Attack on Convoy BN 7

Attack on Convoy BN 7
Part of World War II
Map of Bab-el-Mandeb
Date 20–21 October 1940 Location Red Sea, east of Massawa 15°36′35″N 39°27′00″E / 15.60972°N 39.45000°E / 15.60972; 39.45000Coordinates: 15°36′35″N 39°27′00″E / 15.60972°N 39.45000°E / 15.60972; 39.45000 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom British India  New Zealand  Australia	Italy
Commanders and leaders
J. Rivett-Carnac J. S. M. Richardson H. E. Horan	Costantino Borsini  † Adriano M. D. Adimari Paolo Aloisi
Strength
1 light cruiser 1 destroyer 3 sloops 2 minesweepers 32 ships of Convoy BN 7	4 destroyers Shore battery on Harmil Island
Casualties and losses
3 wounded 1 destroyer damaged 1 merchant ship damaged	14 killed 1 destroyer sunk

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, with only one merchant ship being slightly damaged. The destroyer HMS Kimberley sank the Italian destroyer Francesco Nullo. Kimberley was then hit and disabled by Italian shore batteries at Harmil Island and towed to safety by the cruiser HMNZS Leander. The Italian ships had carried out their plan but lost one destroyer for no result and the British escorts were criticised later for a lack of aggression, despite the danger in leaving the convoy to chase ships at night in misty weather. The Italians made another fruitless sortie on 3 December, cancelled one in January 1941 after Manin was damaged by a bomb and on 24 January they sortied again with no result.

The approaches to the Red Sea through the Gulf of Aden, the 15 nmi (28 km; 17 mi) wide Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb (Gate of Tears) and the 1,200 nmi (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) passage to Suez, became the main sea route to the Middle East when hostilities began with Italy. South of Suez the British held Port Sudan on the west coast of the Red Sea (about halfway down) and Aden, 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) east of Bab-el-Mandeb. About 350 nmi (650 km; 400 mi) north of the Strait, on the west side of the Red Sea, was an Italian naval base of Massawa (Rear-Admiral Mario Bonetti), well placed for attacks by submarine and destroyer on convoys. The Red Sea Force (Senior Naval Officer Red Sea, Rear-Admiral Murray, based at Aden) was established in April 1940, by Vice-Admiral Ralph Leatham, the Commander-in-Chief East Indies Station. The British closed the Red Sea to merchant ships on 24 May 1940, until convoys could be organised.

The Scout cruisers (esploratori, also Leone-class destroyers) Pantera and Leone had an unusually powerful armament of eight 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns, in four turrets on the centre line. Only two turrets could aim fore or aft but the eight-gun broadside was unique for destroyers. The class also carried 2 × 40 mm pom-pom anti-aircraft guns 4 × 20 mm machine-guns, 4 × 533 millimetres (21.0 in) torpedo tubes and 60 mines. The Sauro-class destroyers had an armament of 4 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 2 × 40 mm pom-poms, 2 × 31.2 mm machine-guns, 6 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes and 52 mines. Mechanical faults, a growing fuel shortage and the enervating effect of the climate hampered operations of the Red Sea Flotilla at Massawa.

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Wikipedia