Second Battle of Sirte

The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval battle between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina during the World War II. It took place on 22 March 1942, in the Ionian sea, next to the Sirte gulf.

The Regia Marina was blocking the communications and fuel and food supplies to Malta, and therefore the Royal Navy decided to force the block, organizing a covoy from Alexandria to Malta. The convoy was intercepted by an Italian submarine, and the Littorio squad, empowerd by the IInd division left the harbours of Messina and Taranto to intercept the convoy.

The battle result was a light win for the Regia Marina: the Littorio damaged many British destroyers and two cruisers, as the IInd division managed to move the enemy vessels towards the more powerful battleship. However, during the return of the Italian squads, a storm caused the sinking of the Italian destroyers Scirocco and Lanciere.

Order of Battle

Regia Marina (Italian navy)

• Littorio squad:
  • Littorio battleship (Littorio class);
  • four destroyers;

• IInd division:
  • Gorizia heavy cruiser (Zara class cruiser);
  • Trento heavy cruiser (Trento class cruiser);
  • Giovanni dalle Bande Nere light cruiser (Di Giussano class cruiser);
  • four destroyers.

Some of the Italian destroyers were:

• Lanciere;
• Scirocco.

Royal Navy (British Navy)

• Carlisle squad:
  • Carlisle cruiser;
  • six destroyers;
  • four ships;

• Admiral Vian squad:
  • Cleopatra light cruiser;
  • Euryalus cruiser;
  • Dido cruiser;
  • four destroyers;

• Support squad from Malta:
  • Penelope cruiser;
  • one destroyer.

Some of the Royal Navy destroyers were:

• Havock;
• Lance;
• Legion;
• Lively;
• Kingston;
• Sikh.