British Invasion - The Battle of the Sardinian Approaches
Oct 25, 2022 5:30:51 GMT -6
cwemyss and prophetinreverse like this
Post by blarglol on Oct 25, 2022 5:30:51 GMT -6
The Prelude
It was February of 1903 and the Kingdom of Italy was at war.
Relations with France had soured several months back, given certain diplomatic incidents and untoward comments by the Italian prime minister. French vessels had begun to act more aggressively throughout the Mediterranean, in no doubt fueled by the stubborn stance of the newly-appointed head of the Regia Marina, a man who was not about to take any arrogant demands from the overblown Frenchmen.
The timely alliance with Germany only further deepened French suspicions that perhaps Italy was thinking of reclaiming ancestral territories lost long ago, but not long enough to have left popular memory. With tensions high and theories as to the true nature of international relations uncertain, strategists began to ponder. Hypothetically, if a large portion of the French fleet was tied up in the North Atlantic and abroad, dealing with the Kaiser's ships, less would be available to fight the Mediterranean war. This would bode well for Italy, but some wondered if the rest of the world's naval powers would sit idly by as this storm brewed...
With all French forces on high alert, and King Victor Emmanuel III doing nothing to intervene and avoid the conflict, the Italian naval command decided war should be declared sooner rather than later. They aimed to capitalize on the balance of vessels before several that the French navy had in construction became available.
War was declared, but interestingly it was the French who made the first move. Launching almost two full squadrons of destroyers, most of their available Mediterranean forces at the moment, they moved out of Nice (rightly Nizza of course) in a raid towards the Italian Riviera. Meeting them were slightly less than an equal amount of the Regia Marina's own destroyers. This boded-ill, not just numerically, but equipment wise, as all of the 500-ton Italian ships only had a pair of 2" guns, as opposed to the 3" one available to the French. Range would have to be close.
But as it was, in a confusing, drawn-out, and utterly inaccurate display of poor gunnery, the Frenchmen were finally driven off after a long night of ships bumbling around in the dark. While Italian accuracy had been atrocious, and French little better, the latter lost one of the raiding ships to a chance torpedo in the melee. First blood to Italy.
Notably, the Italian 6" and 4" shore batteries had been utterly useless, despite the fight taking place well within their range just several hundred yards directly in front of them offshore. However, given the poor Italian accuracy and dreary conditions of the night, it was probably for the best that they held their fire and avoided hitting their own vessels. The darkness and chaos of battlefield was perhaps to be something of an omen however, as later events would prove.
The next month saw an engagement between the Kaiser's ships and the French Atlantic fleet. The foolish Germans were little help however and managed to lose one of their protected cruisers for only a destroyer in trade, a poor bargain. Perhaps emboldened by fending off the overly-confident *****s, French naval command decided to operate more boldly around the Italian menace and conducted probing operations off Sardinia. However they were intercepted by a Regia Marina task force which drove them back to their ports and sank another French destroyer.
Seeing all of this occurring, and considering themselves the holders of the balance of power, Great Britain was becoming increasingly alarmed. While having no love for the damnable Frogs, an upstart Italy in the Mediterranean was a strategic threat. British imperialism relied on the Suez, and a strong Italy could cut access to it (it was never seriously considered they could take it). Worse, the alliance with Germany made this a long-term risk as well. Even if this French affair quieted down quickly, the pact would assuredly hold for some time. Should the Germans declare war on Britain for whatever reason, the Regia Marina could cut vital trade that would otherwise sustain the Isles in the event local commerce was hampered by German raiders.
Weighing the entire state of affairs, the current condition of the Royal Navy, and the general expectations of French competence (which were low), Great Britain entered the war against Italy and Germany. Their first act was to sortie the protected cruiser HMS Canada from Malta with appropriate destroyer escorts, sending them to Tunisia in order to liaison with French forces. Together with more destroyers of the French navy, they patrolled from Tunis until confronted by the Italians in battle, losing the Canada, while the rest fled back to port, the French remarkably quickly, never once firing a shot or doing anything at all to assist their beleaguered British "allies."
