Captain Enrico Baroni, commander of the Espero, the pride of the Regia Marina, was bound for North Africa. With a top speed of 36 knots, this was one of the fastest ships in the Mediterranean and carried crucial supplies as the Italians faced a possible British invasion.
Espero’s first wartime mission was cut short by an ambush. Fast, powerful, and highly maneuverable, Captain Baroni’s vessel was well-equipped to fend off the attack and escape with the other two accompanying destroyers.
But something went wrong, and to the shock of the Italian sailors, the ship was not moving fast enough. Espero was falling behind, and the British ships were quickly gaining on her.
Staring down the barrel of a disaster, Baroni made a heart-wrenching decision. He pivoted Espero directly into the path of the oncoming British fleet. To get to the other destroyers, they would have to go through her…
40 Comments
Almost sacrilege to sink such an impressive ship.
Well, heck!
Mussolini was called DUCE —
it's pronounced DO – CHE
I'd say that we normally don't think of the Italian Navy very much. I hadn't heard anything about it until coming to this channel and others like it.
They actually had some very impressive things going, rivaling Great Britain, Germany, Japan, and the United States at the time.
Funny that there's no record at all of the Italian Navy's conduct during the later years of WWII, to my knowledge. I'll have to look it up. Perhaps the subject was simply overshadowed by other developments.
Thanks for a very interesting video.
Mussolini was no more nicknamed “The Duke” than the British battleship renowned for leading the second British assault on the fleet of German destroyers at Narvik was named “WarSPIT.” Just as the battleship’s proper name was “HMS WarSpIte,” so was Mussolini nicknamed NOT “the Duke” in Italian, but “Il Duce,” which means “the LEADER,” most DEFINITELY NOT “the duke.”
If your scriptwriters don’t get such BASIC, WELL-KNOWN FACTS OF THE PERIOD IN HISTORY IT PURPORTS TO BE COVERING *RIGHT,* HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU EXPECT YOUR QUITE KNOWLEDGEABLE AUDIENCE TO TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY?
"flashed their screen" ? 😂
Has the wreck of the Esparo been found ?
Courage has but one country ……. The heart .
Fun fact. "Espero" means hope.
Meters = 👎
😮
Como se dice, Cojonudo in It'ly ?
Epic and :3
36 knots!?!? That's hauling ass!!
The italian navy had some really beautiful ships .
Germany could of done without Italy as one of their allies. There screw up delayed Operation Barbarossa by 38 days. 200 thousand Italian soldiers were easily defeated by 40 thousand and Hitler had to divert forces to fix the debacle by the Italians. That 38 day delay proved costly. Wouldn't of changed the eventual outcome though. Just would of taken the Soviet's longer to get the upper hand.
Great storytelling, as usual!
The sight of fast ships aerating rough seas is 1 of the most beautiful spectacles ever ❤❤❤❤❤
Outmatched and outgunned, and choosing to fight to the death to protect the rest of the flotilla, is real bravery. It doesn't matter what country they were from.
It's not really surprising that the ship got run down, it happened to a couple of Italian ships where they were run down by ships that on paper were slower.
The problem was, the Italians when they tested their ships out were tested at minimal load. Most other navies tested their ships at normal load, so the Italian's seemed faster than they actually were.
Probably not what you're referring to, but anytime a ship sinks due to magazine explosion, you could give it the same headline…
The tale of the RM Espero vs. The Royal Navy.
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I don’t know ❤😊😊
Italian version of Tokyo Express!
Alot of people forget there were heroic last stands on all sides… ww2 was a viscous fight
Fascinating.
Mussolini was not the "duke",,, he was called "el doo-chay"
The Battle of the Espero Convoy demonstrated that a daylight naval action at long range was likely to be indecisive and wasteful of ammunition.
I'm no historian, but i'm sure that after the Austrian domination fascist Italy would never put german writings in the engine room.
Italy won WWI? Ha
H.M.S. Neptune was sunk by Italian mines off Tripoli, Libya, on the 19 December, 1941, with 764 fatalities.
I am genealogically linked to Roy Martin Campbell who died in the sinking.
you and your stupic friends are funnier than world thinks
I'm tired of you filling these videos with pointless facts and recounting context of the battle of politics. I just want to hear about what was advertised, the naval battle itself. If you have to put filler content in, maybe choose another topic or fill out the video with more naval battle statistics or strategy.
It would be interesting to know the gear ratio of the main reduction gears to enable that ship to pull 36+ knots. It was a fast little ship for sure, with a brave captain and crew.👍👍👍
F in chat for my dude Enrico
Another fantastic video! I've never heard of this Mukden incident. Can you make a video on that? I'd definitely watch!
Maybe turn down the accompanying music when delivering speech segments? The glockenspile and strings ostinato pattern was most irritating and detracted from an otherwise excellent vid.
British ships always seemed to have problems hitting their targets.
Im a Brit and I can say they deserve all the respect they can get. Im ashamed to say that at one time there was a British nation that would have done the same, sadly lost in the past now.
What a valiant sacrificial rearguard action – but RM Espero was hardly the pride of the Regia Marina in 1940 – that surely would be the Littorio class battleships rather than a fleet destroyer ?