The Battle of Cape Matapan - +100 to Battleship Stealth
Today we look at the Battle of Cape Matapan, sneaky battleships, a carrier in the line of battle and a lot of running around!
Sources:
www.amazon.co.uk/Imperial-War-Museum-Book-Author/dp/B00MK2W5UY
www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Matapan-1941-Trafalgar-Mediterranean-ebook/dp/B0078XH8K2
www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Seas-Battle-Cape-Matapan/dp/1841023035
www.amazon.co.uk/War-Mediterranean-1940-1944-Despatches-Front-ebook/dp/B00O3GWPMS
www.regiamarina.net/detail_tex...
www.armouredcarriers.com
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
Hello
I was reading George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, and he mentioned that during the May Days event in Barcelona (the suppression of the POUM), there were British destroyers approaching the harbour. Which ships were they, and what were they doing there? And in general, what was the Royal Navy doing during the Spanish Civil War?
So i wonder how do you find and raise shipwrecks? And what famous ships have not been discovered?
I believe you are a futurama fan. So what ship would be your pick for the bender award. I.e. I'm even greater than I thought I was.
Congratulations!! its 1919, and you've be selected as the head of the Bureau of Ordnance. you do NOT have future historical knowledge, but you have all your factual knowledge of engineering. besides your likely knee jerk reaction of punching the inventor of the mark 14 in the face on principal, even if you cant remember why, what changes do you think you would make as an engineer, and what knock on effects might your changes cause?
3 battleship older brothers holding down some cruisers in the schoolyard so their little sister carrier can kick them in the ribs.
Toooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun-ny!
That sums it up.
Relatable
@@timesthree5757 what sums it up??
@@benconway9010 what the comment said.
i like how everyone is focusing on warspite, but not on the mad lads who took a AIRCRAFT CARRIER into the line of battle
"She's got guns doesn't she?" -Some Random Naval Officer
The scrawny chess team player is always brave when he has the whole rugby team standing beside him
Formidable: "This looks fun, I want in!" Warspite: "Dammit who let her in here?"
"We're a light cruiser! Honest!"
It was probably somebody with a secondary build.
“And so Admiral Cunningham came upon a cunning plan.” Cunningham always has a plan!
Cunningham's cunning plan, so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a fox.
Yeah he was like the Rommel of the seas! I guess you could call him the Ocean fox!
@@stevenmoore4612 How about the Sea Lion?
@@ggroube Sea Lion would be a fitting name for him as well. And I would imagine that Admiral Gunther Lutjens would be the sea wolf, since he was tasked with hunting down convoys which would be the sheep.
Out of curiosity, did any of his plans ever involve ham?
"The Formidable was the only carrier to engage in a fleet action in a battle line with its guns in anti surface mode" Cunningham: *if it has a gun it will fight*
Some of the escort carriers in 7th Fleet's "Taffy" formations wound up trading 5" fire with some of the Japanese ships off Samar.
@@mrz80 they key words are "in a battle line"
I hear Flambas giggling.
"The Formidable was the only fleet carrier to engage in a fleet action in a battle line with its guns in anti surface mode"
@@logion567 Yep. The difference is mostly, by the time a carrier in Taffy 3 could engage the enemy, their formation had broken... every "tank" carrier running away at best speed. CVE don't form battle lines... especially against fleets containint the 2 biggest battleships in the world, with Yamato weighing as much as the entire US fleet.
"Bearing the *only* serviceable aerial torpedo in the country." Damn, the Greeks really wanted the Italians gone. Go Greece! :D
"The British Royal Navy wants the torpedo," "For what?" "They're going to shoot it at the Italians," "HELP ME CARRY IT TO THEIR PLANE!"
if they didn't have a torpedo, they probably would've strapped a Spartan with a few dozen throwing spears to the torpedo mount
I only just now understood that an aerial torpedo is just a normal torpedo like a swordfish would carry. In my head it was some sort of experimental heavier than air gliding torpedo launched from a small aircraft like an unpowered missile!
I failed D:
Hey, at least the Greeks *had* one. Up until the middle of the war, the US sub force certainly didn't! (*cough*cough*Mark14*cough*) :P
Hearing about HMS Formidable's gun crews spoiling for a line of battle action is one of the most Royal Navy things I've heard this month. That and the destroyers milling about wanting to go full 18th century and start yoinking enemy ships.
THINK OF THE PRIZE MONEY
RN: receives orders to close to point blank range RN crews since forever, probably: Commences exuberant high fives and clinking grog glasses.
A bit like at the battle of samar, The gunner on one of the escord carriers was heard yelling 'stop them they are getting away' after 3 destroyers turned back the main Japanese battle fleet lol
Hear hear. Navy warfare is brutal. 🇮🇪🍀👍
When Drach mentioned them maybe getting a few rounds off I actually said out loud OF COURSE THEY DID 😂
Mavis Batey was born in 1921. Which means, the leading female codebreaker at Bletchley Park, was 19 years old when she helped break the Italian Navy Enigma. 19.
They don't make them like they used to.
Kinda says more about the Italians tbh.
@@MravacKid Visit GCHQ, NSA, or their feeder universities if you have the clearance. They certainly still do.
So? Its math, not magic. You dont have to be old to learn it.
The 19 year old daughter of a postman and a seamstress. That has to be the most unlikely background for someone who changed the war so profoundly, but I guess in wartime, talent is often recognised regardless of someones age, class and gender. In later life she went on to be a gardening historian and lived to the age of 92.
