Battle of the Mediterranean

Belligerents

United Kingdom

United States(from 1942)

Other participants:

Italy(until 1943)

Germany

Italian Social Republic(from 1943)

Vichy FranceCommanders and leadersAndrew Cunningham
Henry Harwood
James Somerville
William Agnew
Philip Vian
Alban Curteis
Edward Neville Syfret
Henry HewittOdoardo Somigli
Inigo Campioni
Luigi Sansonetti
Angelo Iachino
Carlo Bergamini
Alberto da Zara
Mario Falangola
Antonio Legnani
Junio Valerio Borghese
Albert Kesselring
Fritz FrauenheimCasualties and lossesUp to September 1943:
Total:
76 warships of 315,500 tons
48 submarinesUp to September 1943:
Italy:
83 warships totalling 195,100 tons
84 submarines
2,018,616 tons of merchant shipping
c. 21,000 Royal Italian Navy personnel and c. 6,500 Italian Merchant Navy personnel killed at sea
Germany:
17 warships
68 submarines
Vichy France
11 warships of ~72,000 tons
7 submarines

The Battle of the Mediterranean was the naval campaign fought in the during World War II. It began on 10 June 1940, when Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France and bombed Malta the following day, and ended on 2 May 1945 with the formal surrender of German and Italian Fascist forces in Italy. It was part of the broader of the war, which include operations across the and the Horn of Africa.

The campaign was fought primarily between the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), supported by the naval and air forces of its Axis partners, Nazi Germany and Vichy France, and the British Royal Navy, supported by other Allied naval forces, such as those of Australia, the Netherlands, Poland, and Greece. In November 1942, American naval and air units joined the Allies, while the Vichy French scuttled the bulk of their fleet to prevent the Germans seizing it. As part of the Armistice of Cassibile in September 1943, most of the Italian Navy became the Italian Co-belligerent Navy and fought alongside the Allies.

Driven by aspirations to establish a new Roman Empire, Italy's large and modern navy challenged Britain's established dominance of the Mediterranean Sea. Control of the Mediterranean was strategically vital, as it determined the fate of forces in the ongoing North African campaign and whether Britain could maintain its imperial holdings in the East. Each side had three overall objectives: Attack enemy supply lines; keep open the supply lines to their own armies in North Africa; and destroy the ability of the opposing navy to wage war at sea. Outside the Pacific theatre, the Mediterranean saw the largest conventional naval warfare actions during the conflict. In particular, Allied forces struggled to supply and retain the key naval and air base of Malta.

By the time of the armistice, Italian ships, submarines and aircraft had sunk Allied surface warships totalling 145,800 tons, while German forces had sunk 169,700 tons, for a total of 315,500 tons; the Allies lost 76 warships and 46 submarines. The Allies sank 83 Italian warships totalling 195,100 tons—161,200 by the British Empire and 33,900 by the United States—and 83 submarines. German losses in the Mediterranean during the campaign were 17 warships and 68 submarines.