Operation Grog

Operation Grog was the name assigned to the British naval and air bombardment of Genoa and La Spezia on 9 February 1941, by the Royal Navy's Force H, consisting of the battleship HMS Malaya, aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, battlecruiser HMS Renown, and light cruiser HMS Sheffield screened by ten fleet destroyers including HMS Fearless, HMS Foxhound, HMS Foresight, HMS Fury, HMS Firedrake and HMS Jersey.^[3][4]

Operation Grog
Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of World War II
Armour-piercing shell fired by HMS Malaya, in the nave of Genoa Cathedral
Date February 9, 1941 Location Genoa, Italy Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Italy
Commanders and leaders
James Somerville	Ferdinando Casardi
Strength
Royal Navy Force H 1 Aircraft carrier 1 Battleship 1 Battlecruiser 1 Light cruiser 4 destroyers	Anti-aircraft and coastal artillery
Casualties and losses
1 Swordfish aircraft	5 cargo ships sunk 18 damaged (British sources) 1 training ship sunk 2 ships damaged (Italian sources) 14 lighters sunk[1] 144 killed and 242 wounded Severe damage to port[2]

Events

The operation was originally scheduled to start on 31 January 1941, but the ships did not leave Gibraltar until 6 February.

Four destroyers carried out an anti-submarine sweep while the heavy ships carried out a feint to deceive Italian and German observers into thinking they were supporting a convoy.^[5]

Genoa harbour was bombarded on 9 February 1941, with the force sinking four cargo ships and damaging 18.^[5] A majority of Italian sources only reported heavy damage to the merchant ships Salpi and Garibaldi and the sinking of the old civilian training ship Garaventa.^[6][7] Author Ermingo Bagnasco also reports the loss of 14 lighters and the motorsailer Antonietta Madre.^[1] According to the official files of the Italian Navy (Marina Militare), the Antonietta Madre was sunk during the Allied aerial bombing of Genoa on 23 October 1942.^[8]

A salvo from HMS Malaya landed between 50 and 200 yards (46 and 183 m) short of the Italian battleship Duilio, undergoing repairs in dry dock north of Molo Giano (Giano Pier); no damage was reported on Duilio.^[2] A targeting error by a gunnery officer on board HMS Malaya some 13 nautical miles (24 km; 15 mi) offshore caused an armour-piercing round to hit Genoa Cathedral; the shell failed to explode and remains on display there.^[9] There were 144 civilian dead and 272 wounded at Genoa as result of the shelling.^[2]

Ark Royal's aircraft attacked Livorno and mined La Spezia.^[5]

An attempt by the Italian fleet to intercept the British force failed, and all ships returned to Gibraltar on 11 February 1941.^[5]

References

1. Bagnasco, Ermingo (2011). The Littorio Class: Italy's Last and Largest Battleships. Seaforth Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-84832-105-2.
2. Titterton, G. A (2002). Brown, David (ed.). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: November 1940-December 1941 Volume 2 Naval Staff Histories Series. Psychology Press. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-0-7146-5205-4.
3. Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason RN (Rtd). "SERVICE HISTORIES of ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS in WORLD WAR 2:HMS RENOWN - Renown-class 15in gun Battlecruiser". Naval-History.Net. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
4. Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason RN (Rtd). "SERVICE HISTORIES of ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS in WORLD WAR 2:HMS Fearless(H67)". Naval-History.Net. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
5. "UK Battleship of WW1 and WW2:HMS Malaya (BB-6)". Retrieved 10 July 2010.
6. "L'operazione "Grog"". www.scmncamogli.org (in Italian). Retrieved 5 July 2019.
7. Artieri, Giovanni (1978). Cronaca del Regno d'Italia: Dalla Vittoria alla Repubblica (in Italian). Mondadori. p. 646.
8. Marina Militare, Stato Maggiore (1952). La Marina italiana nella seconda guerra mondiale, Volume 3 (in Italian). Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare. p. 101.
9. "Obituary:Commander Henry Hatfield". Daily Telegraph. 4 July 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010.

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