Battle of Skerki Bank


The Battle of Skerki Bank was a World War II naval battle which took place near Skerki Bank in the Mediterranean Sea on the early hours of 2 December 1942 between British and Italian forces and was the last major naval battle in the Mediterranean during 1942.

Background

The British force consisted of the light cruisers, and with the destroyers and. The squadron was under the command of Rear Admiral C. H. J. Harcourt.
On the night of 2 December, they found and attacked an Italian convoy and its escort bound for Tunisia. The convoy consisted of three destroyers and two torpedo boats: the German KT-1, Aventino, Puccini, and Aspromonte. The ships were carrying reinforcements for General Rommel's Africa Korps. It included 1,766 troops, 698 tons of cargo, 4 tanks, 32 other vehicles and 12 artillery pieces. The escort was composed of the destroyers , Camicia Nera, Folgore and the torpedo boats Clio and Procione which were commanded by Captain Aldo Cocchia.

Battle

The British ships opened fire and destroyed all the cargo and troop ships. The escort ships were hit as well, with Folgore fatally damaged by cruisers, and later sunk with 120 dead, Nicoloso da Recco badly damaged with 118 dead. Camicia Nera launched all her 6 torpedoes, which missed their targets. HMS Sirius escaped with no damage despite Camicia Nera firing on her from only, dodging several torpedoes and continued cooperating in the sinking of the Axis convoy.

Aftermath

At dawn, the short-range engagement saw a clear British victory, while the Axis suffered no fewer than 2,000 casualties and lost five ships, with Puccini still afloat, but to later sink. Whilst they were withdrawing Savoias attacked Q-Force, without result but losing some aircraft. Spitfires claimed four Sparvieros with one loss, while HMS Quentin was sunk with 20 dead by a 500 kg bomb released from a Junkers Ju 88. On the other side, the human losses were 124 from Folgore, 118 from Nicoloso da Recco, 39 from Aspromonte, 3 from Procione, 200 civil/militarized crew and 1,527 troops, all in Aventino and Puccini.