The Action off Zuwarah (19/20 January 1943) was a night encounter during the Second World War. The battle took place in Libyan waters between the Royal Navy and the . An Italian flotilla of small minesweepers and auxiliary vessels evacuating Tripoli was destroyed by two British destroyers.

Background On 15 January 1943, the destroyers and , blockading the port of Tripoli in Libya, had forced the torpedo boat to retire damaged and then sunk the D'Annunzio, a merchant ship trying to escape from Tripoli, on 15 January. On the night of 19/20 January, the British destroyers Kelvin and patrolled off Zuwarah, about west of Tripoli, to cut off the escape of the last Italian ships from Tripoli.

Prelude The Type 271 radar on Javelin detected ships heading west towards the Tunisian coast, from the direction of Tripoli. The ships were the Tripoli minesweeping flotilla (Lieutenant Giuseppe Di Bartolo), which had been ordered to leave the city for Tunisia and then to Italy, to avoid capture. The flotilla was made up of four small minesweeping tugs (RD 31, RD 36, RD 37 and RD 39, of which RD 36 and 37 had Italian crews; the naval trawler Scorfano, the largest ship in the convoy, the small tanker Irma; the auxiliary minesweepers DM 12 Guglielmo Marconi (a requisitioned brigantine); R 26 Angelo Musco and R 224 Cinzia (two former fishing vessels); the auxiliary patrol vessel V 66 Astrea (a motor sailing vessel) and the pump boat S. Barbara (towed by Scorfano).

Action

Javelin and Kelvin moved to intercept the Italian ships, fired star shells to illuminate them and then mistook the vessels for an Italian convoy. The Italians were able neither to fight back (the RD minesweepers being armed with a 76 mm gun and two 6.5 mm machine-guns each, while the other ships carried only machine guns) nor to escape, being slower than the destroyers. RD 36, the flotilla leader, tried to cover the retreat of the other ships but was soon sunk with all hands. The other vessels, fleeing towards the coast to allow their crews to escape, were picked off one-by-one. RD 37 and Scorfano were sunk with no survivors; Marconi was set on fire but all of her crew escaped before she sank and Irma was finished off with a torpedo.

Aftermath Analysis

By the morning of 20 January, the flotilla had been annihilated. Kelvin had expended 300 rounds of 4.7-inch ammunition and Javelin 500 rounds. Javelin and Kelvin quickly headed for Malta, where they arrived safely the next day. RD 36 and its crew were awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour for the action against overwhelming odds.

Casualties The Italians suffered casualties and the survivors either swam ashore or were picked up by Italian vessels the next day.

Orders of battle British destroyers +British anti-shipping patrolNameFlagType NotesK-class destroyerFired 300 4.7-inch shells, returned to MaltaFired 500 4.7-inch shells, returned to Malta

Italian convoy +Italian evacuation convoyNameFlagType NotesRD 31, sunkRD 36 flag Giuseppe Di Bartolo, sunkRD 37, sunkRD 39, sunkScorfanoNaval trawlerTowed Santa Barbara, sunkR 224 CinziaAuxiliary minesweeper71 GRT, sunkDM 12 Guglielmo MarconiAuxiliary minesweeperBrigantine, 304 GRT, sunkR 26 Angelo MuscoAuxiliary minesweeper69 GRT, sunkIrma Merchant Navy Tanker305 GRT, sunkV 66 Astrea Merchant NavyTanker136 GRT, sunkSanta Barbara Merchant NavyBargeTowed by Scorfano, sunk

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