Mad at this loss, and angry for not getting on the board first against the uppity, swarthy southerners, the stage was thus set for a rather remarkable turn of events that would in later years come to be known among British naval circles as "Lord Kerr's (Bloody Fool) Folly, an appellation no doubt strenuously supported and furthered by his ambitious underling, the Second Sea Lord, Jackie Fisher, who greatly desired Kerr's job.
The Planning
First Sea Lord Kerr had previously in his career served as second-in-command of the Mediterranean Fleet, and thus had experience in the area of imminent operations. His opinion of the Regia Marina was low, but Lord Kerr had served near them in the early 1890s and things had changed since then. This bias was perhaps to color his plans and strongly influence subsequent events.
Ironically, it was French whom had built Italy's battleships (to a decidedly un-French design, to the great relief of the Italian admirals), and they were generally more powerful than their contemporaries, indeed even France's own domestic battleships. The previous naval administration had known they couldn't hope to counter the other powers numerically, so the Italia-class had been built strong enough to fend off multiple foes. Larger and faster than most other battleships, with 12" main guns, an 11" thick belt and turrets, and no less than seven 6" secondary guns per broadside, the Italia's could both take and dish out copious punishment. Also, the Italian admiralty could call upon the active forces of:
- Armored cruiser Marco Polo
- Protected cruisers Nino Bixio and Brindisi
- 500-ton destroyers Aquilone, Borea, Granatiere, Bersagliere, Espero, Turbine, Garibaldino, Nembo, and Zeffiro
The remaining 500-ton destroyer in the fleet, along with the four 400-tonners and the only other armored cruiser, Polo's older sister the Giuseppe Garibaldi, were all needed for trade protection and thus unavailable for battle. This pittance of vessels would factor little into the Royal Navy's plans however. With a fleet boasting a dozen battleships, thirteen armored cruisers, 16 protected cruisers, and twenty-six destroyers, it was safe to say they had the advantage of numbers. Still, knowing that both of the Italian battleships were formidable foes, and that both would likely be used to counter any attack on national territory, a force had to powerful enough to overwhelm them should a decisive blow be sought.
Looking at the Italian coasts and the state of their defenses, First Sea Lord Kerr and his staff choose fatefully to invade Sardinia. Without any defenses whatsoever in the form of coastal artillery or mines, the Italian naval administration had long-neglected the island in favor of further fortifying the mainland against attack. To the British, this appeared to be a perfectly suitable piece of land to seize, and would prevent any further sorties or operations by the Italians in the direction of Tunisia. Better still, it could be a springboard at a later date, in conjunction with Malta, into Sicily, should the course of the war make such a move necessary. But naturally it would not need to come to such a drawn-out thing. This would surely be decided quickly with dominant British seapower, and the foolish Italians made to quickly sober up from whatever cheap and foul wine they overindulged in - for only being drunk could have made them act so boldly as to make it necessary for His Majesty's Navy to get off their rears and come all the way down here to help the bloody Frogs out...
The die thus cast and Lord Kerr's plan in motion, the British fleet proudly steamed from their gathering grounds off of Portsmouth and passed by the French coast of their new co-combatant and ally. The French admiralty had mixed feelings on this whole affair. On one hand, they were grateful for the support, but on the other if the invasion was successful, it would see increased British power in the central Mediterranean, in spitting distance of French possessions in Corsica. Without any way to prevent the move, having solicited it themselves by agreeing to accept British assistance, they pulled the entirely and decidedly French move of sitting back to watch, wait, and carefully plan their next move while letting someone else risk his neck on their behalf.
The battleline would consist of the Camperdown, Repulse, Resolution, and Rodney, more than enough Kerr figured. Besides the mighty battleships, three armored cruisers (of two different classes, Cressy and Andromeda, the prior having the pair), five protected cruisers (of three classes, one each of Calypso and Phaeton, and three Champion-class vessels), along with with two full squadrons of destroyers, sixteen in total, were part of the force. It was deemed sufficient to overwhelm the Regia Marina, and land enough troops to begin a ground campaign. Indeed this fleet alone was bigger than the entirety of the Italian's navy.
