| Battle of the Ligurian Sea | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theBattle of the Mediterranean ofSecond World War | |||||||
.jpg) British destroyerHMS Meteor | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom |  Germany | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Derick Hetherington |  Franz Burkart (POW) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2 destroyers | 1 destroyer 2 torpedo boats | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 destroyer damaged[1] | 60 killed 244 captured 2 torpedo boats sunk 1 destroyer damaged[2] | ||||||
  Ligurian Sea The Ligurian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean, between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island of Corsica | |||||||
TheBattle of the Ligurian Sea was a naval surface action of theSecond World War fought on 18 March 1945, in theGulf of Genoa in theMediterranean Sea. AKriegsmarine flotilla of two torpedo boats and one destroyer was conducting an offensivemine laying operation at night when it was intercepted by twoRoyal Navy destroyers;HMS Lookout andMeteor. The British destroyers sank two of the German ships and severely damaged the third; it was the last German naval surface action of the war.
At theMalta Conference (30 January – 3 February 1945), it was decided to transfer air force and army units from Italy to theWestern Front in France and Belgium inOperation Goldflake. In February and March 1945, the I Canadian Corps was moved from Italy to the French port ofMarseille. Escorts for the troopships were provided by Flank Force (AdmiralRobert Jaujard) British, French and US ships, with air cover from theMediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force (MACAF).[3]
On the night of 17 March 1945, the last three operational ships of the German 10th Flotilla (Korvettenkapitän Franz Burkart) conducted an offensive mine-laying operation north-east of Corsica. After sailing fromGenoa,Ariete-class torpedo boatsTA24 (ex-ItalianArturo) andTA29 (ex-ItalianEridano) laid 56mines south ofGorgona Island, while the destroyerTA32 (aTorpedoboot Ausland, the ex-YugoslavianDubrovnik) placed 76 mines north ofCap Corse. The flotilla rendezvoused for the return to Genoa and was about 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km) north of Cape Corse, when they were detected by an Allied shoreradar atLivorno. FourAllied destroyers of the3rd Destroyer Flotilla were patrolling in the area; the FrenchL'Adroit-class destroyerBasque and theBourrasque-class destroyerTempête; the BritishL and M-class destroyersHMS Lookout andMeteor.[1]
In the early hours of 18 March, all butMeteor received the radar report from Livorno. Captain André Léon Jean Marie Morazzani, the senior officer aboardTempête, ordered the British ships to intercept the intruders, while he led the older and slower French destroyers south-east, in case the Germans doubled back to intercept a convoy near Cape Corse.[1]Lookout's commander,Derick Hetherington, coordinated withMeteor via Talk Between Ships (TBS) and the British ships went on separate courses north-east at full speed. By the time Morazzani was sure that the German ships were no threat to the convoy, he was too far away to join the action.[4]
Lookout established radar contact with the Germans at 03:00 on 18 March, sailing at 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h) just west of north.Lookout approached at high speed from ahead and opened fire at about 5,000 yd (2 nmi; 3 mi; 5 km). Minutes later she swung around, moving parallel to the Germans and launchedtorpedoes.[1] The Germans were surprised andLookout's radar-directed guns quickly scored hits onTA24 andTA29.TA29 dropped out of formation while the other two ships retreated north.Lookout let them go to concentrate on the crippledTA29 and circled it, firing continuously with its six 4.7-inch guns from as close as 2,000 yd (1 nmi; 1 mi; 2 km).TA29 replied, her gunners almost hittingLookout several times. One burst of 20 mm shells hit some smoke floats and started a small fire that was quickly extinguished.[4]
Lookout continued to fire atTA29 until just after 04:00; after more than 40 hits,TA29 caught fire and sank. She lost only 20 men despiteLookout's intense and accurate salvos.Meteor altered course to intercept the other German ships and about the time thatLookout engagedTA29,Meteor made radar contact at 12,300 yd (6 nmi; 7 mi; 11 km) with the two German ships retreating north.Meteor opened fire at 8,000 yd (4 nmi; 5 mi; 7 km) and hitTA24 almost immediately.[1] Seeing the hit in the dark, she launched asalvo of torpedoes a few minutes later, one of which struckTA24.Meteor's commander, Richard Pankhurst, saw a "geyser of flame and metal" andTA24 sank just after 04:00, losing thirty men in 13 minutes.[4]
The Battle of the Ligurian Sea was the last surface action fought byKriegsmarine of the Second World War. The British destroyers ended any possibility of German deep water offensive operations in the Ligurian Sea, let alone anywhere else in the Mediterranean.[4] The engagement was also the last surface naval action the British fought in the western theatre and the last substantial surface action fought on the Mediterranean Sea.TA32 was damaged but managed to escape; she wasscuttled by her crew in Genoa on 25 April 1945. The British destroyers rescued 244 survivors, including Franz Burkart, in rafts and boats fromTA24 andTA29 and took them prisoner.[1] In 2011, Spencer Tucker wrote that "the British destroyers achieved decisive results against a German unit... and their victory effectively ended the Kriegsmarine's ability to undertake deep water offensive operations".[5]