away. The three light cruisers that had initiated the morning’s action and had not been damaged too much hung tight to the battleships’ flanks waiting to drive off the four Italian destroyers that had been left behind to nursemaid the cripples home. That attack never came. The destroyers saw that they were outnumbered so they made smoke and then fled to the west.
By the time the bottom of the sun touched the horizon, rescue operations had started for the survivors from the two Italian warships that had to be abandoned an hour earlier.
Caio Duillo scored seven hits on
Valiant but the light shells were often defeated by
Valiant’s thick armor. Her resistance was insufficient as radar directed shells rained on her. Twenty one 15 inch shells had penetrated and another half dozen had been defeated by her armor. She was left burning and listing 17 degrees to port when she lowered her flag and men began to jump into the sea.
Bolzano never had a chance to resist as her guns were too light to harm
Warspite. Eleven salvos and five hits were enough to finish her off.
By midnight, the destroyers attached to the Meditarrean Fleet had rescued over 1,400 survivors before the battle line turned around and steamed for Alexandria to replenish before surging north again to cover evacuation convoys. The carriers would stay south of Crete offering limited protection for the convoys tomorrow.
