Battle of Cape Matapan: Just Four Minutes to Cripple a Fleet

in the spring of 1941 the British Mediterranean fleet and the Italian reggae a marina clashed off Cape Matapan it was the largest fleet battle in the European theater during the Second World War and also one of the most one-sided this episode is brought to you by curiosity stream a subscription streaming service that offers thousands of documentaries and nonfiction titles from some of the world's best filmmakers get unlimited access for just $2.99 REME comm slash a story graph with the promo code his story graph more on this later by March 1941 the British War Cabinet had taken the decision to support Greece against axis invasion with an expeditionary force shipped from Egypt close protection for the troop ships was provided by Vice Admiral Henry prudent Whipple's force B Britain's capital ships in the region layered Alexandria under Admiral Andrew Cunningham at the end of March drew closed British intelligence at Bletchley Park intercepted a series of Italian naval signals that included requests for information on the position of British convoys sensing danger Admiral Cunningham ordered all convoys suspended and told Pritam Whipple to bring his cruisers west of Crete by daybreak on March 28th if the Italian fleet was coming out a chance at engaging it was not to be passed up at 12:30 on March 27th and RAF Sunderland a flying boat operating from Malta spotted an Italian cruiser division east of Sicily this was the confirmation Cunningham needed to bring his own battle fleet out departing Alexandria at 7:00 p.m. that evening with three battleships an aircraft carrier and eight destroyers the Italian fleet which Cunningham was steaming out to try and meet was much larger but possessed less heavy firepower its prized asset was the battleship Vittorio Veneto a modern ship of more than 40,000 tons carrying nine 15-inch guns and capable of a top speed of 30 knots far faster than the old queen elizabeth-class battleships that cunning and possessed Veneto was escorted by four destroyers and carried the Italian commander-in-chief admiral Angelo Aquino the QIOs force was joined by two further groups Vice Admiral Sansa Nettie led the formation that had been spotted from the air earlier with three heavy cruisers and three destroyers the rest of the Italian Cruiser forces were commanded by Vice Admiral Catania with four heavy cruisers two light cruisers and six destroyers the Italian fleet had come out to hunt for Allied convoys after pressure from their German allies who were keen that the flow of British troops to Greece be interrupted German intelligence had told the Italians that Cunningham had only one operational battleship available to respond Admiral Cunningham for his part was determined simply to find the enemy as quickly as possible and get as close to them as he could he was skeptical of the effectiveness of long-range gunnery battles according to the fleet's gunnery officer commander Jeffrey Barnard Cunningham had once argued the right range for any ship of the Mediterranean fleet from a battleship to a submarine to engage an enemy ship with gun fire is point blank at which range even a gunnery officer cannot miss as dawn broke on March 28th 1941 both fleets had no idea of each other's positions and strengths this fog was broken at 6:43 a.m. when Pretoria veneto spotter aircraft the cruiser force be guessing that their presence must signify that a convoy was nearby Admiral Aquino ordered his fleet to increase speed in the next hour aircraft from HMS formidable made sighting reports of cruisers and destroyers close to force base position both Cunningham an imprudent whipple thought that it was the wrong name 'yes own ships that have been spotted by their own aircraft this illusion was dispelled at 5 minutes to 8 when false B's flagship HMS Orion spotted the cruiser Trieste leading the central Italian group under Vice Admiral Sansa Nettie force B was quickly faced with three onrushing Italian cruisers that were not only more powerful with 8-inch guns but faster - turning false beasts swiftly away to the southeast as they came under fire freedom riffle began to try and draw his opponents towards the British battle fleet Sansa Nettie pursued force B until shortly before 9:00 a.m. before he suddenly turned away to the northwest not wanting to lose visual contact with the enemy Pritam Whipple mirrored this turn shadowing Sansa Nettie at long range the British cruisers were unaware that they were now being led into a trap shortly before 11 a.m. vittorio veneto came suddenly into v from the northeast opening fire on false b from long range the British Vice Admiral quickly grasped the extreme danger his ships were now in caught between two powerful enemy groups he signaled for smoke to be made and for his squadron to turn away at the fastest speed each ship could maintain a way to the east Admiral Cunningham read the signals Pritam Whipple was sending to his squadron with a mixture of anxiety and excitement the kind of action of force B had just taken could mean only one thing the Italian battle fleets had been spotted cunning impressed his fleet West at all possible speed and reached for the only way he could influence events before his slow battleships arrived the aircraft carrier formidable formidable had already flown off a striking force in case it was needed and just before half past 11 a force of six fairy Alba Kors led by leftenant commander Gerald salt moved in to attack vittorio veneto all of their torpedoes missed but nonetheless had the effect of