Past the giant Rock of Gibraltar the fleet sailed, long a solid bastion of British seapower and soon to be needed as a supply base for the beachhead that would undoubtedly be made shortly in Sardinia. As daylight waned on the 8th of February, 1903, this powerful force was at last nearing it's goal. They hoped to get the Army forces on beaches under the cover of darkness and thus surprise any waiting defenders of the Regio Esercito. Quietly they moved, but the setting sun was not to be in their favor however. What they thought had been a stealthy approach to the western coast of the island had in all-actuality been carefully observed by the Italians, and the lion's share of the Regia Marina was at sea and west of the expected landing grounds, awaiting the foe. Perhaps French support could have sneakily-observed them in turn and alerted their allies, but alas for the British they did not, and fielded no support forces for the invasion whatsoever. How curiously...French.
The Battle Begins
As the British vessels confidently moved closer to their objective, the armored cruiser Marco Polo and it's accompanying escorts spotted large silhouettes and smoke ahead. Quickly relaying this back to Italia, Roma, and the rest of the fleet, they powered ahead as the rearward vessels cranked up to flank speed. The planners of the Regia Marina knew that the Royal Navy would come in greater numbers, and thus something would have to be done to even the odds.
While their own battleships could take on more than their number of British ones, it was the numerical superiority of the Royal Navy's protected cruisers and destroyers that had worried Italian naval strategists. The fleet simply couldn't face such odds in the day, particularly given the generally poor accuracy of the Italian destroyer fleet with their 2" guns. Any daylight engagement would see a massively superior volume of British fire directed at the overwhelmed Italian lines, likely presaging a bold torpedo charge by much greater numbers of lighter vessels than they could effectively resist.
Thus to avoid this fate, the Regia Marina had planned on contesting the invasion at night, secretly hoping the British would chose to invade then. Marco Polo's sighting report provided this sought-after opportunity.
It was thus the Polo who moved in first, confidently knifing into the British line at the largest target it could see. Suddenly, before them appeared a much smaller shape, a screening destroyer, blast. Narrowly avoiding this abrupt obstruction in their path, it was apparent that the enemy began to notice they weren't alone. The sailors on the Polo could hear the action stations alarm blare on the destroyer (Moy, for the record, of the 400-ton Boyne-class, that somehow mounted a 3" gun, four 2" ones, and two tubes for 28kt...). Not wishing to stop their charge, the captain of the Polo simply blasted off a 6" fusillade that stunned the surprised destroyer with several near misses that rocked the hull and rattled the crew. The fight had begun.
Aiming for what was clearly an enemy battleship, it silently loosed a deadly torpedo before opening up with it's twin 8" main battery. The entire British invasion force was thrown into confusion, going from a quiet night of sipping tea and munching on the old crumpet, to sudden battle at point-blank range. Unsure of how many foes there were and even their exact bearing, the invaders had no idea where to turn to.
Though the wild, instinctive turns by the British had caused the Polo's torpedo to miss (or else it was dud), the guns began to go to work on the enemy literally all around them. Hits were scored on numerous vessels, and the accompanying destroyer Garibaldino managed to lance the British armored cruiser Cressy, first of her class, with a direct torpedo hit to the engine room, disabling her machinery. Not going down without a fight, Cressy lashed out with both main and secondary batteries, a 6" HE round striking the offending Polo amidships on her belt, and a 5" AP round hitting forward Turret A. Luckily, neither did any noticeable damage, and the ship was free to continue the assault and spread fear and confusion among the British ranks - which it both did and enabled.
The destroyer Nembo quickly joined the action, torpedoing the armored cruiser HMS Andromeda right in the engines as well. Though returning fire and eventually repairing and restarting the boilers, progressive flooding continued.
Following it's comrade's lead, the destroyer Zeffiro narrowly avoided a collision with the protected cruiser HMS Calypso, but not before hitting her with a torpedo too. This was somewhat remarkable given that scarcely ten minuted earlier she had been badly flooding from large splinters, courtesy of the 6" HE shells of damaged-but-not-dead-yet Andromeda, overall one of the first British vessels to return fire in the engagement (and one of the few accurate ones). Quickly making repairs, the intrepid sailors of the Zeffiro pumped out all the water and patched breaches, allowing the ship to close and fire torpedoes first at a battleship (later thought from the log and records to be HMS Camperdown), and then the unlucky Calypso.
