Second Sirte 1942 by Angus Konstam & Adam Tooby

Author:Angus Konstam & Adam Tooby
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472867193
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2025-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

Taken from the bridge of Euryalus, this shows the effectiveness of the smokescreen laid by Cleopatra ahead of Euryalus while both ships engaged the Italian battlefleet some 8 miles away.

As a result, Vian’s two cruisers were racing north-eastwards at 32kts, in line ahead, while 2 miles behind them, Dido and Penelope were converging with each other from different locations. At the same time, both cruisers were heading in the general direction of Vian’s flagship, which was now to the north of them. Essentially then, the British cruisers had formed into two divisions, each of two ships. Their turn towards the enemy was spotted by the Italians, who were already turning away from the British. At 1435hrs, Parona’s three cruisers opened fire with their after turrets, at the extreme range of 21,000m – the equivalent of 10½ miles.1 At that range, it was wildly optimistic to expect a hit.

This turn away didn’t suit Parona, who wanted to continue the fight, regardless of his orders. He argued later that, as he was out of range of his opponents, he wasn’t really engaging fully with the enemy in a gunnery duel. Technically, he wasn’t going against Iachino’s orders. So, the Italian commander ordered his ships to continue their turn to starboard until they had completed a full circle. By 1436hrs, they had resumed their original course, towards the south-west. To continue on, though, would bring his ships closer to the British cruisers than he intended, which were then steering to the east-north-east. Four minutes later, when Vian altered slightly more to the north-east, Parona decided to turn away to prevent the range from decreasing further. For him, it was all a matter of gunnery and ballistics.

The 8in (20.3cm) guns of his heavy cruisers had a range of up to 28,000m (15 miles), and even his light cruiser’s 6in (15.2cm) guns had a maximum range of 12 miles. This was much better than the reported 13,000yd (6½ mile) effective range of Vian’s AA cruisers. In other words, while Parona could hit Vian, the British commander couldn’t hit back. At 1445hrs, with Vian continuing on to the north-east, Parona ordered a turn to starboard onto a west-south-westerly course of 235°. This effectively put the two forces on nearly parallel courses, a little less than 12 miles apart. At the same time, the Italians moved into a line formation, with the flagship Gorizia in the lead, followed by Trento and then Banda Nere. This meant that all the main guns on the Italian cruisers could now bear on the enemy.

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