forcing aquino to break off the pursuit Fanta Nettie's cruisers were Forester did the same when at midday they were attacked by three swordfish aircraft launched from an airfield in Crete by 1:00 p.m. force bees retreat had brought them in visual contact of the British battle fleet but there was no sign of the Italian the cruisers had thrown up so much smoke during their escape that by the time it cleared the italians had vanished Admiral Cunningham was now faced with the task of trying to bring to battle an Italian fleet that he did not know the location of and that was faster than him the information admiral aquino had on his opponents was even sketchy intelligence indicated that hms formidable plus one is courting battleship at left port and was the source of the aircraft that had just attacked his fleet but not much else was known aquino guessed that formidable had only recently left port that morning and was probably at least a hundred and seventy miles away even so the threat of air attack was enough to head for home knowing that a single lucky hit could leave the vittorio veneto a sitting duck Cunningham's first problem data finding vitória Vinita was resolved at just after 3:00 p.m. when aerial contact was regained a second attack away from formidable was directed in led by leftenant commander John Daniels dead by chance the attack coincided with a raid by six RAF Blenheim high-altitude bombers he were the focus for much of the Italian fleet attention in the seconds before the torpedo bombers began their attack run when fire switched to the Alba cause it was intense but Daniels dead had professed his attack even after his two wingmen dropped their torpedoes of what was already a short distance the leading Alba will continue to charge for the flagship finally less than a thousand yards from Vittorio Veneto the torpedo was released before the albacore was overwhelmed by fire and crashed into the sea an emergency turn away had been ordered aboard vittorio veneto but too late the torpedo crunched into the earth of the ship netting in thousands of tons of water in a short order by 3:30 the engines had stopped frantic damage control work enabled vittorio veneto two engines to be restarted before too long but the flagship speed was greatly reduced this was the chance cunningham had been waiting for a third airstrike was ordered for dusk and force b was detached to gain visual contact with the italians as quickly as possible by quarter to six not only had formidable flown off six fresh torpedo bombers but two more swordfish have been launched from Crete they were joined in the air by walls by its own spotter plane which was catapulted in an urgent attempt to find the Italian fleet again before nightfall orders were given for destroyers to prepare to chase down the Italians for a night torpedo attack at 6:31 Warspite spotter reported the position of the Italian fleet joining the swordfish from Crete in holding stationed around it by this time the Italians had consolidated into a single group with the damaged vittorio veneto in the center and destroyers and cruisers arrayed in a protective screen on all sides still believing that any british capital ships were miles away ikki nose concern was defending against further air attack and any attempted destroyer attacks overnight at 7:30 the third and final British air attack of the day began a torpedo bombers streaking in from the east with the quino's fleet silhouetted against the western sky a tremendous barrage of anti-air fire greeted them that was so fierce it forced many to break off and come in individually from other angles in the gloom it was difficult for the pilots to tell the larger Italian ships apart especially while hurtling through a maelstrom of tracer fire as they tried to line themselves up for a torpedo run most pilots thought they had engaged the vittorio veneto but this was rarely the case at 7:46 the last aircraft remaining piloted by Lieutenant CPC Williams released its torpedo and hit the heavy cruiser Pola square amidships Pola quickly lost its engines and all electrical power pulling out of line and coming to a halt in the confusion the Italian fleet steamed on oblivious Aquino did not receive a signal reporting the damage to Pola until half an hour later as it was now dark and there was no chance of further air attacks aquino felt confident in detaching at 8:38 - the remainder of Cattaneo squadron to aid the stricken Cruiser the British meanwhile had no idea of the results of the last air strike it was much too dark to observe the hit on Pola directly and the aircraft that participated have been diverted to London Crete rather than risking a night landing aboard formidable shortly after half past 8 killing him detached eight destroyers to hunt down the Italians and launch a torpedo attack the force under captain Phillip Mack was told that the Italians were 33 miles ahead traveling at 13 knots this was an estimate based off the first report from Warspite spotter plane several hours earlier in fact akeno's fleet was travelling 19 knots and had been doing so for at least three hours at half eight they were actually 57 miles distant from the British this miscalculation meant that machs destroyers would spend the next few hours chasing shadows at 8:40 radar onboard force B's HMS Ajax detected a stock ship four miles to their west Cunningham was informed of its location and imprisoned Whipple pushed on still eager to catch up with the rest of the enemy fleet the British battle fleets had a course toward the unknown ship for closer investigation