I always thought the Italians were incompetent through and through but the more I learn about their Aircraft design, their THEORETICAL work on warfare and the Regia Marina the more I understand that it really only was the leadership that was incompetent
Mussolini and Fascism was the worst ever happened to Italy. Not for their sick ideas but for their incompetence corruption and pure stupidity
@@giovannifontana1433 'Looks at Cadorna and 12 battles of the Isonzo ' It's not like Italy was not full of incompetence, corruption and pure stupidity among it's leaders before Mussolini days.
The potential of the Regia Marina is outstanding to say the least
The Italian navy lacked fuel, even before the war started. Other countries were not happy with them taking over Albania and Ethiopia, and were not trading with them. No fuel means no practice. Even the admirals need to get out there and train with the ships. And when you have your superiors stressing to not lose any ships because we can't replace them, it makes them pretty reluctant to charge into any kind of fight. Italy was really unprepared for a lengthy war.
Sometimes there were material deficiencies and inefficiencies too. The lack of Italian radar (postponed due to lack of funding) and poor quality control of shells are good examples here. Italian forces were commonly regarded by allies and enemies as brave and resourceful and some Italian commanders were also very effective. Had the Italians had decent shells in the first phase of this action, it's likely that the British would have lost at least one cruiser
I love the idea of a load of destroyers milling around whispering “can we board him, is that taking it a bit too far” Warspite turns up and is like “what are you doing?” “Debating whether to go and invite that cruiser to join His Majesty’s navy?” “What an interesting idea... no, stop being silly! You had me thinking that for a moment” “Ah shucks, fine then”
And that's when Formidable barges through, waving a cutlass and screaming incoherently.
As a Kancolle player, it's really easy for me to imagine that.
@@sam39410ify I swear Half of Warspite's WWII antics was just her making sure the absolutely insane DDs behaved
@@sawyerawr5783 "Oh please, can't I have just a little peril?" "No, it's too perilous."
"They aren't suitable for British service... they aren't flying French colors."
HMS Warspite: Local Dreadnought literally too angry to die
I mean, she has the word 'spite' in her name...
*Loses Rudder at Jutland* HMS Warspite: +100 to shell damage
She busted her knee at Jutland, that's why she's cranky for the rest of her life.
I mean when you read about the three German torpedo boats that bumped into her on D-Day, you get the impression she's just banging away with the 6in secondaries like "I'm getting REALLY sick of you Germany..."
@@MrBlueBurd0451 She only lived out of spite for the Germans.
I want to share a story about the Battle of Cape Matapan. It's the story of sailor Chirico Francesco, crewman of the Heavy Cruiser "Fiume" who died on the night of 29 march 1941. He, while the ship was torn apart by English battleships fire, wrote a message on a piece of cloth taken from the cover of a machinegun. "Royal Ship Fiume - please sir give word about me to my dear mom, her son dies for the country. Sailor Chirico Francesco from Futani, Via eremiti 1, Salerno. Thanks, Italia!" The message was sealed in a bottle and given to the seas. It was found on the beaches near Cagliari on August 10 1952. His mom was contacted and the Sailor was awarded with a Bronze Medal for military valor.
That is quite a story, and one worth calling more attention to. Thanks for sharing!
Guided by sea and tide, his last letter made its way home.
As Sherman said, war is hell.
@@kotori87gaming89 I wholeheartedly agree.
A reminder that history is ultimately a purely human affair.
Well done Drach for acknowledging the over 2000 Italian sailors who lost their lives. We often forget in our fascination with warships and battles that real people fight and die in those ships and much as we might revel in the Royal Navy’s success and derring do, 2000+ sons fathers and brothers never made it home.
RIP
I think it was after the battle of Camperdown that one of the royal princesses expressed rejoicing that so many of the enemy had been killed but not one Englishman. King George III sternly reproved her, saying 'There are as many widows and orphans in Holland as if they had all been Englishmen.'
All sailors regardless of loyalties, have the cruel sea in common.
@@grahvis beautifully said
It's even more bitter to think about when you realize that in two years time those 2200 sailors wouldn't have been enemies of Britain any longer and would be assisting her.
"That's a lotta damage.. how about a little more?" - Admiral Cunningham, March 1941
Now this is the good stuff
You two should team up for a video sometime.
yes i would love to see that
Yeah you could animate it so we can see what is happening
To be fair your Matapan video is damn good as well
You should do a video on the battle of tsushima
As an Aussie, hearing the "Crikey!" in the account of the HMAS Perth was bloody beautiful!
There was supposed to be another Aussie ship there, HMAS Vendetta, but she was so slow they asked her to go home.
Wait, why do people call Australians 'Aussies'?
@@Shadow-sq2yj Aus being the start of Australia, the ies just kinda flows. Aussie
@@colinrussell2857 Makes sense now, thanks for the new info.
Oz is a nickname for Australia and Aussie (pronounced Ozzy) is a nickname for it's inhabitants.
**Transmission from Formidable to the Flag: Requesting permission to bolt salvaged heavy cruiser turrets onto our flight deck.**
Lol
Permission granted
"Well, the Yanks do it already, so why not?"
Can you take three ships worth?
“On my command, unleash HMS Warspite.”
Classic Warspite: "Get out of the way, damn you."
Do not obstruct the Grand Old Lady of Jutland when she's in a fighting mood.
Instead of "release the kraken!" it should be know as "release the warspite"
But first time to clean her fouled boiler intakes. That ship!
My grandfather served on motor launches during WW2, He once told me that as signaler he had the job of challenging ships as they came in. One day this (in his words) huge thing came over the horizon and dutifully they challenged it. He used a little hand held lamp. The ship replied using a 48" light. 'Warspite, what are going to do about it.'
Lt. Dennis aboard destroyer HMS Griffin: "I opened fire...The enemy ship virtually disintegrated...My God, did I do that?"
