Notizie sulle azioni navali della Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Le operazioni di superficie in Mediterraneo (1940)

The paper introduces three Notizie sulle azioni navali reports related to some surface operations carried out by the Italian navy during the first months of its involvement in the Second World War. The first document, the very first of the whole Notizie series, deals with the Battle of Cape Passero, an engagement with two British cruisers that ended up in the sinking of the torpedo boats Airone and Ariel, and of the destroyer Artigliere, while the destroyer Aviere was seriously damaged. The action proved the superior fire accuracy of the British units, who additionally benefitted of the use of the radar technology, here used for the very first time in the Mediterranean theatre. The second document deals with two shore bombings on Greek positions in Southern Albania, the first one carried out by the Italian 7th Cruiser Division (cruisers Eugenio di Savoia and Montecuccoli, escorted by the 15th Destroyer Squadron) on the 18th of December 1940, and the second one by the 8th Division on the 4th of March 1941. These naval gunfire support operations were overall successful, but the bad coordination between Italian naval and air units emerged as a serious problem. The third and last document deals with the Battle of the Strait of Otranto, a British attack to an Italian convoy that took place during the night between the 11th and the 12th of November 1940, thus at the same time of the aerial strike on Taranto – the first all-aircraft ship to (anchored in port) ship naval attack in history. Despite the fierce resistance of the Italian escorting torpedo boat Fabrizi, the outcome of the fight was the sinking of all the merchantmen of the convoy (Locatelli, Premuda, Capo Vado, Catalani).