Italian auxiliary cruiser Ramb II significant presence of Royal Navy in the Red Sea. With the start of Operation Compass in North Africa and the defeat of the Italian troops at Sidi Barrani on 9-12 December 1940, it became clear that it would be impossible for Italian troops in Libya to reach Italian East Africa to break its isolation. The fuel supplies were dwindling and were projected to be exhausted by June 1941. In anticipation of the inevitable fall of the colony, a plan was developed to send as many ships as possible to Japan or occupied France and to destroy all other ships that
Italian Ethiopia Italian Ethiopia Ethiopia was occupied by Italy in 1936 and became a part of the Italian colony Italian East Africa, with capital Addis Abeba. Italian Ethiopia was proclaimed in 1936 following the second Italo-Ethiopian War, with Victor Emmanuel III proclaiming himself Emperor of Ethiopia. The occupation lasted until the end of 1941, when Ethiopia was liberated from Italian control by a combination of British, Commonwealth, Free French, Free Belgian and Ethiopian forces. Since May 1936 Italian Ethiopia was part of the newly created "Africa Orientale Italiana" (AOI), or Italian East Africa, and administratively was made of four governorates: Governorate of