Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1940)
The Battle of the Strait of Otranto was a minor naval skirmish on 12 November 1940 during the Battle of the Mediterranean in World War II. It took place in the Strait of Otranto in the Adriatic Sea, between Great Britain and Italy. Background. The battle occurred when an Allied squadron entered the Adriatic Sea looking for Italian naval targets. Although they did not know it at the time the squadron's real purpose was to help draw enemy attention from a major action against the main Italian fleet base at Taranto (Battle  of Taranto). The Allied squadron was commanded by Vice Admiral Henry Pridham-Whippel in the light cruiser , and included the light cruisers and and the destroyers and . On 12 November, an Italian Navy ("Regia Marina") convoy of four merchant ships—"Antonio Locatelli", "Premuda", "Capo Vado" and "Catalani"—were on their way back from Valona, Albania to Brindisi, Italy while escorted by the World War I-era torpedo boat , commanded by T.V.c. Giovanni Barbini and the auxiliary cruiser commanded by C.F. Francesco De Angelis. The ships were travelling darkened without navigational lights. Battle. The Allied ships proceeded north during the night of 11  November, and upon reaching a notional line between Bari and Durazzo by 01:00 without incident, they turned to run southward. Twenty minutes later, the raiders encountered six darkened enemy ships, including what they thought were two destroyers and four merchantmen. The enemy vessels passed across their front and were making for the Italian mainland. HMS "Mohawk" opened fire at 01:27, and action became general. In a confused night time action, HMAS "Sydney" attacked the leading freighter at a range of , setting it on fire. Over the next 23 minutes, the other three merchantmen were either sunk or damaged and left  burning. "Fabrizi" was hit and heavily damaged, and limped toward Valona with 11 dead and 17 wounded. "Ramb III" after an initial discharge of 19 salvoes from her guns broke off the action unscathed. The merchantmen were all sunk in the action. The Allies suffered no damage or casualties, although a torpedo narrowly missed "Sydney"s stern at 01:40. The Italians suffered 36 dead and 42 wounded. Aftermath. The Italians retaliated by sending aircraft of the "Regia Aeronautica" to locate the British naval squadron; however, the CANT flying boats which eventually located the naval squadron were shot down. The "Regia Marina