Red Sea Flotilla

Red Sea Flotilla (Flottiglia del mar rosso)
Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with modern boundaries
Active	to June 1940
Disbanded	April 1941
Country	Italy
Branch	Regia Marina
Size	7 destroyers 8 submarines 5 motor torpedo boats 9 auxiliary ships
Commanders
Commander	Carlo Balsamo di Specchia-Normandia (1939 – December 1940) Mario Bonetti (December 1940 – April 1941)

The Red Sea Flotilla (Flottiglia del mar rosso) was part of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) based at Massawa in the colony of Italian Eritrea, part of Italian East Africa. During the Second World War, the Red Sea Flotilla fought the East Indies Station of the Royal Navy from the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940 until the fall of Massawa on 8 April 1941.

The squadron was isolated from the main Italian bases in the Mediterranean by distance and British dispositions. Without an overland route (via Sudan) or of the Suez Canal, supply was virtually impossible. The submarines in the flotilla suffered from faulty air conditioning which caused severe problems and poisoned crews when submerged causing several losses.

Attempts to attack ships in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf had meagre results and British intelligence successes caused the loss of several ships. The capture of Massawa and other Italian ports in the region brought the Flottiglia del mar rosso to an end in April 1941.