Battle of the Azores
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| Date | 11–13 March 1941 | ||
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| Location | Atlantic Ocean, west and north of the Azores | ||
| Result | American victory; the United States commands the central Atlantic until 1944 | ||
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The Battle of the Azores was a naval battle of the First Euro-American War, fought from 11 to 13 March 1941 west and north of the Azores between a combined British, French and Italian fleet and the United States Atlantic Fleet. The European fleet sailed to retake the islands, which American forces had seized in January, and was destroyed by the aircraft of nine American fleet carriers. It lost five battleships, two carriers and seven cruisers, and about 14,500 men, including its commander. The United States held command of the central Atlantic until 1944.
Background
The United States had attacked Canada and the European colonies in the Caribbean in April 1940, and in May 1940 American carrier aircraft sank three battleships of an Anglo-French squadron off Cape Race, Newfoundland. On 8–10 January 1941 an American marine division seized the Portuguese islands of the Azores, killing about 40 Portuguese soldiers, and the islands became the base of the United States Navy in the central Atlantic. Portugal was Britain's oldest ally, and the European powers prepared to retake them.
Forces
The combined fleet, under the British admiral Sir Rodney Kerr, sailed from Brest and Gibraltar. It included the British battleships Nelson, Rodney, King George V and Warspite, the French Dunkerque, Strasbourg and Richelieu, and the Italian Littorio, with the British carriers Ark Royal, Illustrious and Formidable. The United States Atlantic Fleet, under Admiral Bertram Coyle, had nine fleet carriers and six battleships.
Battle
The battle was fought over three days beyond the range of European land-based aircraft. On the first evening Swordfish torpedo bombers from the British carriers sank the American carrier Lexington. Over the following two days American carrier aircraft attacked the European fleet repeatedly, and sank five battleships, two of the three carriers and seven cruisers. Kerr was killed. The surviving ships returned to Brest and Gibraltar.
Aftermath
The European battle fleet was not rebuilt during the war, and the United States commanded the central Atlantic until 1944. Portugal accepted American occupation of its ports and islands on 14 April 1941, and the American build-up in Spain and Portugal for the invasion of France began. The European navies afterwards fought the Atlantic war with submarines and land-based aircraft, and in 1944 regained the ocean with them.