Virgin Pacific theatre: fleet with dozen of carriers launching 9000+ planes, in daytime and perfect weather. Result: most of the planes got shot, zero hits on enemy ships, repeat again until we run out of pilots. Chad Mediterranean: one HMS Formidable launching several WW1-era biplanes at night, with 4 miles visibility, and also shooting it's own guns while in formation with battleships. Result: decisive strategical victory.
Lol
Carrier vs carrier battle in WWII was brutal and if the RN had to fight a navy that had its own carriers that would have been brutal too.
Someone who just remembered the giant armored plane container: "Formidable, break off!" Formidable: "IM NOT IN BATTLE LINE WITH YOU, YOUR IN BATTLE LINE WITH ME!" *Goes away guns blazing*
More like Formidable kicking the guy in the ribs as her brothers drag her away from the fight.
Forever more, aircraft carriers will be referred to as "plane containers" in my headcanon. Thank you! :D
The more I hear about Admiral Cunningham the more I have respect for him.
He was also well known for swearing profusely and in particularly spectacular fashion regardless of the company....which makes him even greater.
I would agree, read a biography a while back. He did make a mistake keeping Illustrious with the fleet for Excess though. A costly one as it turned out.
I think the same can be said about Jellicoe
@@simonrook5743 No one is infallible
@@simonrook5743 I don't think he would have sent two capital ships out alone as surface raiders with no air cover though. Raeder
How was there a man named Manly Power, and why didn't my parents name me that.
Indeed, a name manlier than "Alan Tudyk".
Wouldn't you be "ManlyTheSloth" though?
My favorite is "Manlius Maximus"
@@Temp0raryName If your name is Manly Power, you don't need a screen name.
@@Macca17 It's funny thing Macca, but when it comes to Sandys, I have only read the word "famous" written with the letters "in" preceding. There have been lots of other adjectives applied to him.
"A wild Warspite appears!" "Warspite uses Barrage." "It's super effective!"
Warspite roll for Damage. Natural 20.
Such a waste that ship wasn't preserve
"A wild Warspite appears" "Begins incantation in Latin" "It's extremely effective!"
@@paulrasmussen8953 I'm: [ ] male [ ] female [x ] offended by the fact that warspite is not a museum ship also applies to cv6 enterprise
Belli dura despicio!!
7:47 “Warspite... hit a mud bank” Oh Warspite, don’t ever change
Formidable: Look Warspite, some Italian warships! Warspite: Don't look at them, Formidable, I don't want you to be influenced by--- OH GOD NO! FORMIDABLE! Formidable: IT'S TOO LATE, WARSPITE, I AM FRONTLINE SHIP NOW!
O
Formidable channels its Admiral Lee. 😂
@@TheEDFLegacy If Admiral Willis Lee was forced into commanding aircraft carriers instead of battleships, he'd have dragged those aircraft carriers into knife fights with Japanese battlecruisers and battleships.
@@monarch3335 Probably. 😂
@@monarch3335 Oh shit, stick him on one of the Lexingtons before they had the 8-inch guns removed and watch the fireworks. They still had most of their belt armor too, that would NOT have been pretty for anything smaller than a Kongo-class.
HMS Formidable: *SAIL ME CLOSER, I WANT TO HIT THEM WITH MY SECONDARIES*
She was practically so close that they could use the machine guns from the Albacores if they were parked on the flight deck
HMS Warpsite: "What are you doing your a carrier get back!" HMS Formidable: "I am a ship of his majiesties Royal Navy i must fire at least once on my enemies if i can." HMS Warspite: "Well spoken, ok but just one volley then back." HMS Formidable: (Happy noises)
Any closer and they could have used the spare machine guns as truncheons.
@@LazyTestudines Dont say spare machine guns, the americans might come steal them.
HMS Formidable: Break their line! [Battle of the Saintes intensifies]
I'm captain Manley Power and this is captain God. Oh, we're using our made up names.
No Manley Power was his real name and the "God" was a young Prince Phillip who is worshipped as a God by a small group of South Pacific tribes
@@jonsouth1545 It was Infinity War reference, but I didn't get the Prince Philip one.
Damn Rick Astley, you're getting better. Kekked pretty hard
@@jonsouth1545 Oh I had thought the joke with Prince Phillip was the seeming immortality of the Royal Family.
@@Reilly-Maresca No, he's really worshipped as a god. One of the great tragedies of history is that nobody got a picture of his face when he was first informed of this.
Well done, Drach. I am glad you always include "in memory of" the lives lost, since many historians forget that the loss of a ship also usually entails a loss of life.
Similar thought from me. My concern is the up-and-comers who've spent a good chunk of their awake lives effortlessly killing scores of virtual facsimiles for their fun.
I would like to learn the name of one historian who forgets that the loss of a ship also usually entails a loss of life. The history books I have read that detail the loss of ships invariably detail the associated loss of life.
@@danielmocsny5066& 77thtrombone good point. I spoke in generalities, which is never a good idea.
@@77thTrombone exactly. I just saw a comment elsewhere that said “Can get a F in chat for VT-8 and VT-6” (the decimated squadrons at Midway). SMFH 🤦♂️
HMS Gloucester, proof positive of something every sailor knows ... "If you want to know just how fast the ship is, scare the hell out of the ChEng (Chief Engineer) and main space crew." Well done again Drach.
Exactly what time?
The battle of Cape Matapan is still well remembered here in Italy, as it is the conduct of Iachino, and of the leadership of the navy in general. Thanks Drach for your stellar work and for the message at the end of the video especially.
Don't be too hard on Iachino. Half the time he had no fuel oil, next to nought air recce, and no radar. One thing the Italian's were guilty of was a complete lack of night fighting training, and therefore ability, but some things were beyond his control.
