| Red Sea Flotilla (Flottiglia del mar rosso) | |
|---|---|
 Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with modern boundaries | |
| Active | to June 1940 |
| Disbanded | April 1941 |
| Country | Italy |
| Branch | Regia Marina |
| Size |
|
| Commanders | |
| contrammiraglio | Carlo Balsamo di Specchia-Normandia (1939 – December 1940) |
| contrammiraglio | Mario Bonetti (December 1940 – April 1941) |
TheRed Sea Flotilla (Flottiglia del mar rosso) was part of theRegia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) based atMassawa in the colony ofItalian Eritrea, part ofItalian East Africa. During theSecond World War, the Red Sea Flotilla fought theEast Indies Station of theRoyal Navy from the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940 until the fall of Massawa on 8 April 1941.
Theflotilla was isolated from the main Italian bases in theMediterranean by distance and British dispositions. Without an overland route (viaSudan) or via theSuez Canal, supply was virtually impossible. The submarines in the flotilla suffered from faulty air conditioning, that poisoned crews when submerged, causing several losses. Attempts to attack ships in theRed Sea and thePersian Gulf had meagre results and British intelligence successes caused the loss of several ships.
Rear AdmiralMario Bonetti ordered the harbour facilities to be denied to the British by thescuttling of more than thirty vessels in the harbour approaches. Bonetti directed the harbour workers to destroy theirmachine tools, two floatingdry docks and a floating crane. The capture of Massawa and other Italian ports in the region brought theFlottiglia del mar rosso to an end in April 1941.
After theFlotta d'evasione (evasion fleet) intended for the Indian Ocean, based in the ports of Italian Somaliland proved to be too expensive, Rear AdmiralCarlo Balsamo di Specchia-Normandia, the commander of the East African naval squadron, based a smaller force at Massawa.[1] On 10 June 1940, the Red Sea Flotilla had sevendestroyers in twosquadrons, a squadron of fiveMAS (Motoscafo Armato Silurantemotor torpedo boats) and eightsubmarines in two squadrons. The main base was atMassawa, with other bases atAssab (also in Eritrea) andKismayu, in southernItalian Somaliland. The Red Sea Flotilla would have to operated cautiously because its finite stock of fuel and ammunition.[2]
The base at Massawa and the smaller base at Assab on the Eritrean coast, was convenient for attacks on convoys sailing from theGulf of Aden through theRed Sea to theSuez Canal, which became much more important after the Mediterranean was closed to Allied merchant ships, forcing them to sail around theCape of Good Hope.[3] A strategy of afleet-in-being and the denial of the Red Sea to British shipping was the only practical strategy open to the Italians, using submarines offensively for a war of six months' duration. Because of the Flotilla, the US government declared the Red Sea a war zone and out of bounds to American ships, depriving the British of an important source of tonnage to supply the British forces in Egypt.[4]
Italy declared war on 10 June 1940 and the Flotilla tried to attackRoyal Navy ships and Allied convoys from Massawa but the British had suspended sailings to the Red Sea on 24 May 1940. On 7 June, theAzio-classminelayerOstia laid 470 mines in eight barrages and the destroyerPantera, laid two barrages with 110 mines off Assab.[5] Leakage ofchloromethane refrigerants into the Italian submarines while submerged causedcentral nervous system poisoning;Macallé ran aground while the crew was incapacitated by the gas and was wrecked on 15 June.[6][a] The next day,Galileo Galilei sank theNorwegian freighterJames Stove (8,215 GRT) offDjibouti. On 19 June, when the submarine engaged the armed trawlerMoonstone, all the officers except a midshipman were killed in two shell explosions and the vessel was captured, along with its operational orders and taken to Aden on the same day.[7]
The British sent the sloopHMS Falmouth to findGalvani in thePersian Gulf, where it had sunk the sloopHMIS Pathan.Galvani was sunk on 24 June andTorricelli, en route to take over fromGalileo Ferraris, after another chloromethane poisoning incident off Djibouti, was damaged by British ships on 21 June and forced to turn back.[6]Torricelli was spotted on 23 June near Massawa by the destroyersHMS Kandahar,Khartoum,Kingston and theShoreham-classsloopHMS Shoreham, aided by aircraft fromAden.Shoreham was damaged byTorricelli before it was sunk andKhartoum was sunk soon afterwards by an internal explosion.[7]Archimede,Guglielmotti andPerla sailed from 19 to 21 June,Perla running aground on 26 June and being severely damaged on a shoal, then recovered.[8]
