The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940 to 2 May 1945.
For the most part, the campaign was fought between the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), supported by other Axis naval and air forces, and the British Royal Navy, supported by other Allied naval forces, such as Australia, the Netherlands, Poland and Greece. American naval and air units joined the Allied side in 1942.
Each side had three overall objectives in this battle. The first was to attack the supply lines of the other side. The second was to keep open the supply lines to their own armies in North Africa. The third was to destroy the ability of the opposing navy to wage war at sea. Outside of the Pacific theatre, the Mediterranean saw the largest conventional naval warfare actions during the conflict. In particular, Allied forces struggled to supply and retain the key naval and air base of Malta.
Following the battle of Crete in the summer of 1941, the Royal Navy regained its ascendancy in the central Mediterranean in a series of successful convoy attacks, (including the Duisburg convoy and Cap Bon), until the events surrounding the First Battle of Sirte and the Raid on Alexandria in December swung the balance of power towards the Axis.
A series of hard-fought convoy battles (such as the Second Battle of Sirte in March, operations Harpoon and Vigorous in June and Operation Pedestal in August), ensured Malta’s survival until the Allies regained the advantage in November 1942.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Mediterranean
We put together a “what if” class in the Mediterranean between a British Convoy raider force and an Italian reaction force. The Italians had three light cruisers and four destroyers. The British had two heavy cruisers and three destroyers. Both forces approached one another and attempted to win the gun duel before closing into torpedo range. This ended up playing into the British advantage and they were able to take out the Italians at range and win the engagement. Looks like Rommel will not be happy!
- Manteuffel