The Battle of the Duisburg Convoy, also known as the Battle of the BETA Convoy, was fought on the night of 1941 between an Italian
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
, its escorts and four British ships. The convoy was named "BETA" (Duisburg Convoy refers to the largest ship) by the Italian naval authorities and carried supplies for the Italian Army, civilian colonists and the in
Italian Libya
Libya ( it, Libia; ar, ليبيا, Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of the Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica ...
.
Force K
Force K was the name given to three British Royal Navy groups of ships during the Second World War. The first Force K operated from West Africa in 1939, to intercept commerce raiders. The second Force K was formed in October 1941 at Malta, to op ...
of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, based at Malta, annihilated the convoy, sinking all the merchant ships and the destroyer with no loss and almost no damage. The was sunk next day by the British submarine , while picking up survivors.
The Italians were severely criticised by the German naval attaché and pressured to accept liaison officers at (headquarter of the ) and on its ships. Italian attempts to reduce the risk of interception by British forces, by sending individual ships, pairs and smaller convoys from several ports at once was futile, because the British were reading Italian naval codes; the next convoy was forced to return to port.
Background
Italian belligerence
The declaration of war by
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
on 10 June 1940 placed the Italian Royal Air Force () astride the traditional British sea route to
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
ports through the Mediterranean and
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. The Italian Royal Navy () roughly trebled the numbers of
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
s,
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
s and
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s available to the Axis against the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. The British had held the eastern end of the Mediterranean and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
the western end but on 25 June 1940 the
fall of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...
ended the participation of the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
() in the Allied domination of the Mediterranean. The British based
Force H
Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place within the ...
at
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, the
Mediterranean Fleet
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...
at
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
in Egypt and used the island of Malta in the central Mediterranean as base of operations. In September 1940, the
Italian invasion of Egypt
The Italian invasion of Egypt () was an offensive in the Second World War, against British, Commonwealth and Free French forces in the Kingdom of Egypt. The invasion by the Italian 10th Army () ended border skirmishing on the frontier and began ...
took place from
Italian Libya
Libya ( it, Libia; ar, ليبيا, Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of the Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica ...
(, ASI) leading to the capture of
Sidi Barrani
Sidi Barrani ( ar, سيدي براني ) is a town in Egypt, near the Mediterranean Sea, about
east of the Egypt–Libya border, and around from Tobruk, Libya.
Named after Sidi es-Saadi el Barrani, a Senussi sheikh who was a head of i ...
. The Italian Army invaded Greece the following October.
1940–1941
In early November 1940, the Italian offensive in Greece had been defeated and the Italian battleships , and had been damaged by Royal Navy torpedo bombers at the
Battle of Taranto
The Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham, and Italian naval forces, under Admiral Inigo Campioni. The Royal Navy launched ...
. The ship losses of the Italian Fleet had made it easier for the British to supply Malta and Greece. The
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
*Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...
forces involved the
Western Desert Campaign were supplied across the Mediterranean by convoys from Italy to the ASI.
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
was the main of the colony, which had lesser ports to the east, including
Benghazi
Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...
. The normal wartime route for Italian supply deliveries to Libya went about westwards around Sicily and then hugged the coast from
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
eastwards to Tripoli, to evade British aircraft, ships and submarines from Malta. Once in Africa, Axis supplies had to be carried huge distances by road or in small consignments on
coastal trading vessel
Coastal trading vessels, also known as coasters or skoots, are shallow-hulled ships used for trade between locations on the same island or continent. Their shallow hulls mean that they can get through reefs where deeper-hulled seagoing ships usua ...
s, the distance from Tripoli to Benghazi being about .
In early 1941, after
Operation Compass
Operation Compass (also it, Battaglia della Marmarica) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British, Empire and Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces of ...
, the big British and Commonwealth victory in Egypt and
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...
