Monitors at Messina

Am reading Monitors of the Royal Navy by Jim Crossley and a paragraph caught my eye about the possible use of the Monitors attached to the naval forces destroying the heavy guns defending the strait opening up the retreating axis troops to be attacked by MGB s .

How feasible is this . Could the monitors have made a significant difference and helped stopped approximately 5 divisions being evacuated onto the mainland .
 
Slow and rather lumbering surface vessels in tight confines of water vs aircraft = bad end. Unless the Allies were able to really heavily shield them from air attack they could well ahve been sunk with little gain. But if there was air support...then it could have worked.
 

nbcman

Donor
Further to steamboy's comment, how would 12 knot monitors even get close enough to engage the shore based guns and be able to maneuver when being fired upon when they have to contend with up to a 6 knot current which runs through the strait?
 
Search out info on the Italian minefields protecting the straits. Those had to be swept. Also... In June 1944 the USN was ordered to support the attack on Cherbourg. A detailed exam of that would help answer the question.
 
[QUOTbuildincman, post: 14453905, member: 8090"]Further to steamboy's comment, how would 12 knot monitors even get close enough to engage the shore based guns and be able to maneuver when being fired upon when they have to contend with up to a 6 knot current which runs through the strait?[/QUOTE]

Hms Erebeus had a maximum range of 18.2 miles when built . The straits are 20 miles long.

Air attack is a risk . Although the Allies had air superiority.

Data about the evacuation of Sicily from Alberto Santoni, "Dalla Sicilia al Continente", Storia Militare n.100, gen. 2002 (prof. Santoni has written the official history of the Campaing of Sicily for theUSSME):
- Between 29 July and 17 Aug. 1943 the airplanes of the Mediterranean Air Command made 27,626 missions, with an averge of 1,454 airplanes every day. They shot down 216 German airplanes and 9 Italian airplanes (the Regia Aeronautica was already pratically annihilated), losing about 200 airplanes (not only over Sicily, thus including, for example, also the 59 lost on Ploesti on 1st Aug.).
 

nbcman

Donor
Hms Erebeus had a maximum range of 18.2 miles when built . The straits are 20 miles long.

Air attack is a risk . Although the Allies had air superiority.

Data about the evacuation of Sicily from Alberto Santoni, "Dalla Sicilia al Continente", Storia Militare n.100, gen. 2002 (prof. Santoni has written the official history of the Campaing of Sicily for theUSSME):
- Between 29 July and 17 Aug. 1943 the airplanes of the Mediterranean Air Command made 27,626 missions, with an averge of 1,454 airplanes every day. They shot down 216 German airplanes and 9 Italian airplanes (the Regia Aeronautica was already pratically annihilated), losing about 200 airplanes (not only over Sicily, thus including, for example, also the 59 lost on Ploesti on 1st Aug.).
It is more than Axis air attacks which would threaten the monitors. There are shore based guns, mines, and the risk of Italian ships and Axis planes attacking in a strait which is no more than 6 miles wide and as little as 2. There is no room to maneuver with plenty of threats to defend against with a limited chance of success. While the Allies had air superiority over Sicily, there were numerous AA guns at the straits which made that area as dangerous as over the Ruhr. So even if the monitor got close, there is no way that the Allies could keep a spotter aircraft in the straits to correct the monitor's firing. The Allies didn't even risk fast light vessels in trying to interdict the evacuation IOTL, why would they risk a lumbering ship that is firing fairly blindly which would be nothing more than target practice for the Axis defenders ITTL?
 
I realise that but why would they have to enter the strait . Her range covers a large percentage of the length of the strait. Granted spotting aircraft would be a challenge but possibly worth the risk.
 
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