@@hoplite1766 You could pile rather more criticism, with rather more justification, on the way Kurita handled Center Force at San Bernadino. But, as one author noted about what was essentially his loss of nerve, considering he'd had to swim away from one sinking flagship, seen one of his two biggest units pounded into sinking ruin, run a gauntlet of gunfire, air attacks, and torpedoes (which chased his flagship clean out of the fight before running down), and sure that he had just slammed into the leading edge of the overwhelming might of Third Fleet, not just a clutch of escorts, who could blame him?
One thing to say Iachino's defence, he did not managed to pull off Lissa
"So who is your captain?" "His name is God." "No seriously, who is your commanding officer?"
Always useful to have a future deity onside.
Did the Formidable have a catapult launcher? Because she was close enough to use a catapult to yeet torpedoes directly into the Italian ships.
Dunno if it would have been effective but wanna try anyways?
@@gyaps_da_best5835 *YES*
No, British carriers in WW2 didn’t use catapults. Catapults were only used for the floatplanes off the battle wagons and cruisers.
@@simonrook5743 My 1/700 scale models of HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal, says otherwise 😉
@@simonrook5743 One of the USS Enterprise's (CV-6) upgrades was a catapult, but it was used in emergancies only.
Admiral, we're outnumbered, their ships are faster, and we can't expect any help. Splendid! I'm going to play Bowls at the club, then we will attack tonight.
Shades of Drake right there.
Something almost painfully british about that.
SHADES OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE NO LESS!
Consistent straddling at 29,000 yards is amazing gunnery
Yeah. Thank gods for bad shell factories...
The Army calls that "suppressive fire" with 0.223 inch rounds.
The Naval term is straddling.
Even *with* bad shells, Vittorio Veneto was spectacularly unlucky to not score any direct hits with all those straddles.
@@RedXlV Well, Warspite was in the fleet, I'd be surprised if the Italians had any luck during that engagement.
US Aircraft Carrier Doctrine: We should consider getting rid of these big secondary turrets. If we're close enough to fire at surface targets we're already screwed anyway. Better to free up space for improving air operations. British Aircraft Carrier Doctrine: RAMMING SPEED!!
british carrier design always included the fact that operation in the med was highly likely hence the armor, operating within range of shore based aircraft and within waters where they may literally not have the sea room to avoid action. although the 4.5 inch guns mentioned were dual purpose mounts mainly expected to be used for heavy AA
@@xarglethegreat That and British Home waters are some of the most deadly in the world. If a ship cant sail out of the UK its not gonna do. Many US carriers lost there planes while operating around the English channel. So UK ships were built and tested in our waters, because if it can operate here it can operate anywhere, To this day its common for US ships to do sea trials here
USN: Make sure to use the restroom before we leave, we're going all the way across the Pacific to get to the air war. RN: Carriers are for sneaking up on people, we already have air war at home.
Oh, my God...the HMS Thunderchild torpedo Rodney carrier ram - THAT would be a bad day to be a tripod!!!
Screwed, yes, but the little escort carriers in the Battle Off Samar were firing and reportedly scoring hits on the pursuing Japanese heavy cruisers with their single 5" guns. According to some reports, one allegedly hit and detonated the torpedoes amidships on one of them .
Cunningham was a mensch. Not only did he pull off this stupendous surface action, but he told the enemy where to find their survivors. Not something he was required to do. Even in such a brutal, genocidal war there were still examples of chivalry
And who knows, you might get treated similarly if the tide turns later. It would take a special kind of hate to let sailors suffer and die unnecessarily just because they are doing their job.
@@benbaselet2026 There’s an old saw whose gist is that the sea is the common enemy of all sailors no matter what flag they sail under.
It wasn't really genocidal in the west. The Germans weren't planning to exterminate the British or the French. Makes me wonder if there were any similar examples of "chivalrous warfare" in the east. I can't think of any. I do find it interesting that the least Nazified branch of Hitler's military seems to have been the German Navy. Langsdorff treated British prisoners fairly well. The captain of the shipped rammed by the HMS Glow Worm wrote the British navy and recommended him for a Victoria Cross.
All sides regularly saved survivors, even the Kreigsmarine. It was only after the Laconia Order that it stopped.
@@stanleyrogouski Eastern front was quite different indeed, with both sides competing which one will commit more war crimes. And chivalry was not a thing, POWs were treated by both sides like shit.
Formidable: How do you do fellow Battleships?
HMS Warspite with a rolled up newspaper. "No. Bad."
@@sawyerawr5783 no very bad CV get to the back of the line
Formidable : Lady Warspite can i... Warspite : *NO* Formidable : Aww...ok....
Just channeling it's name sakes... 😁
@@benedictodunsky2790 **sad formidable noises**
HMS Formidable: "I want to be a battleship too!" :(
In a previous life, she was.
@@FLJBeliever1776 nope she was built as a aircraft carrier from start to finish en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Formidable_(67)
It's like that dog meme. Formidible's looking eagerly at the destroyers in the distance and going, "I see you have 4.5" guns. I, too, happen to have 4.5" guns." :D
Augustus' widow, the scheming, murderous Livia, on her deathbed (according to Robert Graves): "I want to be a goddess!" Kinda like Formidable, eh wot?
@@edwardhuggins84 He meant the HMS Formidable that was built in 1898 as a predreadnought battleship.
RIP Prince Phillip. There never was a man who achieved such greatness with only a searchlight.
"Did I do that"?, forgetting that there were 24 x 15" guns in the battle line.🤣🤣😂😂😂😂, excellent storytelling...
Going into melee with an aircraft carrier is an effective tactic.
As demonstrated
says someone that's seen WoWS Graff Zeppelin secondary builds i bet ^_^
@@cha0sr1pper "Drive Me Closer! I want to hit them with my sword!"