, the best-equipped units in the British
XIII Corps were sent to Greece as part of
Operation Lustre
Operation Lustre was an action during the Second World War: the movement of British and other Allied troops (Australian, New Zealand and Polish) from Egypt to Greece in March and April 1941, in response to the failed Italian invasion and the loom ...
to assist the Greek Army against the Italian invaders and to be ready to meet an anticipated German invasion.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
responded to the Italian disaster in Egypt with Directive 22 (11 January 1941) ordering (Operation Sunflower), the deployment of a new (DAK) to Libya, as a barrier detachment (). The DAK had fresh troops with better tanks, equipment and air support than the surviving Italian forces in the ASI. The Axis force raided and quickly defeated the British at El Agheila on 24 March and at
Mersa el Brega
Brega , also known as ''Mersa Brega'' or ''Marsa al-Brega'' ( ar, مرسى البريقة , i.e. "Brega Seaport"), is a complex of several smaller towns, industry installations and education establishments situated in Libya on the Gulf of Sidra, ...
on 31 March, exploited the success and by 15 April, had pushed the British back to the Libyan–Egyptian border at Sollum and besieged the small Libyan port of Tobruk. Several Axis attempts to seize Tobruk failed and the front line settled on the Egyptian border into November 1941.
Malta
From 1 June to 31 October 1941, British forces based at Malta sank about of Axis shipping on the African convoy routes, by the navy and by
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF) and
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
(FAA) aircraft from Malta and Egypt. Loaded Axis ships sailing to Africa accounted for 90 per cent of the losses and the Malta-based squadrons were responsible for about 75 per cent of ships sunk by aircraft. In October 1941 the British re-established (
Force K
Force K was the name given to three British Royal Navy groups of ships during the Second World War. The first Force K operated from West Africa in 1939, to intercept commerce raiders. The second Force K was formed in October 1941 at Malta, to op ...
) a flotilla of surface ships at Malta for the first time since April, plus a detachment of
Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also used ...
torpedo bombers. Italian air reconnaissance discovered the ships on 21 October and cancelled sailings for Tripoli, leaving only the inferior facilities at Benghazi.
Prelude
Duisburg (BETA) Convoy operation
The convoy consisted two German vessels, SS ''Duisburg'' 7,889
gross register tonnage (GRT) and SS ''San Marco'' (3,113 GRT) and the Italian MV ''Maria'' (6,339 GRT), SS ''Sagitta'' (5,153 GRT) and MV ''Rina Corrado'' (5,180 GRT), carrying 389 vehicles, of munitions, fuel in barrels and troops for the Italian and German forces in Libya. The tankers ''Conte di Misurata'' (7,599 GRT) and ''Minatitlan'' (5,014 GRT) carried of fuel. A powerful escort was arranged for the convoy operation to counter Force K, the British flotilla recently based at Malta.
Close Escort (Captain Ugo Bisciani)
hip data from O'Hara (2009) unless indicated* destroyers
**
**
**
* destroyer
** ( Mario Milano)
* destroyer
** (
Giuseppe Cigala Fulgosi)
* destroyer
**
Distant Escort (Vice Admiral
Bruno Brivonesi)
hip data from O'Hara (2009) unless indicated* 3rd Cruiser Division: s and
* 13th Destroyer Flotilla s
**
**
**
**
The convoy was routed to the east of Malta, since the airfields in Libya were under Axis occupation, rather than the usual west and along the Tunisian coast. The convoy speed was and the distant escort had to sail a zig-zag course at . Brivonesi and were under the impression that the British ships would not be able to attack because they overlooked the fact that British ships were equipped with radar and prepared only for night attacks by aircraft.
Force K
Force K (Captain
William Agnew) consisted of two light cruisers with six
6-inch guns in twin turrets each and two treble
21-inch torpedo tubes. Two destroyers from Force H, with four twin
4-inch guns each and two quadruple 21-inch torpedo tubes, joined Force K at Malta. Intended to fight at night, all of the ships were equipped with radar and the cruisers had new searchlights with better performance.
