Battle of the Espero Convoy 1940
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 28 June 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 | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 35.1379, 20.5770 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Espero Convoy (Battaglia del convoglio Espero) on 28 June 1940, was the first surface engagement between Italian and Allied warships of the Second World War. Three 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) Italian destroyers made a dash from Taranto for Tobruk in Libya to transport Blackshirt (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale) anti-tank units, in case of an armoured attack from Egypt by the British.
By coincidence, the Mediterranean Fleet was at sea to conduct a destroyer anti-submarine sweep around Crete and provide cover for three Allied convoys to Egypt, one from Turkey and two from Malta. British aircraft from Malta spotted the Italian destroyers and the 7th Cruiser Squadron turned to intercept them; a running fight took place south-west of Crete, in which the destroyers were impeded by their cargoes and an adverse sea.
The Italian destroyer Espero (Captain Enrico Baroni) was sunk while covering the escape of the destroyers Zeffiro and Ostro to Benghazi; 53 of the 225 crew and passengers were rescued, three of whom later died of their wounds. The British and Australian cruisers expended a huge amount of ammunition and the Malta convoys had to be postponed until they had replenished from the eight hundred 6-inch shells in reserve.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Espero Convoy (revision 1370599397), 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.
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Other battles of the Battle of the Mediterranean
- Action in the Strait of Otranto 1940
- Action off Cape Passero 1940
- Battle of Cape Spada 1940
- Battle of Cape Bon (1941) 1941
- Battle of Cape Matapan 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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