Cape Matapan, battle of

Cape Matapan, battle of, naval night action off southern Greece which took place on 28 March 1941 between units of the British and Italian navies during the battle for the Mediterranean.

In September 1940Bletchley Park broke the Italian Navy's C38M machine cipher enciphered on a machine which was a derivative of the German ENIGMA. The cipher was withdrawn the following summer, but before that, on 25 March 1941, ULTRA intelligence derived from it made it evident that the Italian fleet, urged by the Germans, were planning to attack British convoys ferrying troops and matériel from Egypt to Greece for the Balkan campaign. The C-in-C Mediterranean, Admiral Cunningham, promptly diverted two convoys from the area, ordered four cruisers and nine destroyers to lie in wait south-west of Gavdo Island, and on the night of 27 March sailed from Alexandria with his battle squadron and the British carrier Formidable.

Air reconnaissance revealed three groups of Italian warships, one of which included the battleship Vittorio Veneto with a strong escort. She was pursued by the British cruisers and by aircraft from Formidable, but though torpedoes slowed her and stopped the cruiser Pola, the results were inconclusive. Knowing that some of the faster Italian ships might have been damaged, Cunningham decided to risk a night action with his slower battle squadron. However, alerted by radar—which the Italian ships did not have—that Pola was damaged, he diverted to try and find her. In doing so he ran across two cruisers, Zara and Fiume, escorted by two destroyers, which the Italian C-in-C, Admiral Angelo Iachino, who supposed the main British force was still in Alexandria, had sent back to aid Pola. It was a disastrous mistake, for Cunningham sank them all, including Pola, though Vittorio Veneto and her escorts eluded the pursuing cruisers. See also sea power.