From 26 to 31 July,Guglielmotti searched and failed to find two Greek ships heading south from Suez. On an offensive sweep, the torpedo boatsCesare Battisti andFrancesco Nullo also found nothing. From 21 to 25 August,Guglielmotti andFerraris, the torpedo boatsNullo andNazario Sauro from 24 to 25 August,Battisti andDaniele Manin from 30 to 31 August,Pantera andTigre from 28 to 29 August searched for ships reported by spies and reconnaissance aircraft, with no result. On the night of 5/6 September,Battisti,Manin andSauro and over the night of 6/7 September,Leone andTigre withBattisti andSauro tried to interceptConvoy BN 4, that had been spotted by air reconnaissance but failed to find it;Ferraris andGuglielmotti, further to the north, also failed to make contact butGuglielmotti sank the Greek tankerAtlas (4,009 GRT) on 6 September at 15°50'N, 41°50'E.[9] From 19 to 21 September,Leone andPantera,Battisti andManin with the submarinesArchimede andGuglielmotti, searched forConvoy BN 5 but failed to find it;Bhima (5,280 GRT) was bombed, ran aground and towed back to Aden.[10]
The Italian destroyers sailed on 20 October, the destroyers operating in pairs, Section I comprising the fasterSauro (Commander Moretti degli Adimari) andFrancesco Nullo (Lieutenant CommanderCostantino Borsini). Section II, the slower, better armedPantera andLeone were to divert the escorts and then attack the convoy with torpedoes. The convoy was about 35 nmi (65 km; 40 mi) north-north-west ofJabal al-Tair Island at 02:19 on 21 October, when the New Zealand cruiser,Leander, sighted two patches of smoke bearing north.Pantera fired overYarra at the convoy, inflicting some splinter damage to alifeboat on the convoy commodore's ship.Auckland opened fire and the Italian ships separated and turned away at full speed west-south-west, towards Massawa, firing their aft guns.Pantera fired two torpedoes at 23:31 and another pair at 23:34.[11] Observers inYarra thought that the leading enemy vessel was hit by their fourth or fifth salvo.[12]
Sauro fired a torpedo atLeander which missed and made another ineffective torpedo attack at 02:07.Nullo was not able to attack after its rudder jammed for several minutes and it went round in circles, losing contact withSauro. Borsini orderedNullo towards the Italian batteries onHarmil, an island off Massawa. When the gunfire ceased,Leander altered course to the north-west to intercept the ships at the South Massawa Channel (the Harmil Passage) and at 02:45, opened fire; the range was increasing and the ship was lost to sight after the first salvos. At 02:20Leander damagedNullo'sgyrocompass and gunnery director then lost contact in the haze.Nullo headed toward Harmil withLeander in pursuit and at 03:00,Leander challenged a destroyer which turned out to beKimberley, also in pursuit. After five minutes, the cruiser altered course east to rejoin the convoy, since the Italian ship was drawing away at the rate of 7 kn (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) and the convoy was still vulnerable.[13]
At 05:40, off Harmil, lookouts onKimberley andNullo spotted each other at 7 nmi (13 km; 8.1 mi). WhenKimberley opened fire at 05:53,Nullo was taken by surprise, having mistakenly identified the British ship as Italian.Kimberley closed to 5,000 yd (2.5 nmi; 4.6 km) and at 06:20,Nullo scraped a reef, damaging a propeller and springing a leak. AsNullo rounded Harmil at about 06:25, it was hit several times.Nullo lost all power and Borsini gave the order to abandon ship, trying to runNullo aground on Harmil.Nullo was then hit by a torpedo at 06:35, breaking in two.[14]
At 06:15 the four naval guns on Harmil engagedKimberley and hit it in the engine-room. While adrift 10,000 yd (4.9 nmi; 9.1 km) from the shore battery,Kimberley silenced two of the guns.Kimberley managed to get under way, its speed reduced to 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) and the shore battery ceased fire whenKimberley was 19,000 yd (9.4 nmi; 17 km) distant.Leander left the convoy and at 06:54 increased speed to 26 kn (48 km/h; 30 mph). At about 10:00,Leander arrived and tookKimberley in tow.[14]
