Battle of the Duisburg Convoy

Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of World War II

Italian destroyer Fulmine, sunk in the battle

Date	8/9 November 1941
Location	Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Calabria
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Italy

Commanders and leaders

Captain W. G. Agnew

Admiral Bruno Brivonesi

Strength

2 light cruisers
2 destroyers

2 heavy cruisers
10 destroyers
7 merchant ships

Casualties and losses

1 destroyer lightly damaged

1 destroyer sunk
2 destroyers heavily damaged
7 merchant ships sunk

The Battle of the Duisburg Convoy, also known in Italy as Battle of the Beta Convoy, was fought on the night of 8/9 November 1941 between an Italian convoy, carrying supplies for the Italian Army and civilian authorities and the Afrika Corps in Libya, and a British Naval squadron, which intercepted the convoy. The convoy was named "Beta" by the Italian naval authorities, but is now often referred to as "Duisburg Convoy" after the German steamer Duisburg, the largest ship in the convoy.

The Royal Navy's Force K annihilated the convoy, sinking all the merchant ships and the destroyer Fulmine with no loss and almost no damage. The next day, the Maestrale class destroyer Libeccio was sunk, while picking up survivors, by British submarine HMS Upholder.

The Axis forces engaged in the war against the British in North Africa were supplied across the Mediterranean. The besieged island of Malta was a key British base in the Mediterranean from where the British were able to attack Axis supply convoys to Libya. In November 1941, the worst month of the convoy war for Italy, Allied aircraft and ships were sinking up to 60 percent of Axis shipping.

The convoy included two German vessels, SS Duisburg (7,889 t) and SS San Marco (3,113 t) and three Italian, the MV Maria (6,339 t), SS Sagitta (5,153 t) and MV Rina Corrado (5,180 t), carrying 389 vehicles, 34,473 long tons (35,026 t) of munitions, fuel in barrels and their associated crew and troops for the Italian and German forces in Libya. Conte di Misurata (7,599 t) and Minatitlan (5,014 t) carried 17,281 long tons (17,558 t) of fuel, including aviation fuel for German aircraft.

The convoy was protected by a close escort and a distant escort,

Force K consisted of two light cruisers with six 6-inch guns each and two destroyers with eight 4-inch guns each. Both cruisers and destroyers carried 21-inch torpedoes.

Force K (Captain W.G. Agnew)

The British discovered through "Ultra" intelligence that the Axis were about to send a large convoy to Libya. The presence of the convoy was confirmed by a Martin Maryland on air reconnaissance from Malta (piloted by Adrian Warburton), which camouflaged the use of Ultra, and Force K left Malta to intercept the convoy. At the same time, 12 Bristol Blenheim bombers from Malta were dispatched over Cape Spartivento to attack a smaller convoy of two merchantmen escorted by an Italian destroyer. One of the freighters was set ablaze, but the British lost two bombers to the escorts.

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Wikipedia