Category: The Battle of Matapan

The author was present at the battle and gives an excellent and clear account of this famous victory.

One of the first in this excellent series, it has full technical details of the British victory.

Matapan, largely from the Italian point of view.

Explores the battles of Taranto and Matapan, as seen through the eyes of the men who manned the ships and flew the aircraft of the Mediterranean Fleet.

A dramatised account of Fleet Air Arm operations in the Mediterranean in 1940 and the spring of 1941.

Battle of Matapan. Supplement to the London Gazette of Tuesday, 29 July 1947, Number 38031, pp.3591–3609.

The despatch of Admiral Cunningham, including a report from the Vice Admiral Light Forces, Pridham-Wippell. Includes a map of the battle area and ten pages of track charts. Reprinted in 2014 in a collection of nine despatches edited by John Grehan as  The War at Sea in the Mediterranean 1940-1944  and published by Pen & Sword Maritime (ISBN: 1783462221).

GOODEY, David & OSBORNE, Richard. Destroyer at War: The Fighting Life and Loss of HMS Havock from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean 1939-1942. Barnsley: Frontline, 2017. ISBN: 1526709007.

An excellent account of the war service of this hard worked destroyer with a dozen battle honours. She saw relentless and unremitting service and action from the Spanish Civil War until her sinking off Tunisia in 1942.

MACE, Martin & GREHAN, John. The War at Sea in the Mediterranean 1940-1944. xvi, 256p., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2014. ISBN: 1783462221.

Reprints nine despatches from the London Gazette with a brief introduction, namely 38273, the Action off Calabria; 38023, the attack on Taranto; 38281, the Battle of Cape Spartivento; 38031, the Battle of Matapan; 38287, action against an Italian convoy in April 1941; 38377, the major Malta convoys of 1941-42; 38073, the Battle of Sirte; 38432, Coastal Force Actions in the Levant in 1942-3; 38426, Actions in the Aegean in late 1943.

CARNE, W.P. The Making of a Royal Naval Officer. 350p., illus., index. London: Uniform, 2021. ISBN: 9781913491598.

The story of a distinguished career, compiled by his grandson, from letters, diaries, memoirs and official documents, many of which are reproduced. Born in 1898, he joined the Navy in 1914 and served for over fifty years. He had an active First World War including the battle of Jutland and rose steadily in rank. By 1940 he was Fleet Torpedo Officer of the Mediterranean Fleet and it is on his service in the Mediterranean that the book largely then focusses. There are full accounts of the Battle of Calabria, the bombardment of Bardia, the battle of Matapan and the attack on Taranto and the capture of Tobruk. In May 1941 he was appointed Captain of the cruiser Coventry. Within ten days he saw dramatic action in the evacuation of Crete, including the rescue of many of the crew from Calcutta. The rest of his career is then briefly summarised. He left Coventry a few months later, served on the Admiralty Delegation in Washington for a year, then in mid-1943 took command of the escort carrier Striker serving in the Arctic then moving on to the Pacific.