Talk:Battle of the Tarigo Convoy

Frank Joseph

Joseph is a pen name of Frank Collin, a neo-Nazi author of pseudoscience. For more information, see Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard#Are_books_by_an_ex-Nazi_writer_of_fringe_books_on_Atlantis.2C_etc_RS_for_military_history.3F. Parsecboy (talk) 17:39, 14 November 2017 (UTC)

CE

Tidied prose, scanned for dupe wl, auto-edded and added further reading, more to come. Keith-264 (talk) 12:57, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

@ActivelyDisinterested: Thanks for that, serves me right for rushing before work. Regards Keith-264 (talk) 22:45, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

The text is OK enough for a B now but I need to add material from Bragadin et al. to reduce the Anglo-centric bias somewhat. Keith-264 (talk) 12:00, 14 January 2024 (UTC)

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SINKING OF THE DESTROYER HMS “MOHAWK” IN THE ATTACK ON THE “TARIGO” CONVOY ON 16 APRIL 1941 Detached to Malta, the Mohawk was part, with three other destroyers of the 14th Flotilla (“Jervis”, “Janus”, “Nubian”) of a strike force, which on 11 April 1941, coming from Suda Bay, had arrived in the port of Valletta, by order of the British Mediterranean Fleet Command. The purpose of the transfer was to form in Malta, for the first time since the beginning of the war with Italy, a strike force of surface ships intended to threaten the Libyan routes of the Axis. After two nights of patrolling, without sighting two convoys in the Strait of Sicily, the four destroyers, led by Captain Philip John Mack on the "Jervis", set sail again at 1800 hours on 15 April 1941 to intercept, proceeding at a speed of 26 knots, an Italian convoy headed for Tripoli, which had been reported that same afternoon by a Maryland reconnaissance aircraft of the 68th Squadron of the RAF based in Malta. The convoy, consisting of the German steamers "Adana", "Aegina", "Arta", "Iserlohn", the Italian steamer "Sabaudia", and escorted by the Italian destroyers "Luca Tarigo", "Baleno" and "Lampo", was intercepted in the early hours of the 16th near Sfax and attacked at 0210 and was completely destroyed. At 02.38, after having helped set fire to one of the convoy's units and while it was maneuvering to attack a merchant ship that was attempting to ram it, the German steamer "Arta", the "Mohawk" (frigate captain John William Musgrave Eaton) was hit on the starboard side, at the height of the forward Y tower, by a torpedo launched by the Italian destroyer "Tarigo" (frigate captain Pietro De Cristofaro), which was then also sunk. As a result, the Y tower, due to the explosion of its ammunition magazine, was completely destroyed, and all the tower personnel and those assigned to its ammunition supply were killed. Although forced to stop, with part of the stern removed up to the X tower, the "Mohawk", using the two forward A and B towers, nevertheless opened fire on the merchant ship chosen as a target, again the "Arta", and hit it with some incendiary shells, causing it to explode. Immediately afterwards, at 02.32, the destroyer, which continued to fire on the enemy ships in the vicinity, was hit again on the port side, at the height of the bridge and between boiler rooms 2 and 3, by a second torpedo, this time launched by the destroyer “Lampo” (Corvette Captain Enrico Marano), together with a second torpedo, while a third torpedo had not been fired due to the failure of the launching charge to ignite. Previously, the same “Lampo”, although seriously damaged at the stern by fire from the destroyer “JERVIS” (Captain Philip John Mack), had launched a salvo of three torpedoes against the HMS “Nubian” (Frigate Captain Richard William Rovenhill), but had not hit it. After the successful attack by the “Lampo”, the “Mohawk”, as reported by Commander Marano in his report, had ceased fire on his ship. In fact, it had remained completely immobilized and listed on its side. Captain Philip John Mack, commander of the “Jervis”, ordered the “Janus” (Captain John Anthony William Tothill) to finish off the “Mohawk”. Only four 120 mm shells from the forward B tower were enough to give the destroyer the final blow. The “Mohawk” sank rapidly by the side, in lat. 34°56’N, long. 11°42’E, in a point where the seabed was about 13 meters deep, and remained half submerged with about 15 meters of forecastle above the water. Most of the crew managed to save themselves on six “Carley” boats, or by jumping into the sea. The men of the “Mohawk” were recovered by the “Nubian” and the “Jervis” were 169, while the dead were 39, including only one officer. This short story is brought to the attention of WIKIPEDIA readers, while waiting for the completion of my book on the destruction of the “Tarigo” convoy, which will be printed as soon as possible by the publisher Luca Cristini. The attack maneuver of the “Lampo” (which led to the sinking of the already seriously damaged “Mohawk” hit by a torpedo from the “Luca Tarigo”) and in particular the behavior of its commander, Lieutenant Commander Enrico Marano, will be described, as is my habit, in an exhaustive manner. It should be a duty to assign to Commander Marano for his enterprise an appropriate decoration in memory, delivering it to his closest relatives.

Francesco Mattesini ROME,

January 18, 2025 93.38.68.105 (talk) 09:42, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for letting us know. Regards Keith-264 (talk) 10:12, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

Ship template

@RHodnett: Thanks for the revision of the templates, I did this article before I worked out how to do the ship template. Regards Keith-264 (talk) 08:10, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

Regards

FRANCESCO 93.38.68.105 (talk) 16:40, 18 January 2025 (UTC)