First Battle of Sirte 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 17 December 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Africa) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battle of the Mediterranean | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 34.1344, 17.9514 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The First Battle of Sirte was fought between forces of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, south-east of Malta, in the Gulf of Sirte. The engagement was inconclusive as both forces were protecting convoys and wished to avoid battle.
In the following days, two Royal Navy forces based at Malta ran into Italian minefield T off Tripoli and two British battleships were disabled by Italian Human torpedo during the Raid on Alexandria. By the end of December, the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean had shifted in favour of the Regia Marina.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First Battle of Sirte (revision 1370618969), 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
- Action in the Strait of Otranto 1940
- Action off Cape Passero 1940
- Battle of Cape Spada 1940
- Battle of the Espero Convoy 1940
- Battle of Cape Bon (1941) 1941
- Battle of Cape Matapan 1941
- Battle of the Duisburg Convoy 1941
- Battle of the Tarigo Convoy 1941
- Battle of Skerki Bank 1942
- Operation Harpoon (1942) 1942
All 19 battles of the Battle of the Mediterranean →
Browse more: battles at sea · Africa · World War II era battles