Mediterranean-1943

Mediterranean!

14/03/1943 The Royal Navy Submarine Thetis, now renamed Thunderbolt is sunk by the Italian corvette Cicogna, off Sicily. 10/04/1943 USAAF bombers sink the Italian cruiser Trieste in raid on Sardinia. 16/04/1943 The Royal Navy's Destroyer Pakenham and two Italian destroyers are sunk in naval engagements in Sicilian Channel. 23/05/1943 The British claim that 313 Axis ships have been sunk in the Mediterranean since the battle of El Alamein. 18/08/1943 A U.S. cruiser and destroyer force shells Gioia, Taura and Palmi on the coast of Italy. 09/09/1943 The Italian fleet leaves Spezia in Northern Italy, en route for Malta, where it surrenders to the Royal Navy. 26/11/1943 The HMT Rohna, a British troop transport, is attacked in the eastern Mediterranean by a Luftwaffe plane using a radio-guided bomb, sinking the ship and killing 1,015 American GIs and 135 British and Australian service men. It is the largest loss of U.S. servicemen at sea in the war. The disaster is kept secret, as the Allies did not wish to disclose that the Germans possessed such an intimidating weapon. Consequently, the destruction of the Rohna will remain virtually unknown to the public for many years after the war.