Operation Pedestal

Operation Pedestal (, Battle of mid-August), known in Malta as (), was a British operation to carry supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. British ships, submarines and aircraft from Malta attacked Axis convoys to Libya, during the North African Campaign (1940–1943). From 1940 to 1942, the Axis conducted the Siege of Malta, with air and naval forces.

Despite many losses, enough supplies were delivered by the British for the population and military forces on Malta to resist, although it ceased to be an offensive base for much of 1942. The crucial supply in Operation Pedestal was fuel, carried by , an American-owned tanker with a British crew. The convoy sailed from Britain on 3 August 1942 and passed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean on the night of

The Axis attempt to prevent the fifty ships of the convoy reaching Malta, using bombers, German E-boats, Italian MAS and MS boats, minefields and submarine ambushes, was the last sizeable Axis success in the Mediterranean. More than and Royal Navy sailors and airmen were killed and only five of the fourteen merchant ships reached Grand Harbour. It was a costly but strategic victory; the arrival of ''Ohio'' justified the risks taken; its cargo of aviation fuel revitalised the Maltese air offensive against Axis shipping.

Submarines returned to Malta and Spitfire fighters flown from the aircraft carrier enabled a maximum effort to be made against Axis ships. Italian convoys had to detour further away from the island, lengthening the journey and increasing the time during which air and naval attacks could be mounted. The Siege of Malta was broken by the Allied re-conquest of Egypt and Libya after the Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November) and by Operation Torch (8–16 November) in the western Mediterranean, which enabled land-based aircraft to escort merchant ships to the island.

Background

Allied operations

The Allies waged the Western Desert Campaign (1940–43) in North Africa, against the Axis forces of Italy aided by Germany, which sent the and substantial ''Luftwaffe'' detachments to the Mediterranean in late 1940. Up to the end of the year, with of cargo had reached Malta without loss and a reserve of seven months' supplies had been accumulated. Three convoys to Malta in 1941 suffered the loss of only one merchant ship. From January 1941 to August 1942, ships had delivered but had been sunk and modern, efficient, merchant ships, naval and air forces had been diverted from other routes for long periods; 31 supply runs by submarines had been conducted. Reinforcements for Malta included aircraft carrier ferry operations ( Club Runs) to deliver fighters.

From August 1940 to the end of August 1942, and Sptifire fighters had been flown off carriers in the western Mediterranean. Many other aircraft used Malta as a staging post for North Africa and the Desert Air Force. Malta was a base for air, sea and submarine operations against Axis supply convoys and from 1 June to 31 October 1941, British forces sank about of Axis shipping on the African convoy routes, by the navy and by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA). Loaded ships sailing to Africa accounted for 90 per cent of the ships sunk and Malta-based squadrons were responsible for about 75 per cent of the ships that were sunk by aircraft. Military operations from Malta and use of the island as a staging post, led to Axis air campaigns against the island in 1941 and 1942. By late July, the on the island averaged wastage of and the remaining aviation fuel was only sufficient for the fighters, making it impractical to send more bombers and torpedo-bombers for offensive operations.

Malta, 1942

Operation Julius, a plan to supply Malta by simultaneous convoys from Gibraltar in Operation Harpoon and from Alexandria by Operation Vigorous was a costly failure. Only two merchant ships from Harpoon reached the island; the Vigorous convoy was forced to turn back and several convoy escorts and many merchantmen, including the only tanker in Harpoon, were sunk. By August, the fortnightly (two-weekly) ration on Malta for one person was sugar, fats, bread and of corned beef. An adult male worker had a daily intake of and women and children received In August a mass slaughter of livestock began on the island to reduce the need for fodder imports and to convert grazing land for crop growing; the meat being supplied to the public through Victory Kitchens. Malta would be forced to surrender if fuel, food and ammunition were not delivered before September and Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, the local air commander since July, warned that there remained only a few weeks' supply of aviation fuel. The British Admiralty had the fast minelayer converted to carry fuel and submarines were pressed into service to run supplies of aviation fuel, anti-aircraft ammunition and torpedoes through the blockade, to keep the remaining aircraft operational. The First Lord of the Admiralty Albert Alexander and Admiral of the Fleet Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord (professional head of the Royal Navy), concurred with the Prime Minister Winston Churchill that the loss of Malta would be

... and prepared a new convoy operation from Gibraltar, with an unprecedented number of escorts using ships taken from the Far East and from the Home Fleet, which had vessels to spare since the suspension of Arctic convoys, following the Convoy PQ 17 disaster.

