Mattesini, Francesco Punta Stilo

La prima battaglia aeronavale della storia. 9 luglio 1940

The Battle of Punta Stilo on July 9, 1940, between the Italian and British Mediterranean Fleets, represented not only the first naval engagement between the two navies, which had never faced each other before, but also the first naval air battle in history. Never before had two fleets, including battleships, come to blows with such a massive air force intervention as that which occurred at Punta Stilo. It all began with the Italians' need to escort a large supply convoy to Libya, and the British need to take over the escort of two convoys departing from Malta and bound for Alexandria, Egypt. The Italian fleet, having escorted the convoy north of Benghazi, upon returning to base was ordered to concentrate off the eastern coast of Calabria, because Rome believed, based on decrypted enemy intercepts, including from German sources, that the enemy would attack naval bases in Sicily with torpedo bombers. The plan was to lure the British fleet into a trap with massive air strikes from Sicily and Apulia, and a barrage of submarines. The goal, according to the "Fleet in being" tactic, was to try to weaken the enemy battleships, and then, if necessary, attack the rest of the opposing fleet under favorable conditions. But the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Andrew Browne Cunningham, passing unnoticed in a part of the Ionian Sea where Italian air reconnaissance was absent, fully focused on searching for the enemy towards Sicily, unexpectedly arrived behind the Italian ships, winning, in a brief firefight, an undeniable victory. In fact, by hitting the battleship Giulio Cesare, and then also the cruiser Bolzano and the destroyer Alfieri, without having received any hits on his own ships, Cunningham forced the commander of the Italian fleet, Admiral Inigo Campioni, to withdraw from a battle that was no longer convenient for him and to retreat towards the Strait of Messina.