Battle of Cape Matapan 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 27 March 1941 – 29 March 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P580 (start 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 | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Australia, Kingdom of Italy, United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 35.3500, 22.0000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Cape Matapan (Greek: Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian Navy, from 27 to 29 March 1941. Cape Matapan is on the south-western coast of the Peloponnesian peninsula of Greece.
After the interception and decryption of Italian signals by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park (the decrypted intelligence codenamed Ultra), ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy, under the command of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, intercepted and sank or severely damaged several ships of the Italian Regia Marina under Squadron Vice-Admiral Angelo Iachino. The opening actions of the battle are also known in Italy as the Battle of Gaudo.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Cape Matapan (revision 1370108577), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Battle of the Mediterranean
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- Battle of the Espero Convoy 1940
- Battle of Cape Bon (1941) 1941
- Battle of the Duisburg Convoy 1941
- Battle of the Tarigo Convoy 1941
- First Battle of Sirte 1941
- Battle of Skerki Bank 1942
- Operation Harpoon (1942) 1942
All 19 battles of the Battle of the Mediterranean →
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