Action in the Strait of Otranto 1940
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 12 November 1940 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1940 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Europe) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battle of the Mediterranean, World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Australia, Kingdom of Italy, United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 40.8053, 18.6903 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Action in the Strait of Otranto, also known as the Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1940), was the destruction of an Italian convoy on 12 November 1940 during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. It took place in the Strait of Otranto in the Adriatic Sea, between the Royal Navy and the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina).
In late 1940, Italian ships had been transporting men, equipment and supplies from Brindisi to the Albanian ports of Valona and Durazzo for another offensive against Greece, during the Italo-Greek War (28 October 1940 – 23 April 1941). On 21 October 1940, Supermarina, the Italian Admiralty, established Maritrafalba to convoy ships sailing between Brindisi, Valona, and Durazzo.
The British conducted several operations by the Mediterranean Fleet from Alexandria and Force H from Gibraltar, several convoys to Greece and Malta, the return of ships from Malta, ship reinforcements to the Mediterranean Fleet by Force H, attacks by carrier aircraft on Sardinian airfields, the Battle of Taranto (11/12 November) and a raid into the southern Adriatic to attack convoys on the Brindisi–Valona route.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action in the Strait of Otranto (revision 1370425770), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of the Aous (198 BC) 198 BC · 56 km
- Battle of Saseno 1264 · 60 km
- Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1917) 1917 · 68 km
- Battle of Durazzo (1918) 1918 · 73 km
- Ottoman conquest of Otranto 1481 · 75 km
- Battle of Durazzo (1915) 1915 · 76 km
Other battles of the World War II
- Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski 1939
- Battle of Wilno (1939) 1939
- Battle of Władypol 1939
- Defense of Ochota and Wola (1939) 1939
- Siege of Warsaw (1939) 1939
- Altmark incident 1940
- Attack on Convoy BN 7 1940
- Battle of Abbeville 1940
- Battle of Arras (1940) 1940
- Battle of Calabria 1940
All 178 battles of the World War II →
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