Special 1: HMS Warspite
History of the Second World War
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The Battle of Crete
The Italians under German pressure moved naval assets to try and interdict the flow of supplies. They would sort out their new battleship Vittorio Venito, eight cruisers and a dozen destroyers to a position south of Crete in late March. Cunningham and the British fleet knew about this sortie thanks to signals intelligence from London and so they moved to intercept. A total of 3,000 Italians would be lost during the action with only two British airmen killed. The next task was to try and assist in the North African campaign by attacking the port of Tripoli.
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