... and I've heard opinions that the Japanese were reckless when they charged forward with Hiryu at Midway, still hundreds kms away from the US fleet, after their other 3 carriers were hit...
Melee would be what happened to Soviet submarine K-314
Regia Marina: “The British wouldn’t engage us at this close a range” Warspite, Barham, and Valiant: “Allow us to introduce ourselves”
Regia Marina: “Can still take you” _Formidable_ : “Good Afternoon, Mario... Mind if I join this?”
YIKES!
😂
That illumination of the Italian cruiser was not a battle. That was an execution.
They came in with their weapons not even at the ready.
you can imagine the faces of the italian crew in the moments between the searchlights turning on and the 15 inch shells hitting, confusion followed by realisation followed by sheer horror
I mean the RN didn't really even need to turn the lights on right?
@@LordInter It's rather harder to hit an enemy ship when you can't see it in the dark, even if you have radar.
@@raindrain1 the big guns opened up before the lights were on, warspites record breaking longest shot was over the horizon, it couldn't see it
7:42 Warspite being Warspite by brushing a mudbank on the way out of harbor.
Couldn't have been any other way.
I knew Cunningham was an excellent admiral, and now I have even more respect for him. He had accomplished his mission, to sink Italian ships, and knew that the enemy of every sailor is the sea. To let the Italian hospital ship through to pick up survivors is a highly respectable act of humanity.
Admiral Cunningham had a younger brother, General Alan Cunningham, who defeated the Italians in Ethiopia. They both went to the same school as me.
@@roadie3124 Talk about history! Does that get brought up a lot?
@@theevildrummingsithlord1492 That they were brothers or even the existence of a brother? I see it every now and then, but it doesn't seem to be a frequent thing. That they went to the same school as me? Not many people know that. 😀😉
That shows the difference between the British and the Germans, who were Italy’s allies. During the evacuation of Dunkirk the Germans sunk a hospital ship, if the boot was on the other foot the axis would of radioed the position then sank the hospital ship to hopefully draw in more ships. I’m not saying all German sailors were bad, but there were quite a few😢
@@christophermurpy3803 It wasn't as much the sailors in this case as much as the airmen. Most sailors respect one another at a personal level, after all any sailor's greatest enemy is the sea. Noted exception being Japan.
When gallant men led brave sailors into battle... And openly informed the enemy where some of their sailors were still in the water. That's one hell of an admiral!!
Times when war was not total war yet. Nelson would be proud !
It would have been an even more common practice had American bombers at Ascension Island not bombed U-156, U-506, and U-507 while they were flying Red Crosses.
@@SennaAugustus It is my understanding that the British lost more men in the First Gulf War to the Americans than to the Iraqis.
Drach, I wish you were able to send a link of this piece to the Duke of Edinburgh, I've no doubt he would enjoy your description of events in which he played his part. I'm not sure if he has ever spoken publicly about the Battle but as he's one of the very few RN Officers still alive who could give a first hand account from his searchlight post on Valiant it would be fascinating to hear or read his memories. As per the norm an excellent piece of work Drach, thanks mate.
He gave a very brief description of his part in Matapan in the last couple of years and in 2012. However, he is now 99 years old and retired from public duties for 3 years, Obviously he and the Queen are both being closely protected from Covid. I suspect we'll not see an interview with him again now.
@@dogsnads5634 no evidence so far that he hasn't kept his marbles, I think Drach's piece might interest him. Dogs, do you have a link to that interview re his RN career please?
@@pdunderhill If you google Prince Phillip Matapan they'll come up, numerous papers covered it in 2012 and 2003. Some have paywalls. There was also a tv interview recently where he covered it briefly but I've not seen it on YT.
Thank you shipmate, he's always seemed quite reticent about his service, like many WW2 veterans. Unlike Mountbatten his promotions were actually earned.
@@pdunderhill remind me later to point you at a book by a senior yeoman in the RN then RCN who at one point served with Philip when he was a 2inC of a converted V&W destroyer including during the invasion of Sicily. Not too much but some interesting stuff in the form of reminisces.
from the italian perspective this night action was a real life nightmare, imagine being onboard on one of those ships and suddenly some light turn on and explosions and flames cover your vessels.
Like is Savo Island
Yes, the Guadalcanal night actions must have been similarly terrifying.
In this context, I have to say, it was very chivalrous and decent of Admiral Cunningham to guarantee safe passage to an Italian hospital ship to rescue the survivors.
@@jasonlupo4117 yes but unfortunately for the same incompetence of the admirals a lot of Sailors died after days in the water. From one raft of the carducci's 35 men only 7 will be rescued.
@@jasonlupo4117 I think it is a warcrime to fire on any hospital ship provided it is painted with the large red cross, illuminated at night, and unarmed. That said, only losers are tried for warcrimes...
You could have a Top Gear style intro for a video like this. Announcer: Tonight on Top Sail. Formidable pretends to be a battleship... [Cuts to the Formidable's Captain] Formidable's Captain: Secure those planes, ready the guns! Announcer: Warspite does Warspite things... [Warspite hits mud bank] Warspite's Captain: Oh F#$@! [Warspite taking aim at the Italians while yelling at friendlies] Warspite: Out of the bloody way!! Announcer: And some destroyer captains dust off their copy of the Prize Rule laws. Destroyer Lieutenant: Can we keep her, Sir? Destroy Captain: You know what? Get a rope, we might have a crack at this.
Someone give this man funding to make this happen!
And I just heard Jeremy’s James’s and Richard’s voices.
"Destroy Captain: You know what? Get a rope, how hard can it be?" Fixed
"...and of course a god." Gets me every time. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Italians: don't worry the British won't find us in the dark. Warspite: *night challenge* Italians:oh dear...
oh no!