From 3 to 5 December,Tigre,Leone,Manin andSauro sortied withFerraris in another abortive attempt to find a convoy. From 12 to 22 December,Archimede conducted two more sorties with no result and from 23 to 30 DecemberFerraris lay off Port Sudan.[15]
On the night of2/3 February 1941, the Italian destroyersPantera,Tigre andSauro sailed from Massawa to intercept Convoy BN 14, consisting of 39 merchant ships, escorted by the cruiserHMS Caledon, the destroyerKingston and the sloopsHMIS Indus andShoreham.Sauro sighted the convoy, got off a sighting report and fired three torpedoes, then fired again at a ship seen in a cloud of smoke, before turning away at high speed. The two other ships did not receive the sighting report fromSauro but ten minutes later,Pantera saw the ships and fired torpedoes, hearing explosions and claiming probables on two merchantmen;Tigre failed to find the convoy. In the South Massawa Channel,Sauro ran intoKingston but had no torpedoes left. Fearful that the British were trying to spring ambush, the other Italian ships converged onSauro and called by wireless for air cover at dawn, reaching port unharmed. Local Italian press reports claimed that two ships had been hit but this report was mistaken.[16]
On 14 February, in Operation Composition, 14Albacore bombers fromHMS Formidable attacked Massawa, sinkingMoncaliere (5,723 GRT) and damaging other ships and freighters. On 21 February another seven Albacores dive-bombed the ships.[17]
Ramb I (3,667 GRT) (Lieutenant commanderAlfredo Bonezzi [it]) was a refrigerated merchant ship (reefer) built for theRegia Azienda Monopolio delle Banane (RAMB, the Royal Banana Monopoly Company) in 1933. The ship was adapted for naval service as anarmed merchant cruiser.Ramb I had departed Suez on 10 June 1940 for Massawa, from where the ship made short cruises along the coast of Eritrea but was mainly used for anti-aircraft defence of the port. In January 1941, the colonial shipEritrea, the auxiliary cruisers,Ramb I andRamb II, were to operate as commerce raiders.[18] As British troops neared the port,Ramb I andCoburg (7,400 GRT), a German freighter, escaped from Massawa on the night of 20/21 February 1941 and passed into the Gulf of Aden. At10:37 a.m., on 27 February, west of theMaldives, the New Zealand cruiserHMS Leander sighted a merchant resembling an ItalianRamb-class fruit carrier (Ramb I). Soon after11:15 a.m. the ship hoisted the Italian merchant flag and trained its guns onLeander.[19]
The cruiser was broad on the beam ofRamb I and at 3,000 yd (1.5 nmi; 1.7 mi; 2.7 km) was an easy target for its guns and torpedoes. At11:53 a.m., the Italian ship opened fire and thirty seconds later,Leander replied. The Italian fire was inaccurate and it was estimated that only about three shells were fired from each gun.Leander fired five salvos in a minute and hit the ship several times. A fire spread and an Italian officer in the water called out to a boarding party that they should not approach the ship, as it was burning and laden with ammunition. The boarding party laid off and as the fire spread, a big explosion before the bridge shot flames and smoke high into the sky, the ship settling bow first. As the fire burned, there was another explosion and five minutes later the ship sank under a cloud of black smoke.Leander recovered the boarding party and the Italian lifeboats, while edging away.[20]
On 1 March five Albacores raided Massawa again but caused little damage. As the Italians depleted their fuel at Massawa, the offensive capability of the Red Sea Flotilla declined and it returned to a strategy of a fleet-in-being. On 23 March the GermanOder (8,516 GRT) and the ItalianIndia (6,366 GRT) sailed from Massawa butOder was intercepted byShoreham at theBab-el-Mandeb Strait and scuttled;India docked at Assab. On 29 MarchBertram Rickmers (4,188 GRT) sailed and was scuttled on 1 April when intercepted byKandahar.Piave tried to break the blockade on 30 March and got as far as Assab andLichtenfels sailed on 1 April but was turned back. On 31 March 1941,Pantera,Tigre andLeone, attempted a night attack onSuez butLeone ran aground off Massawa and had to be scuttled by gunfire, the delay causing the operation to be cancelled. The two remaining ships joinedSauro,Battisti andDaniele Manin on a final raid againstPort Sudan on 2 April. Engine trouble keptBattisti in port and it was scuttled off the coat of Arabia on 3 April. The Italian ships were spotted by aircraft about 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) off the port and came under attack from theSwordfish bombers ofHMS Eagle flying from the Port Sudan airfield that sankManin andSauro.Pantera andTigre were scuttled on the Arabian coast.[21]