Axis command

The Axis command structure in the Mediterranean was centralised at the top and fragmented at the lower levels. Benito Mussolini had monopolised authority over the Italian armed forces since 1933 by taking the offices of Minister of War, Minister of the Navy and Minister of the Air Force. '' Feldmarschall'' Albert Kesselring of the ''Luftwaffe'' commanded German ground forces in the theatre as Commander-in-Chief South () but had no authority over Axis operations in North Africa or the organisation of convoys to Libya. ''Fliegerkorps'' II and ''Fliegerkorps'' X were subordinate to the usual ''Luftwaffe'' chain of command. Since November 1941, Kesselring had exercised some influence over the conduct of German naval operations in the Mediterranean as the nominal head of Naval Command Italy () but this was subordinate to the ''Kriegsmarine'' chain of command. German inter-service rivalries obstructed co-operation and there was little unity of effort between German and the Italian forces in the Mediterranean. Kesselring had authority only to co-ordinate plans for combined operations by German and Italian forces and some influence on the use of the '' Regia Aeronautica'' (Italian Air Force) for the protection of convoys to North Africa. The Italian Navy resisted all German attempts to integrate its operations; ships in different squadrons never trained together and '' Supermarina'' (Italian Naval High Command) constantly over-ruled subordinate commanders.

Prelude

Allied plans

Operation Pedestal

Admiralty planning for Operation Pedestal began in late July 1942, under the direction of Vice-Admiral Neville Syfret, Rear Admirals Lumley Lyster and Harold Burrough and the Naval Staff. Syfret transferred to on 27 July when ''Nelson'' and returned to Scapa Flow from Freetown, West Africa. Syfret convened a conference on 29 July, for Flag and Commanding Officers of the naval forces for Pedestal at Scapa, to consider the orders for the operation. Several smaller operations were also planned, to be carried out concurrently with Pedestal. The convoy comprised 14 merchant vessels, the most important being ''Ohio'', the only large, fast tanker available, a US ship loaned to the British, with a British crew. As insurance against the loss of ''Ohio'' and its of oil, the other ships were to carry fuel in drums. The convoy was to be protected by two battleships, three aircraft carriers, seven cruisers, thirty-two destroyers and seven submarines, the largest escort force yet.

The combined group was named ''Force F''; the convoy and escorts from Britain as far as the rendezvous, became ''Force P''; the aircraft carriers ''Victorious'', ''Argus'' and escorts were named ''Force M'' on the voyage to the meeting point. The aircraft carrier ''Eagle'' and its escort from Gibraltar to the rendezvous became ''Force J'' and the carrier ''Indomitable'' and its escorts from Freetown were called '' Force K''. During Operation Berserk, all the carriers and escorts became ''Force G''; ''Force R'' was made up of the fleet refuelling vessels and , escorted by four corvettes and an ocean-going tug, a Dale-class oiler; escorts were named ''Force W'' also for Operation Berserk, ''Force X'' formed the close escort to Malta, ''Force Z'' was made up of the heavy ships of ''Force F'', that were to turn back to Gibraltar and ''Force Y'' was to conduct Operation Ascendant, a run from Malta to Gibraltar by the two ships that had reached the island during Operation Harpoon and escorts, when Pedestal entered the Mediterranean.