at 10 past 10 HMS valiant the only one of Cunningham's battleships to be fitted with radar was close enough to report the stock ship nine miles away Cunningham in defiance of conventional practice for handling battleships at night turned his fleet together towards the unknown according to SW CPAC such a turn to Ward was unprecedented in a night action for the drill had always been for the battle fleet to turn away if there was the possibility of being subjected to a destroyer attack by 10:20 paula was just four and a half miles away guns were loaded and trained on the stricken Cruiser suddenly at 10:23 the destroyer HMS Stuart urgently reported new contacts looming out at the darkness just two miles away cattaneo had arrived the destroyer Alfieri leading the cruisers Zara and for you May with three more destroyers following behind the Italians were totally oblivious to the presence of the British since none of their ships were fitted with radar on sighting the new ships Cunningham swung the fleet around as if it were a group of destroyers slotting back into a single line and training its guns on the new contacts at 10:27 the destroyer Greyhound snapped open its searchlights an instant later Warspite and valiant opened fire together the lead ship from less than 3,000 yards it was point blank range 15-inch shelves smashed into the few mates setting her ablaze and blowing her rear 8-inch turret clean over the side of the ship formidable swung out of the British line having no place in the close quarters gun battle and was replaced by Barham which scored hits on Alfieri and then joined Warspite and valiant in pummeling Catania's flagship Zara Zara was then hit by fourteen 15-inch salvos in a matter of minutes the Italian ships were taken totally by surprise and so fierce was the British fire that none of the cruisers fired even once in return at 10:31 the three undamaged Italian destroys mounted a valiant counter-attack driving at the battleships and forcing them to turn away to avoid torpedoes the onslaught had lasted for just four minutes Cunningham now detached his four escorting destroyers to finish off the crippled Italian cruisers and steamed north a confused melee with guns and torpedoes between the British and Italian destroyers followed as the remnants of cattaneo squadron tried to escape devastated by fires the destroyer Alfieri and Cruiser fee you may both sank at around 11:15 and were fired by the destroyer Carducci 15 minutes later sunk by gunfire from HMS havoc the other two Italian cruisers remained stubbornly afloat until captain max destroyers arrived at around 2 a.m. fresh from their earlier failed pursuit of akeno's battle fleet after picking survivors up from both ships zara was sunk at 2:40 a.m. and polar at 4:03 by torpedoes from HMS Jervis this brought the Battle of Cape Matapan to an end in a battle that lasted scarcely for four minutes the Italian Navy had seen an entire heavy cruiser division wiped out along with two destroyers and more than 2,400 sailors including Vice Admiral Catania the sum total of British losses was three aircrew and a single albacore torpedo bomber it was a crushing defeat for the Italians that destroyed their confidence in any future offensive operations it ensured Allied convoys would pass through the Med untroubled by axis naval forces preventing thousands of troops being stuck in Greece when the campaign there collapsed in a few short weeks time as for Greece if you want to know what happened there we'll be covering that very soon this video is sponsored by curiosity Street curiosity stream is home to a lot of documentaries there's something for everyone on them you might like Apocalypse World War 2 which is a series of documentaries charting the overall course of the Second World War from beginning to end it provides a good overview and make you interested in part of the war that you hadn't previously thought about you can get unlimited access to curiosity's dream for $2 99 and 100 just 11 dollars 99 year as part of the stay in stay curious promotion the first 30 days are completely free if you sign up at curiosity's dream comm slash historic RAF and use the promo code historic RAF thanks again to curiosity stream for helping to make this video possible [Music] you

Channel: Historigraph

Views: 682,528

Rating: 4.941731 out of 5

Keywords: matapan, battle of matapan, battle of cape matapan, historical documentary, historigraph, regia marina, admiral cunningham

Id: sV4lZJGsMm4

Length: 15min 50sec (950 seconds)

Published: Sun May 10 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Mistral_11]

As usual, it disgusts me to read so many comments that take this episode as a joke, mainly because the italians were mowed during a rescue action. We should always respect the fallen, no matter what nation they are.

[u/Kyokyodoka]

AL history...

"Formidable beat up a bunch an Italian boats, and Warspite discovered magic isn't really all that common here in AL..."

​

RL history...

"Formidable SPLITS A GIRL IN HALF and mangles most Italian cruisers, and Warspite sinks capital ships like she is role-playing a second Jutland...In less time..."

[u/Kaltias]

It was a crushing defeat for the Italians ''that destroyed their confidence in any future offensive operation, it ensured Allied convoys would pass through the Mediterranean untroubled by Axis naval forces''

This is a straight up lie. Operation Vigorous, Harpoon and Pedestal all happened after Matapan, and the Royal Navy took a beating during all of them.

[u/UsmValor]

"Insert history channel guy here" RADARS!