The defenders of Massawa managed to resist several attacks but the main British effort began on 6 April. The light cruiserHMS Capetown was torpedoed by the motor torpedo boat MAS 213 off Massawa and was towed to Port Sudan by the sloopHMAS Parramatta for repairs. Attacks on land, combined with air and sea bombardments led the defences to crumble by 8 April. MAS 213,Orsini, MAS 204, 206, 210 and 216 and other ships were scuttled as the British troops entered the town. More than thirty vessels, including eleven Italian and six German, were scuttled in the harbour approaches, including large commercial ships, smaller coastal steamers, tugs and several naval vessels to a total of 89,870 GRT. The Italian harbour workers were to destroy theirmachine tools, two floatingdry docks and a floating crane. The four remaining submarines were ordered to join theBETASOM flotilla at Bordeaux and evaded British attempts to intercept them.[7]
On 8 April Massawa fell, five ships were sunk at Harmil (38,125 GRT) where two ships bombed earlier lay and three ships of 23,765 GRT were sunk at Assab.[22] British efforts to bring the harbour back to service were frustrated by the extreme heat and humidity. CommanderJoseph Stenhouse was able to re-float one oil tanker before he was killed at sea. On 11 April, President Roosevelt announced that the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden we no longer war zones, allowing US ships to sail in them.[23] A British civilian contractor was hired but he and his team failed to float any scuttled vessels.Edward Ellsberg, a commander in the U.S. Navy arrived in April 1942 and began systematically to restore the harbour facilities. His staff repaired the largest dry dock and pieced together enough machine tool parts to restore machinist operations. By August 1942, after re-floating several ships, Ellsberg opened access to the harbour sufficiently to enable British warships such asHMS Dido (19 August 1942) to be dry-docked and serviced.[24] Assab, the last Italian-held port on the Red Sea, was attacked inOperation Chronometer on 10 June and occupied.[25]
| Ship | Flag | Class | Div | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Francesco Nullo |  Kingdom of Italy | Sauro | 3rd | DamagedKimberley, destroyed RAF, 21 November 1940 |
| Nazario Sauro | Kingdom of Italy | Sauro | 3rd | Sunk off Jeddah 20°N, 30°E,Fleet Air Arm, 3 April 1941[b] |
| Cesare Battisti | Kingdom of Italy | Sauro | 3rd | Bombed FAA, scuttled off Scio Aiba, 3 April 1941 |
| Daniele Manin | Kingdom of Italy | Sauro | 3rd | Bombed7:45 a.m. 3 April 1941, capsized 20°20'N, 30°10'E[c] |
| Pantera | Kingdom of Italy | Leone | 5th | Scuttled off Someina |
| Tigre | Kingdom of Italy | Leone | 5th | Scuttled, Someina 3 April 1941 |
| Leone | Kingdom of Italy | Leone | 5th | Ran aground 1 April 1941 16°09'N, 39°55'E scuttled |
| Boat | Year | Flag | Class | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAS 204 | 1918 | Kingdom of Italy | Baglietto A | Scuttled Massawa, 8 April 1941 |
| MAS 206 | 1918 | Kingdom of Italy | Baglietto A | Scuttled Massawa, 8 April 1941 |
| MAS 210 | 1918 | Kingdom of Italy | Baglietto A | Scuttled Massawa, 8 April 1941 |
| MAS 213 | 1918 | Kingdom of Italy | Baglietto A | Scuttled Massawa, 8 April 1941 |
| MAS 216 | 1918 | Kingdom of Italy | Baglietto A | Scuttled Massawa, 8 April 1941 |
| Name | Flag | Class | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guglielmotti | Kingdom of Italy | Brin | ArrivedBordeaux, 6 May 1941[30] |
| Galileo Ferraris | Kingdom of Italy | Archimede | ArrivedBordeaux 9 May 1941[30] |
| Galileo Galilei | Kingdom of Italy | Archimede | SankJames Stove (8,215 GRT) captured byHMS Moonstone, 19 June 1940[31] |
| Galvani | Kingdom of Italy | Brin class | SankHMIS Pathan, sunk 23 June 1940 off Persian Gulf byHMS Falmouth[31] |
