In late March 1941, in the waters of the Mediterranean off the southern coast of Greece, the ships of the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet and the Italian Regia Marina clashed in what would go down as one of the most decisive naval engagements of the Second World War and the most decisive of the war in the Mediterranean. Having intercepted and broken the Italian naval cipher, British forces put to sea to intercept and ambush the Regia Marina. By the time the battle was over, 2,300 men had been killed and over 1,000 more taken prisoner. The engagement removed an entire Italian cruiser division from the Regia Marina's order of battle. _The Battle of Cape Matapan: The Decisive Engagement of the Mediterranean, March 1941_ tells the gripping story of how the Royal Navy under Admiral Andrew Cunningham outmanoeuvred and outfought Mussolini’s Regia Marina through superior seamanship, intelligence and the revolutionary use of radar. What follows is a meticulous analysis of the battle that changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean, marking the beginning of the end of Italy’s naval power.