Embarked on ''Victorious'' were 809 Squadron and 884 Squadron FAA with sixteen Fulmars and 885 Squadron with six Sea Hurricanes; on ''Indomitable'', 806 Squadron had ten Martlets, 800 Squadron and 880 Squadron had twenty-four Sea Hurricanes, 827 Squadron and 831 Squadron had fourteen Fairey Albacores. On ''Eagle'' were 801 Squadron and 813 Squadron with sixteen Sea Hurricanes. Based on Malta were five Baltimores, six PRU Spitfires and five Wellington Mk VIII reconnaissance aircraft. Reinforcements were sent temporarily from Egypt, raising the maximum number of operational aircraft to a hundred Spitfires, thirty-six Beaufighters, thirty Beauforts, three Wellingtons, two Liberators, two Baltimores and three FAA Albacores and Swordfish. The convoy was named WS.21S (''Winston's Specials'' were troop convoys from Britain to Suez via the Cape of Good Hope). After the usual convoy conference just before sailing, Burrough met with the Convoy Commodore, A. G. Venables and the masters of the merchant ships on board his flagship, to brief them. A similar meeting was held with radio operators of the merchantmen to explain fleet communications and procedures. Envelopes marked ''"Not to be opened until 08:00 hours August 10"'' were handed to the ships' masters, containing personal messages signed by the First Lord of the Admiralty wishing the masters "''God Speed''". The convoy sailed from the River Clyde on the night of escorted by ''Nigeria'', and destroyers, to rendezvous with the other escorts the following morning.

Operation Bellows

Shortly before the departure from Scapa, the Admiralty decided that ''Furious'' should carry out Operation Bellows, to reinforce Malta (known informally as a Club Run) with Spitfires at the same time as Operation Pedestal. The departure of ''Furious'' was delayed by technical difficulties caused by the flight deck, which sloped upwards to a point amidships. A Spitfire made a practice take-off, with wooden wedges in the flaps to ensure a and ''Furious'' steaming at , into a wind. The Spitfire was thrown into the air by the rise on the flight deck, bounced onto the forward slope, fell off the front near stalling speed and narrowly avoided ditching. An immediate request was made to the Air Ministry for constant-speed propellers and two days later, a Spitfire with the new propeller took off easily, leaving 38 aircraft still on board to be flown to Malta. In company with , she joined ''Nelson'' and the convoy three days before the start of Operation Pedestal.

Operation Berserk

On 31 July, ''Nelson'', ''Rodney'', , , and destroyers sailed from Scapa to rendezvous with and from Gibraltar and and , from Freetown, for Operation Berserk. The operation took place between the Azores and Gibraltar from and included exercises with the merchant ships in anti-aircraft gunnery, emergency turns and in changing cruising formations, communicating with signal flags and short range wireless telegraphy (W/T). The risk to security in breaking W/T silence during the exercises, was accepted by Allied planners and according to Cunningham, the convoy attained efficiency in manoeuvring "comparable to that of a fleet unit". The aircraft of the force performed dummy air attacks in the afternoon of 8 August, to exercise radar reporting, the fighter direction organisation and to give anti-aircraft gun crews aircraft recognition practice, followed by a fly past.

Operation Ascendant

''Troilus'' and ''Orari'', the two merchant ships that had survived Operation Harpoon in June, were to sail from Malta for Gibraltar, with the destroyers and (''Force Y'') on the night of the first day of Operation Pedestal. The ships were to be disguised with Italian deck markings and sortie from Malta, to to the south of Lampedusa, then sail past Kelibia on Cap Bon, keeping close to the Tunisian coast as far as the Galita Channel and from there make for Gibraltar. ''Force Y'' left Malta about 20:30 on 10 August, reached Cap Bon the next day and briefly exchanged fire with the which was minelaying. The Italian ship showed French recognition lights and the British destroyers ended the engagement; ''Force Y'' arrived at Gibraltar at about 10:00 on 14 August.

Axis plans

The Germans and Italians planned separately and although they co-operated to an extent, ''Fliegerkorps'' II in Sicily co-ordinated plans with the local ''Regia Aeronautica'' commanders but conducted its attacks separately. ''Supermarina'', the Italian Navy headquarters, considered four contingencies, that the Allies would use their naval strength to protect a convoy, the main Allied battle fleet would sortie to provoke a fleet action, to use a powerful covering force for a convoy to force a passage to the north of Pantelleria, instead of turning west at the entrance to Skerki Bank or to use aircraft-carriers for attacks on Sardinian airfields, to ease the passage of a convoy.

