page_title: Attack on Convoy BN 7
section_title: Red Sea convoys
hierarchical_section_title: Attack on Convoy BN 7 / Prelude / Red Sea convoys
caption_attribution_description: English: Map showing the location of the Gulf of Aden, located between Yemen and Somalia. Nearby bodies of water include the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
context_page_description: The Attack on Convoy BN 7 was a naval engagement in the Red Sea during the Second World War between a British force defending a convoy of merchant ships and a flotilla of Italian destroyers. The Italian attack failed, with only one merchant ship being slightly damaged. After a chase, the British destroyer HMS Kimberley torpedoed the Italian destroyer Francesco Nullo which was beached on Harmil Island. Kimberley was hit, disabled by Italian shore batteries on the island and towed to safety by the cruiser HMS Leander.
  Manoeuvring in two groups to increase the chance of intercepting the convoy had succeeded but sacrificed the benefits of concentration against the escorts and a destroyer was lost for no result. The British command at Aden criticised the escorts for a lack of aggression but leaving the convoy defenceless to chase ships at night and in misty weather was risky. The Italians made another fruitless sortie on 3 December, cancelled one in January 1941 after the destroyer Daniele Manin was damaged by a bomb and on 24 January sortied again with no result.
context_section_description: In June four of the eight Italian submarines based at Massawa were lost. The Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) commenced operations over the Red Sea and on 11 June a Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 flew a reconnaissance sortie. On 16 June, the Italian submarine Galileo Galilei sank the Norwegian tanker James Stove (8,215 Gross register tonnage (GRT), sailing independently about 12 nmi (14 mi; 22 km) south of Aden. On 19 June, Hobart sent its Supermarine Walrus amphibian to bomb an Italian wireless station on Centre Peak Island between Massawa and the Arabian coast. On 2 July, Convoy BN 1, comprising six tankers and three freighters, assembled in the Gulf of Aden. On 8 July, an SM.81 of 10° Squadriglia flew a long range reconnaissance sortie over southern Sudan and the Red Sea and was attacked by a Vickers Wellesley. The SM.81 was damaged hit an island trying to force land, bounced into the air and flew on at wave top height, with the Wellesley flying above and to one side for its gunners to keep firing. After ten minutes the Italian aircraft hit the sea and shed its wings.
  From 26 to 31 July, Guglielmotti failed to find two Greek merchantmen and a sortie by the torpedo boats Cesare Battisti and Francesco Nullo came to nothing. Guglielmotti sortied from 21 to 25 August, Galileo Ferraris (25–31 August), Francesco Nullo and Nazario Sauro from 24 to 25 August and the destroyers Pantera and Tigre (28–29 August) failing to find  ships, despite agent reports and sightings by air reconnaissance. On 4 September, Italian bombers attacked SS Velko and inflicted serious damage and on the next day, five SM.79s attacked Convoy BS 3A. A Blenheim IVF convoy escort attacked the bombers but was damaged. On 6 September the convoy was attacked again by a SM.79. Convoy BN 4 was spotted by air reconnaissance and on the night of 5/6 September, Cesare Battisti, Daniele Manin and Nazario Sauro sailed. The destroyers Leone and Tigre followed on 6/7 September but the destroyers found nothing.
  The submarines Galileo Ferraris and Guglielmotti patrolling further to the north, also failed to find BN 4 but Guglielmotti torpedoed the Greek tanker Atlas (4,008 GRT) straggling behind the convoy south of the Farasan Islands. Air reconnaissance also found Convoy BN 5 of 23 ships but Leone, Pantera, Cesare Battisti and Daniele Manin, with the submarines Archimede and Gugliemotti failed to find the convoy. MV Bhima (5,280 GRT) was damaged in an Italian air attack, one man was killed and the ship was towed to Aden and beached for repairs. On 19 September five SM.79s attacked a convoy and outpaced two Gloster Gladiator fighters which tried to intercept them. On the next day, Italian bombers were driven off by Blenheim fighters. On 15 October three SM.79s attempted to attack a convoy but were prevented by two Gladiators and a Blenheim. Five days later, individual SM.79s attacked Convoy BN 7.
caption: Gulf of Aden
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