There was no help now to be had for this vessel, as the hapless cruiser was moving too fast at the time of impact and rapidly rolled over, capsizing within two minutes, the first full casualty of the engagement and an ill-omen for the British invasion that merely presaged what was to come.
The Action Quickens
Still largely paralyzed, and afraid of hitting their own forces, in particular the vulnerable transports loaded with Army troops, most British vessels held their fire. As the Italian armored cruiser and it's eager pair of escorts prowled through the foremost ranks of the enemy, the silently approaching main force of Italia and Roma arrived with seven other destroyers in tow, and the only two protected cruisers in entire Regia Marina: Nino Bixio and Brindisi. Gamely, all ships set about their tasks with a ferocious eagerness that belied their numerical inferiority. The cruisers spiritedly but surreptitiously slunk off to assume good positions as the destroyers valiantly charged, but now more British shells at last began to find targets.
Closing to attempt to torpedo a looming battleship, the Turbine-class Nembo took a single 5" HE shell to it's engine room from the armored cruiser HMS Bacchante, which was trying gamely to screen it's larger cousins in the battleline. Nembo lost speed and drifted at only a few knots as the chaos erupted around it, with it's torpedo missing just barely. It's part in the battle done, she was forced to limp away towards Sardinia and hope no Royal Navy ships pounced suddenly in the dark.
But the Italian charge was not to be stopped. Arriving in favorable position, the two battleships began to let loose their guns, and the British finally realized that this wasn't a quick raid by a handful of lighter ships, but a full-scale sortie by the lion's share of the Regia Marina. The very first slivers of doubt began to enter their minds that perhaps they found themselves in potential trouble...
The protected cruiser Calliope of the Phaeton-class took a 6" AP round into it's forward hull from the battleship Italia, spoiling it's torpedo strike on one of the rapidly dashing Turbine-class destroyers going by. Not to allow this foe to try and bully the lighter ships, Brindisi decided to intervene and force the Calliope to face someone it's own size. A 5" AP round fired from a mere 720 yards destroyed one of their main-battery casemates and forced the British cruiser to turn off, but not before she spitefully plinked at her foe with her secondaries, a 3" shell hitting the Italian cruiser, and another landed in Zeffiro's coal bunkers. Neither did much damage. With many of the escorts pushed aside or scattered, the path was thus opened for further assaults, and the Italian ships continued their bold attack.
Battleships!
Brindisi's elder sister, Nino Bixio, was not about to let the younger sibling steal glory that was rightfully hers, and promptly went for the biggest vessel it could find, which just so happened to be the enemy flagship, HMS Camperdown. First of her class, she was the second-largest vessel in the invasion fleet, and one of only two British battleships present sporting 12" rifles, along with the 1,000 tons larger Repulse (also first of her own class), the two smaller Resolution-class being armed with 10" guns. Such ostensibly large and fully-operational naval artillery did not scare the Bixio however, and the sporty cruiser slid gracefully by and put a torpedo right into the Camperdown's engine room. Losing steam and falling out of line, the ailing flagship lashed out with her secondary and tertiary batteries, striking the oncoming destroyer Aquilone which had just rapidly finished lobbing all three of her torpedoes at various British protected cruisers and destroyers. Having already taken a 4" HE shell to her fore from one of these cruisers, Camperdown's 6" and 3" wrecked part of her mid-hull and started flooding. Like the Nembo, Aquilone slowly began to move off, fighting to stay afloat.
But HMS Camperdown was not yet to see the end of the enemy, as the plucky Bixio pulled an about face and came around to shoot off her other tube, once more striking the embattled battleship right as they were starting to limit the flooding from the first hit. Reeling, it drifted off into the night to come back at a later stage in the bloody fight.