"How can I sink your ships without a night battle?"
@@ussenterprise3156 it's not a night battle if the enemy has no chance to fire back. *laughs in ambush*
@@ussenterprise3156 I mean do you even need the element of suprise? Your immune to any enemy attacks, they don’t kill you
Warspite: close to melee range and unleash hell!
You missed the bit at the bletchley visit, when the codebreakers managed to get Cunningham to lean against some wet paint. Hilarity ensued, though Cunningham didn't find out till later
I thought that was Elvis...
Oh dear… I remember that story from a documentary! Wasn’t it some young lady that pulled the prank? Edit: it’s been a long time since watching the documentary and wish I could remember which one it was. I seem to remember them interviewing some sweet elderly lady and her giggling like a school girl recounting the story.
ABCs staff: we have battleships, cruisers, destroyers and an aircraft carrier. ABC (stroking his chin): and the carrier, it has guns on it, yes?
Why are all the DDs crewed by insane, fearless, deranged captains and crews that are like bloodlust dialed to 11 with the dial broken afterwards?
its a essentially unarmored ship designed to do 3 things, go fast, launch torpedoes and provide some measure of AA, if it can see another enemy ship then that ship is probably in range to hit the destroyer and the destroyers best hope is to kill the other bastard first. so you get incidents like HMS glowworm ramming Hipper, Glowworm was chasing a pair of leeing german destroyers - in itself a very destroyer thing to be doing- they turned towards a fog bank glowworm persued and out of the fogbank emerges a 10000t 8 inch gun heavy cruiser so Glowworms commander knows he cant run, he wont get out of range before he gets hit and one hit is going to cripple him so he closes at full speed firing as he goes to little effect and manages to get close enough to actually ram the bloody thing, probably by accident as the ship was a little bit on fire and sinking with questionable control at the time Hippers captain recommended him for a VC
If you listen to Dr Alex Clarke's posts, he expands on how the Royal Navy Destroyer offices were purposefully picked for their skill, aggression and tactical ability!
The torpedoes from a DD were able to take out heavy cruisers, and even potentially take out battleships. Not being particularly well armored against big guns, you can pretty much either die picketing or die fighting. And when there's a reasonable chance that you can actually take out something as big as a heavy cruiser, everyone wants to die fighting.
Meanwhile the crew of Formidable preparing their guns: they seem alright to us.
@@somethinglikethat2176 Are we talking about the Carrier Formidable or one of its previous incarnations?
One thing that always struck me about this battle wasn’t just how effective the British were, but how magnanimous they were in victory. They gave the exact location of the enemy sailors still in the water and granted safe passage to a hospital ship to save them. Hats off to the British navy for showing the enemy mercy after they finished blowing up their ships!
that's class
I think there was some hope and expectation that the Italians and the Germans would do something similar in return. And the waters of the Mediterranean are warm enough that people can survive long enough for it to make a difference.
A sailor in the water isn't an enemy any longer, just a man needing rescue.
@@mrz80 Plus all sailors of every Navy knew that the one enemy that wanted them all dead was the sea itself, which didn't discriminate
It was not "class" - it was an obligation. The Hague Convention of 1907 and the Geneva Conventions of 1929 established principles regarding the treatment of shipwreck survivors and the obligation to rescue them, irrespective of whether it was wartime or peacetime. Abandoning the survivors at sea would be a war crime
Small tip: the 'ch' in Italian sounds close to 'k', so for non-Italian speakers names with the 'ch' sound in it, like Iachino, may be easier to read as 'Iakino'. Also there is a very good documentary in Italian about Cape Matapan, made entirely in CG, entitled: 'Operazione Gaudo' by Carlo Cestra Digital Production. Really worth a watch.
Yeah, it's kinda like the 'ch' in 'Architecture'
So the 'ch' is more like 'key' than 'kay'?
Thanks for the tip about the documentary. I watched it.
@@lukedogwalker Exactly.
@@billbrockman779 You're welcome.
Phillip Mountbatten, 'that bit of the Mediterranean became a dangerous place', understatement worthy of Cunningham.
"Shells landed closer to Perth". Later that day Perth and Kinross Council sent the Italian Navy the bill for damages to the South Inch.
😂
HMS Warspite and Swordfish biplanes > Any known force in the universe
Facts
Naah nothing can stand against a confused Kamchatka!
@@ahmetserdarunal8229 The 2nd Pacific Squadron would agree
Indeed, the Grand Old Lady takes no prisoners
Enterprise+Swordfish biplanes=conquer the universe
I would like to point out for those not familiar with steam propulsion plants, that Warspite probably did not block it's boiler with mud, but the steam condensers set AFTER the engines that recover all the freshwater and generate a vacuum to increase efficiency. Seawater is only fed into boilers in extreme emergency - best never. Those condensers are just giant stacks of copper alloy tubes. One side is fed seawater, other side is fed expended low pressure steam exhausted by the engines. If they clog, you cannot condense the full flow and have to reduce power to not run out of water and into all sorts of trouble. They also need regular cleaning and it is a royal PAIN if the spring a leak.
Concealment Expert during Daytime:- 10% Detectability Concealment Expert during Nightime: -300% Detectability Love my Warspite
And we have a Battleship in our group with Radar. Mouhahahaha.
When you run CE, RL, and concealment mod
One of my best friends gran farther was captured after the action, he was one of the Survivors from Zara. He was interned in South Africa for the whole war
That's a long way from home
@@andresmartinezramos7513 Some Italian POWs were shipped off to rural Australia, as if South Africa wasn't far enough- they were essentially forced to work as farm laborers, replacing all the local men who'd been sent to fight their comrades. Despite the coercion some of them formed close relationships with the farmers they worked with and ended up immigrating back to Australia post war.