* light cruisers
ata from Greene and Massignani (2002) unless indicated** (flagship)
**
*
L-class destroyers
**
**
Battle
7 November
![Strait of Sicily map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Strait_of_Sicily_map.png)
The Duisburg (BETA) Convoy, the 51st German–Italian sailing since 8 February departed from Naples on 7 November and Force K sailed the next day, forewarned by the British success in decyphering Italian signals concerning Axis shipping movements in the Mediterranean. A British reconnaissance aircraft was dispatched to "find" the convoy as camouflage.
8/9 November
Force K made north-east of Malta, with ''Aurora'' leading the ships in line-ahead. The main convoy was found around midnight about east of Syracuse. There was slight moonlight to the east and the British ships took up position with the moon silhouetting the convoy. Agnew was under instructions to attack the nearest escorts first and then fire on the convoy, dealing with the other escorts as they appeared. The British ships slowed to and the gun crews were ordered to fire steadily, volume of fire being less important than accuracy. As the ships closed with the convoy, radar detected more ships, assumed to be destroyers and escorts but actually the distant escort (). Force K sent an attack signal at which was received by ''Trieste'' but jamming from ''Lively'' prevented a warning reaching the convoy; the only ships aware of the attack were away.
Aiming by radar, the British opened fire at about from a range of down to . ''Grecale'' was hit by the first three salvoes from ''Aurora''; ''Lance'' and the 4-inch secondary armament of ''Aurora'' bombarded a merchant ship. ''Penelope'' engaged ''Maestrale'', the leader of the close escort () and was on target with the first salvoes and ''Lively'' began to shell the merchant ships three minutes afterwards. At first, the Italians thought that they were under air attack and the wireless mast of ''Maestrale'' was hit. ''Fulmine'' attacked but was soon severely damaged by British gunfire, Milano losing an arm but remaining in command until the ship sank. ''Grecale'' was hit and came to a stop outside torpedo range and was later towed back to port by ''Oriani''. ''Euro'', undamaged, came within of the British ships but mistook them for ''Trieste'' and ''Trento'', aided by the ships not firing on ''Euro''. ''Maestrale'' had been signalling for Italian ships to rally on the port (far) side of the convoy, leading to Cigala countermanding an order to launch torpedoes. Moments later, British ships opened fire but ''Euro'' was no longer in a position to attack with torpedoes. Six British shells hit ''Euro'' but at such short range they passed through without exploding, killing about twenty members of the crew.
![Rn fulmine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Rn_fulmine.JPG)
The distant escort was on the right-hand side of the convoy, steaming twice as fast, zig-zagging to keep station and also thought that the convoy was under air attack. At Brivonesi signalled to that torpedo bombers were attacking and then sailed for the point where the British ships had first been sighted, instead of their current position. When watchmen on ''Trieste'' saw the arc of shells and ships beginning to burn, the distant escort was about distant at the end of its zig-zag away from the convoy. As the escort closed on the convoy the British ships moved beyond the glare of the burning ships and became much harder to identify. ''Trento'' fired star shells, then both ''Trieste'' and ''Trento'' opened fire at the British ships at . From the British engaged the Axis merchant ships with shell and torpedo, the ships taking little evasive action. The close escort on the east side of the convoy moved off with ''Maestrale'' and ''Euro'' to rally and then attacked again, the Italian salvoes having no effect and the ships then being driven off. The distant escort sighted the British again and fired 207 rounds, managing to straddle some of the British ships. The fires and explosions on the merchant ships obscured the British ships and Brivonesi ordered the distant escort to turn north at to intercept them but made no further contact. Some shells had landed close to British ships as they finished off the convoy but caused only splinter damage to ''Lively''
's funnel; by firing has ceased.
9 November
All of the Axis merchant ships had sunk or were on fire and sinking. At the British headed at high speed towards Malta, ineffectively chased by the covering force, not noticing Italian salvoes at Force K reached harbour at Malta by that afternoon, having sunk about of Axis shipping. The destroyer ''Libeccio'' was torpedoed by the submarine while rescuing some of the of the BETA Convoy. ''Libeccio'' was taken in tow by ''Euro'' but sank after an internal structural collapse. The Italian cruisers were also looking for survivors and managed to evade torpedoes.
