Operation Vigorous - Italian Fleet at Sea

Italian Fleet At Sea

By 14 June, two ships had been lost to air attack and two more damaged. That evening, Vian learnt that a strong Italian naval force (under Admiral Giuseppe Fioravanzo) with two battleships, two heavy and two light cruisers plus destroyers had sailed from Taranto to intercept the convoy. The Italian fleet went into combat equipped with an search radar for the first time in the war; a German De.Te system which was mounted on board the destroyer Legionario. The chances of driving them off were slim.

Early on 15 June, the first of five (1-5) course reversals were made as Vigorous tried to break through to Malta. As the convoy now headed eastward (1), German E-boats from Derna, Libya launched torpedo strikes. The cruiser HMS Newcastle was damaged by S-56 and the destroyer HMS Hasty was sunk by S-55. Around 07:00, when the Italian fleet was 200 nmi (230 mi; 370 km) to the northwest, the convoy resumed its course for Malta (2).

Royal Air Force aircraft based on Malta attacked the Italian fleet and disabled the heavy cruiser Trento on the morning of 15 June 1942. She was hit by a torpedo from a Bristol Beaufort at 05:15. Trento was immobilized and left behind, assisted by the destroyer Antonio Pigafetta, while the rest of the fleet continued to pursue the Vigorous convoy. The British submarine HMS Umbra found the damaged ship at 09:10 and torpedoed her, hitting the magazine. The ship sank quickly and over half the crew died. Italian support ships attacked the submarine with depth charges without results.

Between 09:40 and noon on 15 June, two more course reversals (3 & 4) were made so that once again the convoy was bound for Malta. All afternoon, there were air attacks and, south of Crete, the cruiser HMS Birmingham was damaged and the escorting destroyer HMS Airedale was sunk by Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. During the afternoon, no less than twelve aircraft had targeted HMS Airedale, and left it a smoldering wreck. The aft end was completely gone: it's believed that the ship's own ammunition or depth charge store had exploded. She was scuttled the following day by HMS Aldenham and Hurworth.

On the afternoon of 15 June, a signal was received intimating that the Operation Harpoon convoy had succeeded in reaching Malta from the west. The convoy was down to six ships when, at about 18:00 on 15 June, when the convoy was south west of Crete, HMAS Nestor was straddled by a stick of heavy bombs which caused serious damage to her boiler rooms. She was taken in tow by HMS Javelin, but at about 05:30 the next morning (16 June)—with the destroyer then sinking by the nose—it was decided to scuttle. The crew was transferred to HMS Javelin and she was sunk at about 07:00 by depth charges.