That's more comfortable for Italians than Canada.
One of the last years of old fashioned gun duel between warships. In this event, a nearby carrier within gun range. What a sight!!
I am not sure about that comment about Junkers 88 and Fulmars. The Fulmar had an awful lot of "Battle" in it's heritage, so you could almost describe that action as between a medium bomber, equipped for fighter duties, and a light bomber, equipped for fighter duties.
So this is when HMS Formidable decided to cosplay as a battleship
In the past, battleships were converted to carriers HMS Formidable is the only known example of a carrier converted to super battleship
“The right range to engage is point blank, for at that distance even a gunnery officer cannot miss.” Admiral Cunningham might have been the most based Admiral of the whole war.
In "Operation Mincemeat," Ben MacIntyre wrote of Admiral Cunningham thus; "[T]here was nothing smooth and refined about Admiral Cunningham, who preferred the cut and thrust of battle to the comfort and trappings of high office. His favourite expression when things seemed to be going too well was, "It's too velvety-arsed and Rolls-Royce for me.""
"Sneaky battleships" My inner Ork is going: "All dat dakka and dat floating ship is _sneaky?!_ Wot did they do, paint it purple or sumfing?"
Well I’ve never seen a purple battleship nor a purple Ork so it must be working
Majjic and dakka
@@SportyMabamba Look up 'Mountbatten pink'.
@@AdaEngineer okay I knew that colour from the LRDP Land Rovers but had no idea it was Mountbatten’s idea! Now I have seen a purple(ish) warship!
@@SportyMabamba Have you seen the Cary Grant movie 'Operation Petticoat'? That one has a pink submarine! :)
3:55 "And so Admiral Cunningham came upon a cunning plan" Idk why my brain automatically though he was gonna say *Cunningham came upon a cunning ham*
All I could think of was Baldrick and Captain Adder
That moment when you realize UK's Prince Philip was one of the guys that pointed the search lights so Bahram, Valiant and Warspite could blow Italian cruisers to literal pieces No wonder it looks like nothing really fazes him, then again he's like 100 years old and older people do need to put in effort to look unfazed...
He was just one of thousands of blokes of that generation who did extraordinary things in that war -Michael Ramsay, onetime Archbishop of Canterbury was an ex-tank commander, Bill Edrich the famous wicket-keeper was a low-level intruder pilot- they all did their bit.
Cunningham snuck off from the party to go hook up with his ship...... Take this sentence however you want it’s technically true.
to go to, or to go and.
In Azur lane, that sentence takes a literal meaning.
Reminds me of Drake and the Spanish Armada!
@@ph89787 Never regretted oathing her, as a waifu and a stupidly OP battleship :)
"Crikey! What's that?" "That is not eight inches!" Kind of fun commentary- and very British.
Too bad the Greek destroyer flotilla could not have joined in. Vittorio Veneto: This is madness! Greeks: THIS--IS--oh, you know...
The thing is, I could totally see the Greeks morse-coding that in their searchlights as they pumped the remaining Italians full of torpedoes. And shellfire, and machine gun fire, and rifle fire and pistol....oh you get the point.
Amusingly, Sparta ain't too far off from where they were apparently stationed.
Setting aside the understanding that from the Italians' perspective taking point blank fire from three battleships must've been nothing short of Hell on Earth, this is one of the most entertaining narratives I've ever run across. VERY well done presentation!
Ships that were effectively light cruisers at best on the receiving end of a battleship battle line... Yeah that's just not going to go well.
MAMMA-MIA!
Can we also appreciate that Cunningham, when he went to thank the code breakers after the battle, went out with them for drinks afterwards and put up, with good humour, with the women trying to get him drunk enough to lean on the freshly whitewashed wall of the pub!
That shows a rare humanity and humility - to say nothing of gratitude. The best type of British behavior. Thanks for mentioning that.
Hurrah for teenagers and young adults named Mavis! At age 19, working day and night she broke the Italian Naval Enigma just in time to enable the British to prepare for the Battle of Cape Matapan. At age 20 she broke the Abwehr Enigma (German Military Intelligence) At age 21 she broke the Abwehr GGG meaning that for the rest of the war the British could read all the messages of the German Military Intelligence. One story I heard was during the initial quiet period of the war (1939), the Allies were trying to work out which companies in which parts of Europe were breaking the economic sanctions on Germany and supplying materials to the Nazis. The British couldn't track down one company that was based in Saint Go, as they couldn't find a Saint Go in any canton of Switzerland or even in France or Italy. Mavis asked for the original evidence - which by telegraph was "ST GO" and said check out "Santiago, Chile".
At 19, she gave so much to the war effort. Sometimes people forget the work behind the stage put into achieving the the grand victories we celebrate!
Rest in peace to the brave spotlight operator on board Valiant in this engagement.
How about RIP to *all* the ratings and officers of the RN who did their duty? Prince Philip only did what England expects every man to do, according to Nelson. Why are we fawning over this dude just because he grew up in a palace with a silver spoon in his mouth?
The Italian's were always on an uphill struggle in this engagement; even a Leander-class full of angry Aussies is a major threat and British Destroyers are the angriest and fightiest ships with axes to grind ever to hit water.
Uss. Johnston "am I a joke to you!"
However I do love the bristish destroys and they where some of the fightingest ships ever
The USN did indeed have a lot of destroyers who had Angry-Small-Ship Syndrome, and the Johnston is a stand out example.
@@deaks25 please explain “angry small ship” to me because I just don’t get it and I want to :(
@@Tonatsi The long version entails watching Drach's other vids on the 'Battle of Samar,' and the 'Battles of Narvik.' TLDW: some very highly trained crews and some very brave men in some highly capable ships, makes for some fascinating tales of courage and tenacity.