Seeing the older sister's success, Brindisi took aim at one of the smaller but no less deadly British battleships further back in the line, and with the accuracy that had been and was to be a common factor for the Italian cruisers this night, put a torpedo right into the engine compartment of HMS Repulse. For the next 20 minutes, her crew ably worked to control the flooding, and luckily for her sake, the chaos of the battle shielded her from further harm. She was left drifting away at 5 knots into the black of the night, as the Italians could not stop and sink every vessel even if they wanted to. Avoiding torpedoes from the British escorts, they continuously worked to identify further targets of opportunity.
The Army? Get Them Out Of Here!
There! The lumbering transports filled with vulnerable soldiers and their invasion equipment. The British planners liasoning from the Army to Lord Kerr's staff had estimated that the initial force allocated to the assault would require a total of six transports, and that at least four would have to make it ashore to have enough troops with any hope of holding out long enough for reinforcements to arrive and expand the initial beachhead. None of this was known to the Italians however, who simply wished the invaders dead in the sea rather than dead on land.
Seeing the oncoming danger, and the apparent inability of the Royal Navy to properly see to their safety, the merchant crews of the transports threw further confusion into the British lines as they scattered, rapidly coming about and trying to avoid both the charging Italians as well as their own passing vessels. Slow and heavily burdened though, not all could escape.
Brindisi, along with the destroyers Espero and Granatiere threw 5" and 2" HE shells respectively into the nearest transport, piercing the hull in several places. As the galloping ships flew past to seek other quarry, the poor transport wrongly-thought that perhaps the worst had passed them by, trying to stem flooding and making some success. This was then utterly shattered by what must have been the terrifying sight of the battleship Italia lining up on their starboard beam. A flurry of 6" secondary battery shells stifled their hopes faster than the unknowing First Sea Lord Kerr's career was currently sinking, followed up by a knockout blast of 12" rounds. An engine room hit left her drifting, and the Roma delivered the coup-de-grace for her sister and flagship. Thus, 1/6 of the British Army troops assigned to this invasion found themselves helplessly adrift in a cold winter sea, frighteningly compressed amongst a near 50-ship, point-blank melee. One would assume any survivors would never forgive nor trust their supposed comrades in the Royal Navy ever again.
But the Army's woes were not over for the night, as the the pair of Italian battleships quickly adjusted aim to the other nearby transport. Closing to extreme near range, a succession of 6" and 12" shells rattled and rocked the poor transport, before interestingly, Italia launched a torpedo from around 400 yards. Within a minute, a fire had broken out from yet more shells, and burning equipment was being tossed off the deck, vital weapons and ammunition meant for the invasion. When the rudder jammed and the ship was uncontrollable, the pounding became too much and she quickly began to heel over, spilling yet another 1/6th of the invasion force into the uncaring, cold, night sea.
Fortunately for their comrades though, the other four invasion transports lumbered away in the swirling, black confusion, the Italians otherwise preoccupied with Royal Navy warships to all quarters leaping about trying to get some kind of angle on the attackers. They were not out of the fight yet and in their mind the situation could still be salvaged.
The Empire Strikes Back (Or Tries To Anyhow)
The battleships HMS Resolution and Rodney, the only two remaining British capital ships that hadn't taken at least one torpedo, leapt to the defense of their embattled friends. Their 7" secondaries, a new standard for the Resolution-class larger than older Royal Navy battleships secondary guns, quickly were put to effective use. That annoying little bugger, the protected cruiser Nino Bixio, that had until now been the source of so much trouble for the British, found herself in serious distress for her own part. A pair of 7" shells, one from Resolution and Rodney each, did great damage to her superstructure, and a 6" near-miss from the moving-away-but-not-out-yet Repulse (previously torpedoed amidships by her prey's sister, Brindisi) violently rocked the crew.
It was then that Rodney took out the engine room with a well-placed 7" shot, and the plucky Bixio began to loose steam and thus speed, her true defense as a protected cruiser amongst these far, far larger vessels. The obstinate and obdurate Repulse, perhaps trying to live up to her name despite moving away from the battle (or else just dare we say salty from getting torpedoed earlier), threw out one more salvo of shells, this time from her aft main battery. It was her last act of the battle.
