Italian forces and infrastructure in the Red Sea in 1940: What were the capabilities and plans of those forces? – A Patreon Premier as Suggested by Danny Wright
00:00 What was the Italian Red Sea Squadron(Reiga Marina Italiana Flottiglia del mar rosso) to do in 1940?
12:00 Part 2
24:00 Part 3
36:00 Part 4
48:00 Part 5
01:00:00 Finale
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Let's go
This nice
Who else walked once through Masawa Harbour?
BZ
OBS worked well, very good sound, slight video lag in lest 5 minutes but no sound drop out. 😃
Sound and vision A-OK
BZ
BZ.
To join in 1940 before France was shut down would have been scary that would be my main worry.
I don't have enough tankers to support Red Sea operations if Britain controls Suez.
I might be able to hold Tobruk and advance through Cyrenaica with the intention of sinking the shipping Britain would send in support. Dash out, hit the convoy, dash back. It's a long way round the Cape and aim to block the Canal to cut off India.
Sweden called the two smaller Italian destroyers it bought Coastal Destroyers.
Loving the steady stream of these.
the East Africa position is entirely dependent on who holds Suez. If the British hold it the choke everything to the east, if the Italian army can take it then they can resupply the eastern position.
Did the Moonstone crew ever receive their prize money ?
Withdraw, but then Hindsight is 20-10(Not a typo), and doing so would have tiped off Frankly Everyone that something was up so Ironically the best move may have been to stay in place, the only way they could hold on was for the italians to take the Suez, but that was problematic as the forces in Libia seem to have had the same Issues of not having any depth of supply.
I'm going to say Italy needed to reinforce the squadron. Their only win condition is to isolate Egypt and take the Suez. Then go "Can has separate peace?" because Hitler's not getting across the Alps while fighting Stalin if the Italian army knows they're supposed to be stabbing him in the back before the German army does. Might actually walk away from the peace conference with something to show for it if they time the backstab well and Hitler reacts in a late stage Hitlerean fashion. But that's only possible if they're sitting on something the Allies need when they flip and the Suez is the only thing in range.
@Dr Alexander Clarke, a question for you. Could you please compare and contrast strengths and weaknesses of the Royal Navy in 2023 and the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force in 2023?
the fact that the poodle "guard dog" mission consist of warning the owner so the owner may protect the poodle, does not disqualify poodle as a guard god 😎
The tension waiting for the moment the FRA’s nose mark is made on the camera is drama in the highest tradition of the art form.
Interesting video.
In the Italian navies boots, knowing that war is coming, I'd send light reinforcement to the red sea fleet, rush conversion repair ship, make sure the supply ships are home or stocked. And wait to see who holds the Suez Canal and make sure to have enough fuel to run for the Japanese controlled areas around the Dutch East Indies if the situation becomes unsustainable.
8:55 – it's not evil at all – it probably saved a lot of lives on both sides.
@44:50 – exactly how many 15 inch twin or two gun turrets are still sitting around in Royal Navy warehouses to this day?
I would not be surprised if there were still whole squadrons of pre-dreadnoughts and 1910 Town class cruisers tucked away where no one remembered they'd sent them…
@50:22 I am reminded of a scene once observed of a cat that had managed to steal a whole turkey's worth of stuffing and was then trying to make off with its own body weight in pork except in this instance it might perhaps be your little Zebedee trying to drag something Drach's Fluff-a-tron 4000 has taken down…
Very cool to see my suggestion turned into a video. I think I first read about the Red Sea Squadron many years ago in one of S.E. Morison's volumes of History of US operations in WW2. Some related material include the utube video "Eritreas Last Stand". One look at that terrain around Massawa and you can see why the Italians needed three water tankers. Commander Edward Ellsberg wrote "Under the Red Sea Sun" covering his work in 1942 in Massawa. He got the naval base there running again, salvaged both floating drydocks, a floating crane, and a number of merchant ships. Warships 2010 has an article on Admiralty Floating Drydocks. AFD 29 had a capacity of tons and a length of 531 ft. AFD 30 had a capacity of 2500 tons and a length of 346 feet. AFD 29 was sold in 1947, and AFD served at Aden from 1946 to the 1960s. I have heard the Italians intended to station the four oldest 6" cruisers at Massawa eventually. The size of AFD 29 would suggest they could have serviced these cruisers there.
How many aircraft did the Italians have in Ethiopia? What types?
Could the Italians at Massawa have converted some of the German and Italian merchant ships at Massawa to auxilary cruisers, submarine supply ships, disguised mine-layers, etc.
The Red Sea squadron was short on supplies, but I do wonder if some of these things could have been done.