Post by nagato01 on Jun 2, 2017 10:57:18 GMT
So I was thinking about another what if lately, this time, what if the Italian Navy was successful in its efforts to remove the British from the Mediterranean? We will be doing this scenario based off the Battle of Calabria, in which HMS Warspite made her famous "long shot 6" hit on the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare. The numbers for the battle will remain the same, no adding ships hypothetically like Vittorio Veneto. Below are the ships involved:
British:
1 Aircraft Carrier - HMS Eagle
3 Battleships - HMS Warspite, HMS Malaya, HMS Royal Sovereign,
5 Light Cruisers
16 Destroyers
Italian:
2 Battleships - Giulio Cesare, Conte Di Cavour
6 Heavy Cruisers
8 Light Cruisers
16 destroyers
Immediately I find it funny that both fleets deploy the same number of destroyers in this battle.
One of the first key "differences" that would be difficult for the Italians to overcome is having a total of 20 12.6 inch guns to the British 24 15 inch guns. The British by far and away outmatch the Italians in both guns and armor, the one advantage possessed by the Italian battleships in a speed advantage of 27 knots to the British battleship's max speed of 24 knots, which only 1/3's of the force can make, with Royal Sovereign and Warspite be restricted to 23 knots. In real life, this actually helped the Italian force disengage, but it is interesting to wonder if the Cavour class battleships might have suffered the same fate as some of the British battle cruisers at Jutland and HMS Hood in the second world war. In short, the Italians battleships would be hard pressed to sink these battleships without assistance.
The real advantage for the Italians becomes apparent when cruiser numbers are discussed. The Italians have an advantage in both heavy and light cruisers, having 3 more light cruisers than the British and bringing 6 more heavy cruisers to the British 0. This is going to help the Italians a lot later on, as I will explain. In the light cruiser department, traditionally the Italians built faster, more armored, and a bit more heavily armed light cruisers than most other WWII power, giving their cruisers a cutting edge advantage. But I believe the Italians should be using their light cruisers not against the enemy light cruisers but against enemy destroyers. The heavy cruisers are more than capable of dealing with the British light cruisers, and they have a slight numbers advantage.
As I mentioned before both sides had the same number of destroyers, however the goal of the Italians should be to get their destroyers to the slow British battleships and torpedo them, sinking the capital ships is at the end of the day what will win the Italians the battle. The equal number of British destroyers makes this challenging, but if the Italians engage the British destroyers with their light cruisers, at least some of the Italian destroyers may be able to make it through with the rest of the British force distracted.
If the Italian torpedo attack is successful and say the Royal Sovereign sinks, the British might then begin to panic and order a retreat. And if this occurred the Italians in my mind would definitely win the day. Their ships are MUCH faster than the British and they could keep pace with them. The British may order their light cruisers and destroyers to focus on the Italian destroyers after such a victory of sinking Royal Sovereign, but this only removes the light and heavy cruisers from fire and allows them to pick off whatever they want.
The two biggest wildcards here are, "Can the Italian battleships buy enough time to get their destroyers in?" and "What role does Eagle play in this battle?"
HMS Eagle went unmentioned up till this point as I considered her a very big wildcard. At the time she was carrying 25-30 aircraft, not a very big strike package. The wildcard is if one of her swordfish could score torpedo hits on the Italian battleships. If they score these hits it could possibly result in the sinking of an Italian battleship and a subsequent Italian retreat. However I believe that the swordfish would not cause these results.
With the loss of two or three battleships, the British would be forced to send more battleships to the Mediterranean to support their fleet, withdrawing ships from covering convoys and German raiders. In short, the Italians would have to win another battle like this to whittle down the British battleship numbers to the point where the British would feel they had no choice but to abandon the Mediterranean.
But let me know your thoughts, what do you think would happen if the Italian fleet won this battle?
British:
1 Aircraft Carrier - HMS Eagle
3 Battleships - HMS Warspite, HMS Malaya, HMS Royal Sovereign,
5 Light Cruisers
16 Destroyers
Italian:
2 Battleships - Giulio Cesare, Conte Di Cavour
6 Heavy Cruisers
8 Light Cruisers
16 destroyers
Immediately I find it funny that both fleets deploy the same number of destroyers in this battle.
One of the first key "differences" that would be difficult for the Italians to overcome is having a total of 20 12.6 inch guns to the British 24 15 inch guns. The British by far and away outmatch the Italians in both guns and armor, the one advantage possessed by the Italian battleships in a speed advantage of 27 knots to the British battleship's max speed of 24 knots, which only 1/3's of the force can make, with Royal Sovereign and Warspite be restricted to 23 knots. In real life, this actually helped the Italian force disengage, but it is interesting to wonder if the Cavour class battleships might have suffered the same fate as some of the British battle cruisers at Jutland and HMS Hood in the second world war. In short, the Italians battleships would be hard pressed to sink these battleships without assistance.
The real advantage for the Italians becomes apparent when cruiser numbers are discussed. The Italians have an advantage in both heavy and light cruisers, having 3 more light cruisers than the British and bringing 6 more heavy cruisers to the British 0. This is going to help the Italians a lot later on, as I will explain. In the light cruiser department, traditionally the Italians built faster, more armored, and a bit more heavily armed light cruisers than most other WWII power, giving their cruisers a cutting edge advantage. But I believe the Italians should be using their light cruisers not against the enemy light cruisers but against enemy destroyers. The heavy cruisers are more than capable of dealing with the British light cruisers, and they have a slight numbers advantage.
As I mentioned before both sides had the same number of destroyers, however the goal of the Italians should be to get their destroyers to the slow British battleships and torpedo them, sinking the capital ships is at the end of the day what will win the Italians the battle. The equal number of British destroyers makes this challenging, but if the Italians engage the British destroyers with their light cruisers, at least some of the Italian destroyers may be able to make it through with the rest of the British force distracted.
If the Italian torpedo attack is successful and say the Royal Sovereign sinks, the British might then begin to panic and order a retreat. And if this occurred the Italians in my mind would definitely win the day. Their ships are MUCH faster than the British and they could keep pace with them. The British may order their light cruisers and destroyers to focus on the Italian destroyers after such a victory of sinking Royal Sovereign, but this only removes the light and heavy cruisers from fire and allows them to pick off whatever they want.
The two biggest wildcards here are, "Can the Italian battleships buy enough time to get their destroyers in?" and "What role does Eagle play in this battle?"
HMS Eagle went unmentioned up till this point as I considered her a very big wildcard. At the time she was carrying 25-30 aircraft, not a very big strike package. The wildcard is if one of her swordfish could score torpedo hits on the Italian battleships. If they score these hits it could possibly result in the sinking of an Italian battleship and a subsequent Italian retreat. However I believe that the swordfish would not cause these results.
With the loss of two or three battleships, the British would be forced to send more battleships to the Mediterranean to support their fleet, withdrawing ships from covering convoys and German raiders. In short, the Italians would have to win another battle like this to whittle down the British battleship numbers to the point where the British would feel they had no choice but to abandon the Mediterranean.
But let me know your thoughts, what do you think would happen if the Italian fleet won this battle?