On 17 December 1941 a British force under Rear Admiral Philip Vian, escorting the supply ship Breconshire to Malta, met Italian battleships covering a convoy to Libya in the Gulf of Sirte. The clash at dusk was brief and indecisive, and both convoys got through. Two days later the British lost the cruiser Neptune in a minefield off Tripoli.
Two convoys at sea
In late 1941 the cruisers and destroyers of Force K, based at Malta, were raiding the Axis supply route to Libya. On 15 December Vian left Alexandria with cruisers and destroyers to escort the fast supply ship Breconshire to Malta, and on the morning of the 17th Force K and more destroyers from Malta joined him. The cruiser Neptune and two destroyers were to follow from Malta.1
At the same time the Italian fleet was at sea with several battleships under its commander-in-chief, Admiral Angelo Iachino, covering a convoy to Libya. Both sides knew the other was out, but neither could keep track of it: the British had no carrier with the fleet and very few reconnaissance aircraft. All day Vian’s ships were attacked from the air, without loss.2
An hour at dusk
At about a quarter to six in the evening, just before sunset, the two forces sighted each other, and the Italian heavy ships opened fire. Vian sent Breconshire away to the south with two destroyers and turned towards the enemy with his cruisers and destroyers.3
The two British official histories tell the next part differently. Roskill writes that the cruisers and destroyers moved in to attack, undaunted by the enemy’s strength, and that the Italians soon drew off. Playfair writes that Vian did not mean to offer battle against such odds, only to draw attention away from Breconshire under cover of smoke until dark. Both agree that the Italians withdrew in the failing light and that within an hour the two forces had lost touch.4
Both convoys get through
Breconshire reached Malta on the afternoon of 18 December, escorted by Force K and Neptune. The Italian convoy reached Libya too. Playfair concludes that the Italians had achieved what they set out to do and probably gained confidence from it, and Gemignani notes that Iachino, for all his stronger force, could not stop the British supplying Malta.5
The minefield off Tripoli
On the evening of 18 December the cruisers Neptune, Aurora and Penelope and four destroyers sailed from Malta to catch the Italian convoy before it reached Tripoli. Soon after midnight, some twenty miles off Tripoli, they ran into a minefield. Aurora was badly damaged and made for Malta, Penelope was only slightly hit, and Neptune, her propellers and steering wrecked, drifted onto more mines. The destroyer Kandahar went in to help her and had her stern blown off. At about four in the morning Neptune struck a fourth mine and sank. Only one of her crew survived; he was picked up by the Italians on Christmas Eve. Most of Kandahar’s crew were rescued by the destroyer Jaguar, and the wreck was sunk.6
On the same night Italian human torpedoes, launched from a submarine, crippled the battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant in Alexandria harbor. The Malta striking force was finished for the time being, and the Axis could run its convoys to Africa more freely. Three months later Vian and Iachino met again in the same waters, in the Second Battle of Sirte.7
