Action 20-21 July 1943

[geosub1978]

Hello,

According to history in the night between 20 -21 July 1943, the destroyers HMS Quantock and HHMS Adrias repulsed three torpedo boats somewhere near Augusta (Murro di Porco) Sicily, sinking two of them and sustaining much splinter damage both destroyers.

I wonder if there is anything more than that somewhere.

[Urs Heßling]

moin,

According to history in the night between 20 -21 July 1943,

nach KTB der 3. S-Fltl fand der Zusammenstoß in der vorhergehenden Nacht (19./20.7.) statt.
Zitat Lebenslauf S 61 :
19.07.1943 - 20.07.1943   
Verlegen (S 30, S 33, S 54, S 61 (3.)) und S 152, S 155 (7. S-Fltl)) von Salerno durch die Messinastraße nach Crotone, dabei Angriff auf Feindverband, Boot meldet Versenkung eines G/H-Klasse-Zerstörers
Was als Detail nicht im Lebenslauf steht: Angriff vor Murro di Porco

Also haben beide Seiten die Erfolge grob überschätzt 

Gruß, Urs

[Platon Alexiades]

Hello Urs and GeoSub,

I think the action was with Italian boats. From my notes on the Sicilian Campaign:

21st July 1943:

0140 hours – four Ms boats had sailed from Messina at 1930 hours the previous evening (Ms 21, Ms 51, Ms 53 and Ms 66) to raid the Augusta approaches. They now encountered two destroyers. Two of the Ms boats fired one torpedo each. They missed. A destroyer was hit by machine gun fire and the four boats returned undamaged, but they had two killed and two seriously wounded. The two destroyers were the Hellenic Adrias (Senior Officer) and HMS Quantock who replied with their pom-pom and oerlikons but had difficulty in training their 4-inch guns on the fast Italian boats. Adrias had one killed and sixteen wounded, Quantock had two killed and three wounded. Both destroyers suffered only superficial damage.

Best regards,

Platon

[Urs Heßling]

hi, Platon,


Gruß, Urs

[geosub1978]

I have an update after this. These were the 5th flottila and their commander Lr.Cdr Curzio Castagnacci was killed during the action.

[Platon Alexiades]

Hi Geosub1978,

C.C. Curzio Castagnacci was mortally wounded on Ms 66 and awarded the Medaglia d'Oro. Thank you for pointing it out.

Best regards,

Platon

[geosub1978]

Hello Platon!

The next morning the crews collected 20mm splinters so they regarded the attackers being german E-boats (MAS used to carry only machine guns) when actually they were the brand new MS torpedo boats equipped with 20mm guns. This is how the misunderstanding happened.