ENTIRE ITALIAN CONVOY SUNK

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 9, 6 October 1941, Page 7

ENTIRE ITALIAN CONVOY SUNK

Mediterranean Action FULL STORY OF NAVAL SUCCESS • ♦ (British Official Wireless.) (Received October 5, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, October 4. The full story of the end of an Italian convoy intercepted on the way to North Africa and wiped out on April 16 has now been told. British destroyers were looking for trouble in foul weather and pitch darkness. Suddenly the weather cleared, the sea fell and it was a typical moonlight Mediterranean night when the captain of the flotilla made the unorthodox sighting report, “There the blighters are.” At first the enemy were still smudges on the horizon, but soon they were clearly visible as ships trundling along toward Tripoli, blissfully ignorant of their fate. The destroyers manoeuvred into position for. an attack at two miles range, while the enemy convoy was silhouetted against the moon. It consisted of five merchantmen in two columns, with two destroyers ahead and one on the near quarter. When the range closed to about a mile, H.M.S. Jervis, the leading British destroyer, opened fire on the nearest Italian destroyer, and H.M.S. Janus, the second destroyer In line, opened fire on the same ship, scoring hits with the first salvo. The heavy blows of the Jervis and Janus were too much for the Italian, which turned over and sank midst clouds of smoke and steam. Spectacular Result. Meanwhile H.M.S. Nubian and Mohawk and then later the Jervis and the Janus set about the convoy with all the weapons at their disposal, from torpedoes to small automatic guns, with a spectacular and satisfactory result. The merchant ships appeared to be very inflammable and burst into flames with astonishing rapidity. The remaining two Italian escorting destroyers turned and joined, in the melee. One enemy destroyerpassed close and was engaged by the Janus and then by the Jervis. The Jervis hit her amidships with the first salvo and Started a large fire, also scoring a probable torpedo hit aft. ‘lhe Italian was later hotly engaged by the Nubian and the Mohawk, and she, or a similar ship, was finally sunk by the Janus. The Nubian fought a duel with the third Italian destroyer and silenced her and set her very thoroughly on fire. It was during this part of the action that the Mohawk was hit. A first torpedo stopped her, but she continued battering the least damaged of the merchantmen with her forward guns till sunk by a second torpedo. The Jervis and the Nubian came quickly to the rescue, and succeeding in picking up 168 survivors. Meanwhile the whole sea was illuminated by blazing enemy shells. When an ammunition ship torpedoed by the Janus blew up, the Jervis was too close to be comfortable, but fortunately had no casualties. The gigantic flash and explosion were followed by a blast which knocked most of the men in the Jervis flat on the deck, and whipped off the tin hats of the officers on the bridge. The resulting conflagration completely enveloped the Jervis, and for what seemed an eternity, she was the centre of an inferno, with all types of ammunition detonating all round and far above her. Kain of Debris. Then down came the Hebris. The whole sea boiled and sizzled as red hot lumps of ship and ammunition came pattering down. A gunner was “nearly crowned” by a piece of boiler plating a yard square, and minor fragments fell everywhere. At last nothing was left of the Italian ammunition ship but a vast column of black smoke rising thousands of feet in the air. Rater it was learned that a Swordfish aircraft was flying overhead when the explosion took place. She was whirled bodily up like a leaf for 2000 feet, and even then had ammunition exploding all round her. Meanwhile, all four surviving enemy merchantmen were on fire. Two sank, a third was seen to blow up, and the last was subsequently discovered aground on a shoal. The entire convoy had been wiped out. The convoy’s cargo consisted chiefly of ammunition of all kinds, motor transport, and Germans, Later it was found that the ships contained a large proportion of a German panzer division, with a general, his staff, and many technical experts. There was no doubt of the contents of the first ship to blow up, an'd another provided a fireworks display as tracer ammunition made coloured patterns in all directions.