A cunning plan... Why do I suddenly hear Baldricks voice, whenever I hear this sentence?
Kinda new around here, and loving it! I'm noticing a theme, Warspite seems to be in... all the battles. There was just one, right?
not exactly, the RN tends to reuse names quite a lot there have been at least 3 ark royals, at least 2 prince of wales, at least 3 bellepherons etc, and there have been a few HMS Warspites over the centuries. But in this instance yes there was just one in the battles Drachinifel tends to cover, a Queen Elizabeth class fast battleship commissioned during world war one that served through both wars including with distinction at the battle of jutland, scared the crap out the germans at narvik before proceeding to shoot them then was transferred to the Med where she proceeded to score the longest ranged gunnery hit in history - joint with scharnhorst- then served at matapan and the evacuation of crete, was hit by a fritz x and survived to be used to cover the normandy landings carrying out shore bombardments to support the landings, along the way she operated in the indian ocean including the invasion of madagascar . basically she was everywhere you could think of to usefully employ a battleship except convoy duty
Only one during WWII, served from WWI to the end of WWII, she’s one of the most decorated ships in Royal Navy history for a very good reason
Legend has it that if you whisper her name in any Italian or German Naval port they still run around screaming... (I jest...but seriously, warspite was like the Forrest Gump of Battleships. she somehow found the only three German surface ships to sortie on D-Day.)
@@sawyerawr5783 lol, probably scared the ever loving hell out of em
Spite was the grand ole lady of the fleet who got her well deserved Rest In Peace at the hands of her own country
Crewman: Should we take her as a prize? ghost of Edward Pellew: WHO SUMMONS ME?! D:
Ok, "Manley Power" has to be one of the most British names I have ever heard.
Cracking account, and sensitive to the considerable gallantry of the Italian (and Greek) navies both of which I have heard unjustly disparaged.
Imagine 3 old 15" battleships appearing out of the dark : (
if they're friendy, happy thoughts. Otherwise that's definitely a 'oooh shit...' moment
Names to run away from: Warspite, Valiant, and Barham.
@@SennaAugustus though not everyone, sadly, ran away from Barham.
Not even really appearing. There's a spotlight, and suddenly a shitload of guns being fired point blank
"Oh my God! Where did those battleships come fr... wait is that a carrier firing on us too?"
RIP to a certain signals officer on HMS Valiant. RIP Commander Mountbatten.
"Line the planes along the rail, we're going in for a strafing run!"
Italians: I have a Navy, Brits: We have a Warspite
Not only a Warspite, a Barham, a Valiant and 500 years tradition. That last thing counts.
Looking forward to the “Five minute guide (more or less) to the Prince Philip class God”
Lmao
Three years on from your comment, I can assure you that today, April 10th, he released said video
@@Trek001 Three years on from my comment I am very grateful for you drawing my attention to the new upload 😄
@@SportyMabamba No problem... Now, hoist a glass to the man, myth, legend that was HRH Prince Philip
Nice touch at the end to recognise the loss of life of our enemy, quite decent of you.
"Early 1941 was not the most fun of times for the British" Drach showing that British ability of massive understatement XD
Cape Matterpan the Royal Navy bringing battleship and a carrier to a cruiser fight
Three QE class Battleships to a Yacht regatta.
Marina Regina: “Wait, that’s illegal.”
@@HaloFTW55 It's Regia Marina
I find the "in memory of..." bit at the end of these very fitting. also can learn more in one shortish video than a whole series of "modern" TV documentaries
No need to pander to short attention span.
THEY SHOULD TRY TO FIND THE THREE HEAVY-CRUISERS AND THE TWO DESTROYERS FOR THE REMAINING ITALIAN SAILORS THAT SURVIVING OF THE BATTLE
To their memories indeed :( coming from a long line of British naval officers I must say this does hurt . A big part of me likes to think the sudden presence of all the ships blinding them with their lights and deafening warning shots wouldve sufficed but atleast some gentleman officer qualities were observed. RIP to all the lives lost from every nation
In memory of the 2,303 Italian and *3* British Officers and Men who died... Me: *Ouch*.
OVER KILL
This is perhaps the only battle in which those 8-inch guns on USS Lexington could hypothetically be used for their intended role.
It Would Be Fun To See When A Few 8in And 5in Shells Starts To Hit The Enemy Ships
@@usslexingtoncva-1639 I’d like to see those 5-inch guns by Taffy-3 CVE’s used on Center Force in 1944
@@Cobra-King3 weren't those 5 inch guns?
(3:56) A plan so cunning, he could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.
Italian forces sank 58 British Naval Vessels during WW2. Including: 6 cruisers, 15 destroyers, 37 submarines. They were hardly a pushover that some comments indicate. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Royal_Navy_losses_in_World_War_II .
The Italians lost 83 ships and that was when operating with Germany and some French forces while up against ~1/3rd of the Royal Navy. They fought bravely but never had to fight the full weight of the RN, many may judge them overly harshly but between intelligence and tech developements they were quickly outmatched and once the RN had more forces available the writing was on the wall for the Italian campaign. Afterall they never had to face something the size and capability of the BPF.
their light forces did ok in the struggle to keep north africa supplied, it was their record in fleet actions and overall reluctance to engage if the odds looked close to even that get them criticised
@@xarglethegreat And to be fair the Italians had precious few recce aircraft, next to zero fuel oil, and no radar.
@@hoplite1766 AND, the worst dragging anchor of all, Benito the Chin!
The allowance of the hospital ship through to pick up survivors is such beautiful seamanship.
"I let you fish your seaman out of the water - so that i can kill them with battleship guns all in one place the next time"
"Manly Power and a god" This is why I love this channel