Aftermath
Analysis
In 1948,
Marcantonio Bragadin wrote that the battle was a serious Italian defeat, in which individuals had shown exemplary bravery but the escorts had lacked coordination and made mistakes because of the confusion caused by the surprise and speed of the British attack and through mistaken identity. The Italians had no answer to the superior British night-fighting equipment and tactics which had revolutionised maritime night fighting. Technical obsolescence made an Italian attempt to counter the British at night a useless sacrifice of crews and ships. Writing in 1957, the British official historian of the Royal Navy,
Stephen Roskill
Captain Stephen Wentworth Roskill, (1 August 1903 – 4 November 1982) was a senior career officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the Second World War and, after his enforced medical retirement, served as the official historian of the Royal ...
, wrote that morale in the suffered greatly after such a formidable escort had failed to prevent the disaster. Next day, Rommel signalled to Berlin that convoys to the ASI has been suspended and that of due in Benghazi, only arrived. In 1960, Ian Playfair, in volume III of "
History of the Second World War
The ''History of the Second World War'' is the official history of the British contribution to the Second World War and was published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO). The immense project was sub-divided into areas to ease publication, ...
, ''The Mediterranean and Middle East'', the official British campaign history, wrote that the destruction of the Duisburg (BETA) Convoy was a severe blow to the Axis forces in Cyrenaica. Some supplies arrived in ships sailing alone or in pairs, more journeys were undertaken by submarine and fuel was carried by warships. Fewer convoys with more escorts and air cover were planned and four convoys sailed on 20 November.
In 2002, Jack Greene and Alessandro Massignani wrote that the German naval , Admiral
Werner Löwisch Werner may refer to:
People
* Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name
Fictional characters
* Werner (comics), a German comic book character
* Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...
, criticised Italian night fighting training, noting that of his 150 training sessions on the cruiser , 130 had been at night. Italian ships had no night fighting equipment like low-light-level rangefinders; torpedo boats (escort destroyers in British parlance) could not engage targets further out than . In a report to Berlin, Weichold blamed a lack of training and accused Brivonesi of incompetence. In retrospect the Italians had erred in assuming that a night attack by ships was unlikely; merchant ships should have been instructed to scatter or sail away from an attack. The destroyers on the port side should not have withdrawn but attacked at once without regard for the risk of friendly fire and the distant escort should have estimated the position of Force K instead of heading towards the sighting, attacking the British as they sailed for Malta. Brivonesi was
court-martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
led and sacked for not attacking (and reinstated on 5 June 1942).
In 2009,
Vincent O'Hara Vincent P. O’Hara (born 24 December 1951) is a naval author and historian, residing in California.
Biography
Vincent O’Hara is an independent scholar with a degree in History from the University of California, Berkeley. O’Hara has author ...
wrote that the destruction of the Duisburg (BETA) Convoy was "one of the most brilliant British naval surface victories of the war" in which the British demonstrated better tactical ability, equipment and leadership, combined with luck, surprise and Italian incompetence. The Germans were outraged and wanted to foist German naval officers onto and even Italian ships. Grand Admiral
Erich Raeder
Erich Johann Albert Raeder (24 April 1876 – 6 November 1960) was a German admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank, that of grand admiral, in 1939, becoming the fir ...
told Hitler that
tried smaller, dispersed convoys and sailing convoys at the same time to mislead the British but the British code breakers exposed the ruses. When four ships sailed from Naples on 20 November with an escort of heavy and light cruisers, British submarines from Malta torpedoed two cruisers, forcing the convoy to turn back.
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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Further reading
*
*
* {{cite book , last1=Shores , first1=C. F. , last2=Cull , first2=B. , last3=Malizia , first3=N. , title=Malta: The Hurricane Years: 1940–41 , year=1987 , publisher=Grub Street , location=London , isbn=0-948817-06-2
External links
The Duisburg (BETA) Convoy Battle
1941 in Italy
Duisburg Convoy
Duisburg Convoy
Duisburg Convoy
November 1941 events