A single 12" round cracked the rudder of the Bixio, severely damaging it, and she spent the next 20-odd minutes locked into a devilish starboard circle as death whirled all around her. Luckily, her crew was able to stop the flooding so at least she was out of immediate danger, assuming no more battleship grade rounds found her in the dark. But help had arrived!
Queue the Jaws Music Please
Seeing the distress of the Bixio, the Italian admiral decided to order all ships that could glimpse the signals to steam in her general direction and render immediate aid, taking the fight to her assailants. Unfortunately, the destroyer Zeffiro (intrepid killer of the Calypso) either missed or simply misunderstood the order, and promptly sped off in a general East-Northeast direction, becoming helplessly lost and missing most (but not all, interestingly) of the rest of the engagement. She only (with absolute, conscious certainty) found and rejoined the fleet early the next morning after daybreak.
For the time being though, the Resolution and Rodney found themselves confronted with Italia and Roma. Without the aid of the Camperdown, whom neither had seen since being torpedoed twice in quick succession during the opening stages of the engagement, and with Repulse sullenly retiring to their general west, the planned capital ship engagement would not end up happening as they had hoped. In theory, Kerr and his staff had imagined that the force would seek an engagement at proper range, by day, and with superior numbers and accuracy on the side of the British. What they got was a bloody knife fight at point-blank range in the pitch black. The tally so far would predict that this type of engagement favored the Italians. Such a prediction would turn out to be accurate.
Rodney couldn't even hit the broad side of a barn, her only landed shots having been earlier on the pair of Italian protected cruisers. Ignoring her and her futile attempts at anything resembling proper night-time gunnery, Italia and Roma focused fire on the elder sister, Resolution. Unfortunately for her, her A Turret had jammed due to mechanical problems, and she was only able to bring one pair of 10" guns to bear to eight of the Italian 12". Still, despite her handicap in weaponry, her smaller 8.5" belt (compared to the Italians 11") held up remarkably well to the 12" fire, blocking several rounds from penetrating and crippling her engineering spaces. All of this served another purpose though - it masked the return of the Marco Polo!
Did Someone In Pool Say Marco...Polo?
Long having been in the now sparsely-populated eastern side of the battlefield, vainly searching for the crippled Camperdown or other stricken vessels, it had only effectively sent a torpedo into the sad, dying form of HMS Cressy. Finding little else trying to escape or reform, the Polo eagerly accepted the flagships orders and charged gloriously back into the teeth of the fight. Having opened the battle itself, and indeed been it's progenitor, first spotting the foe, it longed to be among the last still fighting. With eyes focused on the Italian battleships, Resolution failed to notice in time that there was a particularly ferocious armored cruiser thundering up her wake. Passing close, the Polo put a torpedo into her propeller shafts, critically damaging them and severely affecting her turning capability. This was the beginning of her undoing.
Though Resolution's crew had success in stopping some of the flooding, and her 7" secondaries continued to lash out successfully as they had all engagement, some taking out the Polo's secondaries in turn, she was getting too close to the Italian battleline, small as it was. Boxed in and unable to maneuver well given the rudder damage, she was caught between them and the rapid Polo who had quickly come about for yet another torpedo attack. Hit a second time, now Resolution was really in trouble. Within a couple minutes, the Roma sent a 12" round into her superstructure that hit something flammable and started a large fire. Flooding and burning, Resolution was hamstrung and blinded...to once more, the Polo.
Seeming to have taken a personal vendetta out against this and only this ship in the Royal Navy, the armored cruiser put a third torpedo into her. At this point, unbeknownst to the foe, she was sinking, but true to her name, Resolution had, well, lots of resolution. She didn't want to go down. She put a 7" shell into Polo's extended belt which did absolutely nothing to stop the mad cruiser as she prowled around, thundering away at all and sundry as she was swinging about yet again to come back for another pass. This was not before nearly sinking the hapless destroyer HMS Dee, which had previously been attempting to get close enough to aid Resolution somehow in this face of this ferocious onslaught. Dee took a single 6" round that demolished much of her amidships including the full, secondary 2" battery, and promptly decided discretion was the better part of valor, turning off and leaving Resolution to it's fate.
