Attack on Convoy BN 7
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The Attack on Convoy BN 7 was a naval engagement during World War II between an allied force defending a convoy of merchant ships and an attacking force of Italian destroyers. The Italian attack failed (only the leading merchant ship was hit), and the destroyer HMS Kimberly sank the Italian destroyer Francesco Nullo. Kimberley was hit and disabled by Italian shore batteries, but was towed to safety by HMNZS Leander.[2]
Opposing forces
Allied forces
Convoy BN 7 consisted of 32 British, Norwegian, French, Greek and Turkish merchant ships. The escort consisted of the light cruiser HMNZS Leander (Commander James William Rivett-Carnac), the destroyer HMS Kimberley (Commander John Sherbrook Morris Richardson), the sloops HMS Auckland, HMAS Yarra and HMIS Indus, and the minesweepers HMS Derby and HMS Huntley.[1]
Italian forces and plan
The Italian forces consisted of four destroyers, separated into two sections. The Italian plan was for the slower but more heavily armed Pantera and Leone (Commander Paolo Aloisi) to distract the convoy escort while the Nazario Sauro (Commander Moretti degli Adimari) and Francesco Nullo (Commander Costantino Borsini[3]) slipped in to attack the merchant ships with torpedoes.[1]
Attack on the convoy
The Italian ships sailed on 20 October. At 2115 the two sections separated, and at 2321 Pantera sighted smoke from the convoy. Pantera signaled Sauro and moved ahead of the convoy to intercept, with Leone following 875 yards behind.
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The Nullo and Sauro, along with the Leone and Pantera shelled the convoy and its escort, inflicting some splinter damage to the leading transport ship, and launched at least two torpedoes aimed at HMAS Yarra, which successfully dodged them.[4] Yarra and Auckland were sailing ahead of the convoy, and Yarra sighted Captain Aloisi's ships and challenged them. Pantera replied by launching a pair of torpedoes at 2331 and another pair at 2334. Pantera then shot over Yarra at the convoy, inflicting no damage. Yarra and Auckland fired back at Pantera. The Italian ships turned away, heading west-southwest back to Massawa.[1]
Meanwhile, Sauro and Nullo had been maneuvering to a more favorable position after receiving Pantera's report. The two ships turned towards the convoy, and spotted Leander at 0148 on 21 October. Sauro fired a torpedo at Leander, which missed. Leander opened fire but lost sight of Sauro after two minutes. Sauro tried one more unsuccessful torpedo attack at 0207, then turned away to Massawa. Nullo intended to attack the convoy before following Sauro, but Nullo's rudder jammed for several minutes, and the two ships lost contact with each other.[1] Nullo's captain Borsini understood that his ship was going to be destroyed by the incoming British ships and decided to approach the Italian batteries on Harmil island, in the hope that they could hit the attacking enemy ships.[5]
At 0220 Leander spotted Nullo, and engaged at a range of 4600 yards. The ships dueled for around ten minutes. Leander scored several hits, damaging Nullo's gyrocompass and gunnery director. Nullo withdrew to toward Harmil island and Leander pursued. Kimberley joined the pursuit at 0300. At 0305 Leander turned back towards the convoy.[1]
Battle of Harmil Island
At 0540 on 21 October, Kimberley was off Harmil Island when her lookouts spotted the Nullo. Nullo spotted Kimberley around the same time, but the captain of the Nullo assumed that the approaching ship was the Sauro. Kimberley opened fire at 0553, catching Nullo by surprise. Nullo returned fire four minutes later, and at 0615 the four Italian 120 mm guns on Harmil Island joined the action.
At around 0625 Nullo was hit by two shells from Kimberley, one each in the forward and aft engine rooms. Nullo lost all power. Nullo's captain gave the order to abandon ship and steered the ship towards Harmil, attempting to run it aground. The captain of the Nullo decided to go down with his ship.[6] Kimberley fired two torpedoes at Nullo. The second of these, at 0635, tore Nullo in two. The Harmil battery then found the range and landed a shell on Kimberley's engine room, causing the ship to lose power. Kimberley fired at the shore battery while the crew frantically repaired the damage. Finally, Kimberley's power was restored, and the ship managed to get out of range of the Harmil battery before losing power again.[1]
Aftermath
Leander steamed from the convoy and came to the assistance of Kimberley, taking her in tow at around 1000. A few minutes later Italian aircraft attacked the two ships, but scored no hits.[7] Later on 21 October three British Blenheim bombers found the wreck of the Nullo and bombed it, destroying it further.[1]
The Kimberley was out of service until October 31, when it was put back into action with reduced speed capabilities. It was fully repaired in spring 1941.[8]
Of the 120 members of the Italian Nullo crew, only 106 survived and were rescued by sailors of the Harmil battery while 12 perished in combat and two (captain Borsini and his assistant Ciaravolo) voluntarily sank with the ship. Captain Borsini was the last captain of the Italian Navy allowed to go down with his ship in combat (an old tradition of navy commanders since the Renaissance). The Italian Royal Navy issued an order the next week forbidding this. Two other Italian navy commanders -CV Enrico Baroni of the destroyer Espero and CC Lorenzo Bezzi of the submarine Liuzzi- had chosen to go down with their ships since Italy had joined World War II in June 1940.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 O'Hara, Vincent P. (2013). "6: The Red Sea 1940–41". Struggle for the Middle Sea. New York: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-408-6.
- ↑ O'Hara, Vincent P. (2012). "Red Sea, Naval Operations in". In Tucker, Spencer C. World War II at sea an encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 623. ISBN 978-1-59884-458-0. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
- ↑ Italian Navy Gold Medal (in Italian)
- ↑ O'Hara, Vincent P. (2009). Struggle for the Middle Sea: the great navies at war in the Mediterranean theater, 1940-1945. Naval Institute Press, p. 103. ISBN 1-59114-648-8
- ↑ Nullo history, with reference to captain Borsini sacrifice (in Italian)
- ↑ Captain Costantino Borsini (and his attendant Ciaravolo) were awarded the Gold Medal by the Italian Navy, that later forbade this extreme sacrifice
- ↑ Waters, S. D. (1950). "Protection of Red Sea Convoys". Leander. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. Wellington, New Zealand: Historical Publications Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Government of New Zealand. p. 6. Retrieved 7 August 2014.