Action off Calabria
Part III

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Cruiser and destroyers

At 15:55, when the battleships were exchanging salvos, 9 Swordfish from the Eagle flew over the battleground and attacked two of the Pola class cruisers, believing them to be battleships. The attacks, despite the close distance reached by the aircrafts, failed and at 17:05 the planes were already back on the Eagle. Starting at 15:58 the Italian cruiser Fiume, followed two minutes later by the Zara, Bolzano and Pola had opened fire. The Gorizia and Trento followed soon after. Between 16:01 and 16:05 the guns of the Alfieri’s group had also joined the fight. The Fiume, under the command of C.V. Giorgio Giorgis, was engaging the Liverpool, which was later to receive the attentions of the Gorizia as well. The British cruisers quickly changed course causing some confusion amongst the British squadron and realigning the line. At the end of the shuffle the Sidney was the last of the line. This change made accurate firing almost impossible, and not much became of it even if at 16:07 the destroyer Afieri received a near miss which caused some minor damages. It is during this phase that the Bolzano received three direct hits, one of which temporarily locked her rudder, causing the ship to complete a full revolution. Repair work was quickly completed and the unit was back on line.
 

Destroyers' action, USMM

Back to Base

At 21:40 on the 10th, despite the warning already sent by Supermarina advising the Sicilian bases of possible air attacks, and thanks to a bright lunar glow, a formation of British bombers was able to launch four torpedoes in the harbor of Augusta. Three of the weapons failed their target, but the last one hit the destroyer Pancaldom (1), under the command of C.F. Luigi Merini, causing it to sink. The ship suffered 16 casualties and was later recovered and lost again of April 30th, 1943 near Cape Bon.

The Bolzano and Cesare, the only two Italian units which had received direct hits, were transferred to la Spezia under the escort of 5 destroyers. Repair work commenced immediately and was soon completed. The Cesare’s damage was fully repaired in less than 30 days.

The Western Front

Force H left Gibraltar at 8:15 AM on the 8th with the Hood, Revenge, Valiant, Ark Royal, Enterprise, Emerald, Arethusa and 13 destroyers. The action was purely diversionary and was intended to confuse the Italians. At 19:00 on the 9th the R.A. dropped 144 250 Kg bombs probably hitting the Escort which would be later sunk by the submarine Marconi just 80 miles from the safety of Gibraltar. Surely, this unit had been badly damaged by the Italian planes otherwise, at the time indicated, it should have already reached port. Possibly, following information later received from Gibraltar, the Hood, the Ark Royal and another destroyer also received direct hits.

The Regia Aeronautica fails to deliver

Of all lessons learned at the battle of Punta Stilo, the most worrisome for the Italian was the Regia Aeronautica’s failure to sink any British ship. Although we now know that the British failed to disclose severe damage suffered by many vessels, still the R.A.’s threat, at least in the eye of the enemy, had partially evaporated. Even worst was the fact that about 50 Italian airplanes, instead of pursuing the enemy fleet, wrongly attack their own losing one plane to antiaircraft fire.

After the war, Gen. Santoro, the historian of the Regia Aeronautica, published a detailed list of all operations conducted by the R.A.,. The aircraft involved were mostly Savoia Marchetti S.79, S. 81 and Cant Z. 506. None of the airplanes carried torpedoes and this weapon had not yet been approved for use despite several successful tests. In total, 126 airplanes dropped 8 500 kg bombs, 236 250 kg , and 270 100 kg. Some of the aircraft returned, having failed to locate their target, with their payload. Of the aircraft involved in the fighting, 24 were slightly damaged by antiaircraft fire while one, as we just said, was downed.

Following the battle, the already existing contention between the two services reached its climax. Under political pressure, the Italian war bulleting credited the R.A. with a hardly credible list of successes. Count Ciano, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote in his diary ""La vera polemica in materia di combattimenti navali , non è tra noi e gli inglesi, bensì tra l’Aviazione e la Marina…". The real issue in the area of naval engagement is not between the British and us, but between the airforce and the Navy. Ciano went on to state that he was skeptical about the many successes claimed by the R.A., but Mussolini was not; he truly believed that he had already destroyed half of the British naval power in the Mediterranean.

Part IV