Operation Scylla
Part of theBattle of the Mediterranean of theSecond World War
Italian light cruiserScipione Africano at Taranto
Date 17/18 July 1943 Location Strait of Messina 38°3′20.20″N15°35′28.35″E / 38.0556111°N 15.5912083°E /38.0556111; 15.5912083 Result Italian victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Italy
Commanders and leaders
Dennis Jermain	Ernesto Pellegrini
Strength
4Motor Torpedo Boats	1light cruiser
Casualties and losses
12 killed 1 MTB sunk 2 MTBs damaged	2 wounded 1 light cruiser minor damage

Operation Scylla (Italian:Operazione Scilla) was the transit ofScipione Africano, aRegia Marina (Italian Royal Navy)Capitani Romani-classcruiser, on the night of 17/18 July 1943, during theSecond World War. The cruiser sailed fromLa Spezia in theTyrrhenian Sea toTaranto in theIonian Sea during theAllied invasion of Sicily.

Scipione Africano fought a night engagement against four Britishmotor torpedo boats (MTBs) during its passage of theStrait of Messina. At least two MTBs launched their torpedoes, whilst the cruiser fired its main and secondary guns while sailing at maximum speed. An MTB was destroyed and one damaged;Scipione Africano received superficial damage after being fired on by mistake by Axis coastal artillery. The action was the only time that an Italian warship made effective use of surface radar during an engagement in the war.

During theAllied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky, 9 July – 17 August 1943) British Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) and Motor Gun Boats moved from Algeria to Malta, thence to captured ports in Sicily. The Axis withdrawal from Sicily (Unternehmen Lehrgang to the Germans) took place from 3 to 17 August.^[1] The boats patrolled theStrait of Messina and laid ambushes, waiting for Axis ships and landing craft; with engines off, the boat crews listening for ship engines. Lieutenant Denis Jermain, the senior officer of four boats of the 10th MTB Flotilla on patrol during the night of 17/18 July 1943 had decided that when attacking an Axis ship, one boat would act as a decoy, making as much noise as possible, for the other boats discreetly to move into positions to launch torpedoes.^[2]

The ItalianCapitani Romani-classcruiserScipione Africano (Scipione) was one of four ships of the class to be built and was equipped with an EC-3terGufo (Owl)radar set.Gufo sets were Italian-made and had come into service in early 1942.Scipione was based atLa Spezia in the region ofLiguria, on the north-western coast of Italy.^[3] When the Allied invasion of Sicily began, anticipating a blockade of the Strait of Messina by American and British naval forces, theRegia Marina orderedScipione Africano (Captain Ernesto Pellegrini) to sail from La Spezia down the west coast of Italy toTaranto inApulia, to remedy the lack of fast cruisers in theIonian Sea.^[4]

On 15 July 1943,Scipione departed La Spezia forNaples and arrived that evening, shadowed by a British seaplane.Scipione embarked an air liaison team and aMetox high-frequencyradar warning receiver. She sailed again at 18:15 on 16 July and entered the Straits of Messina at 00:20 on 17 July, with a full moon rising from the south. Some days before, on the night of 12/13 July, Britishmotor torpedo boatMTB 81 had sunk theGerman submarine U-561 in the northern approaches of the straits.^[5]

As she reached the straits,Scipione detected four small vessels on itsGufo set, lying 10,000 m (10 km; 6.2 mi) ahead, betweenReggio di Calabria andCape Pellaro.^[6] At first, Pellegrini thought that they were friendlyMarinefährprähme (motor barges).^[7] At 02:13, the movement of the leading vessel convinced Pellegrini that the boats were Allied MTBs and he ordered an increase in speed from 24 kn (28 mph; 44 km/h) to 30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h).^[8]

The MTBs were four BritishElco boats from the 10th MTB Flotilla (Lieutenant Dennis Jermain) based atAugusta, comprisingMTB 260 (Lieutenant H. F. Wadds, R.A.N.V.R.),MTB 313 (Lieutenant Alec Foster),MTB 315 (Lieutenant L. E. Newall, R.N.Z.N.V.R.) andMTB 316 (Lieutenant R. B. Adams).^[9] The British MTBs were lying in wait for Axis landing craft andE-boats.^[10] Jermain, onMTB 315, wrote later,

I was caught completely napping. We were lying with engines stopped two miles south of Messina, in a flat calm with a full moon silhouetting us nicely. (...) We never dreamed that a cruiser will be able to get down there unseen through our patrols.^[9]