Just to be entirely, 100% sure however, Polo put another torpedo into Resolution, bringing the total up to four...impressive for a single ship into a single target. Not to be left out, ten minutes later, Italia, seemingly unable to be content to just lob 12" shells at the stubborn British battleship, or perhaps wishing to continue a trend started earlier, sent off a torpedo of her own for the second time in the engagement. With that hit, this proved to be more than any resolve could handle. After taking a total of five torpedoes, numerous main battery shells, and a slew of secondary ones, HMS Resolution finally gave in to the sea.
The Overly Large Woman is Singing Loudly
While this had been occurring, Rodney was successfully slipping away, and the Italian protected cruisers had reentered the fray in earnest, the Nino Bixio getting her damaged rudder patched up. Spotting the still floating HMS Camperdown which had loomed out of somewhere in the midst of the smoky darkness, they promptly closed and threw a torpedo each at her. Brindisi's was a dud, likely giving the crew of the battleship great relief. Unfortunately for them this was spoiled by Bixio's, which functioned perfectly well. The flagship quickly began to sink after this final hit, having been the first battleship to be torpedoed and having hung on until now only due to the low visibility.
With that, the lion's share of the engagement was over. The heart had mostly left the Royal Navy this night. There was some desultory maneuvering of little final consequence as the Italian vessels avoided possible torpedo attacks from the more numerous British destroyers and protected cruisers, but no major hits were taken. One interesting episode of minor note was the aforementioned, lost and wayward Zeffiro, which somehow blundered back into the battlespace, briefly renengaged and traded 2" shell hits with the British destroyer Itchen, and then promptly got lost once more and never made it back to the line before first light.
The British were moving off and regrouping to the north of the battlespace, unbeknownst to the Italians who were gradually moving south towards Cagliari. Approaching the coast and potential landing grounds, a decision had to be made. Though they had lost many men, on paper they could still land enough forces to make this debacle worthwhile. However, seeing the prowess of the Royal Navy completely exposed, the surviving upper echelons of the British Army were rather opposed to being unceremoniously marooned on a hostile shore in the dead of night. By their reasoning, they couldn't now rely on the navy to keep supply lines open to them even if they successfully established a beachhead. After much bickering, finger-pointing, and dire remonstration from several bolder Royal Navy officers, the second-in-command of the force decided it was best to call off the invasion and retire to safer waters post haste.
The Aftermath
All told, the Italians had successfully fended off the invasion and totally foiled the British plans, triumphantly retiring to port by mid-morning on the 9th. They lost no ships on their side, though the Nembo was badly damaged and just barely made it back, puttering along at 3 kt, curiously all that trouble from a single shell. Several other ships had light-to-moderate damage, but all was reparable.
Dawn had brought no relief to the British however, who had suffered much already and were to see more. Besides the two lost battleships Resolution and Camperdown, the armored cruiser Cressy, the protected cruiser Calypso, and 1/3 of the invasion troops, they additionally lost the armored cruiser Andromeda which had been vainly trying to keep up with the retreating fleet and clear the battlespace in good order. She just couldn't fully control the flooding that had started and slowly built up since the very first moments of the engagement. Though her crew were to commended for keeping her going so long, they had to let the ship go and were promptly picked up by the other vessels. The heroic conduct of the Andromeda's men was to be the sole bright spot in this dismal affair, much lauded by the British press. But completely and utterly a failure, the operation had landed not a single troop on enemy shore, and indeed had only gotten them killed at sea.
Thus for a tally of 7-0, the Regia Marina had proved itself to be the real Royal Navy this night. Now, only time would tell what effect this would have on the course of the war, with British certainties of an easy victory gone, and the French plotting in the shadows as always. Maybe now the damned Kaiser would get off his royal rump and do something useful for the alliance....
Edit: Tried different words, and apparently "K-r-a-u-t" is considered a censor-able word. How odd. That is who the French over-confidently drove off. No idea why this forum has a problem with sausage-eating, beer-swilling, German puddenheads (anyone get the reference?).
