Confronting Italy

Book excerpt: The hotly-contested Mediterranean naval battles of 1940 initiated rapid developments that changed the face of naval warfare, yet also had echoes of a previous and less complicated era when gunnery, pure and simple, dominated warfare at sea. The actions were fought when the Royal Navy was still evolving its use of naval air power and when radar at sea was primitive and fitted to only a few ships, while Italy's Regia Marina was handicapped by having access to neither. Confronting Italy contains three previously classified Naval Staff Histories describing major naval surface actions of 1940, supported by a modern introduction setting them in context and also illustrates warships involved, using WW2 US Navy Intelligence Dept documents. Confronting Italy is in a series publishing previously classified documents in a new, accessible format. Plans illustrating the events described have been completely re-drawn to include the composition and movements of the Italian actions off Calabria and Cape Spartivento.