| Perla | Kingdom of Italy | Perla | ArrivedBordeaux 20 May 1941[30] |
| Macallé | Kingdom of Italy | Adua | Ran aground and lost 15 June 1940[31] |
| Archimede | Kingdom of Italy | Brin | ArrivedBordeaux, 7 May 1941[30] |
| Torricelli | Kingdom of Italy | Brin | SunkPerim, 23 June 1940, byHMS Kandahar,Khartoum,Kingston,Shoreham[31] |
| Name | Flag | GRT | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eritrea | Kingdom of Italy | 2,170 | Colonial ship | Escaped toKobe,Japan[33] |
| Vincenzo Giordano Orsini | Kingdom of Italy | 670 | Giuseppe Sirtori-classdestroyer | Scuttled 8 April 1941 |
| Giovanni Acerbi | Kingdom of Italy | 670 | Giuseppe Sirtori-classdestroyer | Bombed RAF, left a hulk |
| G. Biglieri | Kingdom of Italy | 620 | Gunboat | Captured |
| Porto Corsini | Kingdom of Italy | 290 | Gunboat | Scuttled |
| Ostia | Kingdom of Italy | 620 | Azio-class minelayer | Scuttled Massawa, 8 April 1941 |
| Ramb I | Kingdom of Italy | 3,667 | Auxiliary cruiser | Escaped toKobe,Japan[d] |
| Ramb II | Kingdom of Italy | 3,685 | Auxiliary cruiser | Escaped toKobe,Japan[e] |
| Ramb IV | Kingdom of Italy | 3,676 | Hospital ship | Captured[f] |
| Name | Year | Flag | GRT | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adua | 1922[35] | Kingdom of Italy | 3,564 | Freighter | Scuttled, 4 April 1941[36] |
| Antonia C | 1921[37] | Kingdom of Italy | 6,025 | Tanker | Scuttled, 4 April 1941[36] |
| MV Arabia | 1926[38] | Kingdom of Italy | 7,025 | Freighter | Scuttled, 4 April 1941, refloated 11 August[36] |
| Brenta | 1920[38] | Kingdom of Italy | 5,400 | Freighter | Scuttled, with a mine attached, 4 April 1941, salvaged 1942[39] |
| Clelia Campanella | 1917[37] | Kingdom of Italy | 3,245 | Tanker | Scuttled, 4 April 1941, salvaged 1942[40] |
| Colombo | 1917[35] | Kingdom of Italy | 11,760 | Freighter | Scuttled, 8 April 1941[40] |
| Impero | — | Kingdom of Italy | 488 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941 |
| Moncalieri | 1918[41] | Kingdom of Italy | 5,267 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941, refloated[42] |
| Riva Ligure | 1906 | Kingdom of Italy | 2,100 | Tanker | Scuttled, 4 April 1941, |
| Romolo Gessi | 1917 | Kingdom of Italy | 5,100 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941 |
| Tripolitania | 1918[41] | Kingdom of Italy | 2,722 | Freighter | Scuttled, 6 April 1941, salvaged March 1943[43] |
| Vesuvio | 1914[44] | Kingdom of Italy | 5,430 | Freighter | Scuttled, 4 April 1941[45] |
| XXIII Marzo | 1927[46] | Kingdom of Italy | 5,003 | Freighter | Scuttled, 4 April 1941[47] |
| Crefeld | 1922[48] |  Nazi Germany | 8,045 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941, broken up[49] |
| Frauenfels | 1920[50] | Nazi Germany | 7,487 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941, salvaged 13 November 1942[51] |
| Gera | 1923[52] | Nazi Germany | 5,155 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941, salvaged 1942[53] |
| Lichtenfels | 1929[50] | Nazi Germany | 7,566 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941, broken up[54] |
| Liebenfels | 1922[50] | Nazi Germany | 6,318 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941, salvaged 30 September 1942[54] |
| Olivia | 7,885 | Nazi Germany | 7,886 | Freighter | Scuttled, April 1941 |
| Name | Year | Flag | GRT | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ausonia | — | Kingdom of Italy | — | Tug | Scuttled April 1941 |
| Capitano Bottego | 1933[44] | Kingdom of Italy | 2,316 | Fruit carrier | Scuttled, 4 April 1941[40] |
| Giove | 1914 | Kingdom of Italy | 5,211 | Tanker | Scuttled 4 April 1941, salvaged 1942[56] |
| Giuseppe Mazzini | 1926[35] | Kingdom of Italy | 7,669 | Freighter | Bombed 2 March 1941, sunk[57] |
| Malamocco | — | Kingdom of Italy | — | Tug | Scuttled April 1941 |
| Nazario Sauro | 1924[38] | Kingdom of Italy | 8,150 | Freighter | Scuttled 6 April 1941[42] |
| Oneglia | — | Kingdom of Italy | — | Tug | Scuttled April 1941 |
| Panaria | — | Kingdom of Italy | — | Tug | Scuttled April 1941 |
| Pirano | — | Kingdom of Italy | — | Tug | Scuttled April 1941 |
| Porto Venere | — | Kingdom of Italy | — | Tug | Scuttled April 1941 |
| Prometeo | 1922[58] | Kingdom of Italy | 4,958 | Tanker | Scuttled 4 April 1941[34] |
| Urania | 1916[38] | Kingdom of Italy | 7,099 | Freighter | Scuttled 4 April 1941[45] |
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