Ships were lost during these dark voyages, and said to have had no lights to guide their way, even though they still had all their other, more conventional navigational aids, such as the compass. Dracontides was therefore ordered to take steps to prevent any further loss of this crucial navigation aid. The navy had decided to take over navigational training, and to train seamen to use a sextant to check their ship's position when crossing their own horizon. The sextant and associated chronometer were to be maintained with absolute precision, as the ability of a ship to navigate itself was more important than the lives of those aboard. There would be no let-up in the search for the enemy, who were believed to be closing in on Malta, and a close blockade was to be kept up until an Italian surrender was signed. It was also understood that from now on, only British officers, including naval officers, could be in command of any British warship. British officers took over vessels of the Italian navy, of course. All foreigner officers on board would be sent ashore, and any Italian who remained on board his own ship would have to be kept under guard and strictly watched. The British blockade was effective, too. Many of the Italian ships were forced into harbours in Egypt, and the few that tried to sail into the open sea were sent on to Alexandria or on to Suda Bay for internment. In October, British warships started to patrol the east coast of Sicily and north of Malta, to try and keep an eye on the whole area, and to prevent Axis soldiers, supplies and materiel from being smuggled in overland. The first convoy to carry supplies from Sicily to Benghazi sank in heavy seas in the night of 5/6 November. This convoy consisted of four merchantmen and two tugs, escorted by two sloops. The ships included one tanker, the _Barbara_ , carrying gasoline, paraffin, heavy oils, and aviation fuel for the Italian air force; three cargo vessels, two of them chartered by the Italian navy, the _Pennetta_ and the _Andrea Doria_ ; the _Capo di Monte_ , a passenger liner chartered by the Italian Red Cross, which carried the ambulances from the Red Cross branch at Palermo; the _S.S. Orione_ , another passenger vessel chartered by the Italian Red Cross; the _Orione_ ; the _Barbarigo_ , a freighter carrying flour, corn, petroleum, steel, iron and coal; the _Eletta_ ; the _Mario_ , a freighter chartered by the Italian Red Cross; and the _Danaë_ , a steam trawler. Four men died when the _Capo di Monte_ was torpedoed; the master of the _Andrea Doria_ survived and reached safety; the ship's doctor and nurse were among those lost. After this convoy, a group of Italian trawlers that attempted to attack a British corvette were driven off. On 13 November a group of Italian submarines, including the _Pipa_ , the _Pipa Maru_ and the _Guglielmo Maru_ , sank the destroyers _Lance_ and _Pine_ , the gunboat _Widgeon_ , and the minesweeper _M.24_ , off the port of Valletta in Malta. It was also in this period that the Italian submarine _Sciré_ , returning from a mission in the Adriatic, was sunk off the coast of Malta. She was carrying documents relating to the surrender of Italian forces in Greece, and also a number of British prisoners of war, but they all died with her. A few days later, a British torpedo boat escorted by a submarine rammed and sank the Italian submarine _Toreto_. The submarine had been attacking destroyers off Malta's north coast when the submarine rammed and sank her. By the end of the year, only one Italian ship had sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar. #### CHAPTER 8 ## WINTER OF DEFEAT _If you want peace, prepare for war. _ —SOPHOLUS, _King Lear_ It was a long, arduous fight. The winter of 1942/43 was harsh on the Italian troops in Africa. In addition to the fighting, to which they were used to as being a daily occurrence, for more than two months they also had to endure the bitter cold of the North African winter. While the temperature in Rome averaged about 50 degrees centigrade during the day, with a light breeze, and could rise as high as about 65 degrees during the day, in the desert the weather was colder, with icy winds from the North. In the North African desert there was the usual shortage of water, and often only half-a-litre of water could be rationed to a man per day, for those fighting conditions were just as fierce, even though they had the benefit of desert heat. On 23 November in North Africa, the British submarine _Trident_ sank the Italian cargo ship _Tirso_ , which had been carrying ammunition, gasoline and water for the British in Libya. The British were also successful in sinking an Italian transport ship carrying foodstuffs, fuel and ammunition, and two Italian destroyers. Also sunk by British submarine were three Italian auxiliary vessels. The German submarine _U.331_ sank the Italian light cruiser _Bolzano_ , part of the battle group of four ships that had set sail for Leros, one of the islands of the Aegean, on 16 September. The Italian destroyers _Folgore_ and _Fuciliere_ were set on fire by two shells, and the Italian submarine _Leonardo da Vinci_ was also damaged by gunfire and torpedoes from British ships on 22 November. After sinking the destroyer _Iride_ , a British sub was depth charged and sunk by a German torpedo boat. The _Iride_ was then attacked by two Italian fighter planes, which shot down one and damaged the other. In December, the Germans sank the Italian light cruiser _Fiume_ , and the British sank the Italian destroyer _Vimiera_ and captured the other Italian destroyer, the _Difesa_ , which was found and sunk at Massawa. The British also sank two Italian supply ships in January, and damaged another, which was later sunk. On 6 December 1942, the German submarine _U.203_ torpedoed the British escort destroyer _B.33_. One of the torpedoed destroyers sank in shallow waters and had to be beached. The other was a German ship, but the remaining three were British. The men tried to re-embark, but during the night of 20 December, the sea broke through the hull. All the ship's officers and enlisted men were lost, and their bodies, the majority of which are now buried in Alexandria, Egypt, are in the churchyard of St Paul's, the cathedral of Alexandria. The battles in the Atlantic and Mediterranean did not stop the fighting elsewhere. The war was moving out from the Mediterranean and on to Africa. With the spring, there were even fewer ships available for operation in the area, and as a result, the naval war at sea was conducted with great caution. This was a period of waiting, with the hopes of the German submariners lying in their lairs around Africa and the Mediterranean, and of the British waiting for the time when their own submarines could strike back. The Italians had lost most of their major warships, but they still had their torpedo-boats and some of their submarines. _The_ Pipa Maru. _Italian submarine sunk in the Mediterranean_. Photo: Nautica Città di Venezia, via Wikimedia Commons The Italians decided to sail to Malta from Sicily. Mussolini decided to send the four _Roma_ Class cruisers, which were being refitted after the recent battle in the Battle of Cape Passero, along with the _Trento_ , the _Trieste_ and the _Fiume_ , which were the fastest of the Italian warships. The three older cruisers had been assigned to transport duties in the Mediterranean. On 4 April, the _Fiume_ took part in a battle with two British destroyers off the coast of Sardinia. It was a fairly inconclusive engagement, and she was not damaged. This was the first phase of the Battle of Cape Passero, in which a large British task force had been assembled. The task force consisted of three battleships, one aircraft carrier, four cruisers, nine destroyers, four sloops, two corvettes and two submarines. The force sailed in the night of 11/12 April and sailed along the Italian coast, where they had to deal with a number of enemy air raids. A German patrol aircraft was sent to observe the fleet, and later, a group of Italian scouts came in to the area. At about noon the following day, two aircraft carriers launched a number of aircraft to carry out an air raid on the Italian naval base at Taranto, which resulted in a number of Italian planes being damaged. The Italian fleet was now at a disadvantage. Its radar system was inadequate, and only five British radar-equipped aircraft were equipped to detect incoming aircraft.