Jermain gave the alarm and ordered the other boats to start up and scatter. With no time to make signals, Jermain movedMTB 315 to the east, leaving two boats for each side ofScipione. Jermain intended to feint withMTB 315 to attract the attention of the cruiser and leave the other boats in a better position for attack.^[10]

Pellegrini had turned his ship to 200 degrees, heading to a point betweenMTB 313 andMTB 316.^[7] The speed of the cruiser surprised the British and it was only 1,400 m (1,500 yd) away by the time they were ready to fire torpedoes.^[10]Scipione opened fire with all guns, with a precision that Pellegrini said "left him amazed". The Italian report claims that the engagement lasted no more than three minutes and that the first Allied craft to be hit by 13.5 cm (5.3 in) rounds was the closest boat to starboard, which was left in a "sinking condition".^[7] This wasMTB 313, only 270 m (300 yd) distant fromScipione.MTB 313 was ready to launch torpedoes, when Foster was wounded in the leg and the spare officer of the flotilla, sub-lieutenant John McKim was mortally wounded. One torpedo passed just ahead ofScipione and the damaged MTB limped away.^[11]

MTB 260 was also on the starboard side of the cruiser and claimed a hit.^[10] After being fired on byScipione,MTB 260 escaped with minor damage.^[12] The Italian report says that she was set on fire.^[7]MTB 316 was 46 m (50 yd) away to port ofScipione when it was fired on. The MTB caught fire and blew up just a few seconds later, the wreck sinking with all hands.^[7][13] The explosion took place so close to the cruiser that fragments ofMTB 316 fell aboardScipione. The analysis of these remains produced some controversy, when Italian sources claimed to have sunkMTB 305, which was not in the Mediterranean, because of an inscription from a recovered wooden panel.^[7]

Scipione was chased down the strait byMTB 315 andMTB 260 until she turned to port for Taranto.^[14][15] Pellegrini reported that one of the craft on the port side fired two torpedoes whichScipione evaded.^[7] The boat wasMTB 315, whichScipione engaged with its heavy machine-guns.^[10][7] At the end of the action,Scipione was bombarded by German and Italian coastal artillery, which caused splinter damage and wounded two seamen.^[7] British sources recorded an air attack onScipione by Axis aircraft, not mentioned by Pellegrino.^[10]Scipione reached Taranto at 09:46 on 18 July.^[16]

About an hour afterScipione passed the straits, the Italian submarineAmbra, escorted by the torpedo boatPartenope, reached Messina, also from La Spezia.Ambra was to attack Allied shipping atSyracuse withMT explosive motorboats (MTRs) on the night of 17/18 July but the operation was cancelled after the submarine was depth charged and damaged by a221 SquadronVickers Wellington;Ambra suffered no casualties and limped back to Messina.^[17] The morning after the action, Sub-Lieutenant McKim was buried at sea off Augusta. No traces ofMTB 316 and her crew were found by Allied forces.^[18] The following nightMTB 75 was hit and seriously damaged by shore batteries in the Straits of Messina, while on the evening of 19 July, an unidentified U-boat was depth-charged by British small units and had a narrow escape off Reggio di Calabria.^[10] From 4 to 17 August,Scipione and the old light cruiserLuigi Cadorna laid four defensive minefields in theGulf of Taranto and theGulf of Squillace.^[19] The day after theCassibile armistice was made public,Scipione escorted the corvetteBaionetta, transporting theItalian royal family fromPescara toBrindisi where she came under German air attack.Scipione ferried the new head of government, GeneralPietro Badoglio and his cabinet toMalta.^[20]

Scipio Africano^[5]

Name	Flag	Type	Notes
Scipione Africano	Kingdom of Italy	Capitani Romani-classcruiser

10th MTB Flotilla^[9]

Name	Flag	Type	Notes
MTB 260	Royal Navy	Elco motor torpedo boat	Minor damage
MTB 313	Royal Navy	Elco motor torpedo boat	Damaged
MTB 315	Royal Navy	Elco motor torpedo boat	Flag, Lieutenant Dennis Jermain
MTB 316	Royal Navy	Elco motor torpedo boat	Sunk, no survivors

• Gufo radar

• O'Hara, Vincent P. (2009).Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940–1945. London: Conway.ISBN 978-1-84486-102-6.
• Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005) [1972].Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). London: Chatham. p. 262.ISBN 1-86176-257-7.

• Conflicts in 1943
• Naval battles of World War II involving Italy
• Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom
• Italian naval victories in the battle of the Mediterranean
• 1943 in Italy
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