The ''Regia Aeronautica'' had 328 aircraft (90 torpedo-bombers, 62 bombers, 25 dive-bombers and 151 fighters) and the ''Luftwaffe'' 456 aircraft (328 dive-bombers, 32 medium bombers and 96 fighters ost of the ''Luftwaffe'' torpedo-bombers had been sent to Norway in June and were too late for the operation. About 20 Junkers Ju 88s from ''Fliegerkorps'' X on Crete arrived at Sicily on 11 August, for operations the next morning and another eight arrived from Crete the same day, after completing convoy escort operations in the Aegean.

The ''Regia Marina'' had four battleships, three heavy and ten light cruisers, twenty-one destroyers, twenty-eight torpedo boats and sixty-four submarines but most of the capital ships were non-operational for lack of fuel and air cover. The navy had received only of fuel in June, equivalent to 20 per cent of fuel consumption by convoys and the Italian battleships had to refuel the smaller vessels. Because of the fuel-shortage, Mussolini suggested to Hitler that a Malta convoy should be opposed only by submarines and land-based aircraft. ''Supermarina'' managed to prepare the 3rd Cruiser Division with the eight-inch cruisers , and and seven destroyers. The 7th Cruiser Division conprised the six-inch cruisers , and , five destroyers, 18 submarines, 19 torpedo boats (six MS and 13 MAS); the Germans had three U-boats and four S-boats.

The Axis air forces lacked the fighters to escort surface ships, bombers and torpedo bombers; Mussolini preferred to use the fighters as bomber escorts and as cover for surface forces. Kesselring rejected the Italian request to provide air cover for the Italian fleet, because the ''Luftwaffe'' lacked the fighters. Kesselring doubted that the Italian heavy cruisers could succeed even with air cover and thought that the Italians used the lack of fuel as a pretext. Admiral Eberhard Weichold, the German naval attaché in Rome, wanted the ''Luftwaffe'' to provide air cover for Italian ships. Marshal Ugo Cavallero, Chief of the General Staff , also wanted Italian surface forces to participate but ''Supermarina'' did not want its big ships to operate without air cover. Axis tactics were similar to those used against Operation Harpoon in June; a joint special air reconnaissance of the western Mediterranean to be flown by Axis aircraft on 11 and 12 August, Axis aircraft based in Sicily and Sardinia, Italian submarines and German U-boats and Axis torpedo boats and minefields being used as successive barriers. The four barriers were to cause the convoy to disperse and be vulnerable to a force of cruisers and destroyers.

Twenty-two torpedo-bombers, about one hundred and twenty-five dive-bombers with fighter escorts and forty medium bombers were to be used in a synchronised attack. Priority was given to the destruction of aircraft carriers, to prevent them from intervening when Italian surface forces closed in on the remnants of the convoy. The Axis navies had nineteen submarines in the western Mediterranean; nine boats were to be stationed north of Algeria between longitudes and . Ten submarines were to wait between Fratelli Rocks and the northern entrance to the Skerki Bank, some arrayed north-west of Cap Bon, to co-operate with aircraft. An Italian submarine was to patrol west of Malta, one off Navarino in Greece and three more about west-south-west of Crete.

From June 1940 to April 1942, the ''Regia Marina'' had laid about 2,320 sea mines between Cap Granitola at the south-west end of Sicily and Pantelleria, 1,020 mines between Pantelleria and Ras el Mustafa, Tunisia, 6,880 mines between the Aegadian Islands and Cap Bon and 1,040 mines between Bizerte and Keith Rock. The Italians also intended to lay a temporary minefield off Cap Bon on the night of 11/12 August, just before the convoy passed through. On the night of 12/13 August, thirteen MAS, six MS torpedo boats and four S-boats were to lie in wait south of Marettimo (an Aegadian Island) and off Cap Bon, then later to wait off Pantelleria.

The 3rd Cruiser Division and the 7th Cruiser Division would be about north of Pantelleria during the afternoon of 12 August and then sail through the night on an interception course south of Pantelleria, to attack the remains of the convoy and its close escort just before dawn. It was assumed that Axis aircraft could provide fighter cover against the larger number of British aircraft from Malta. Should an Allied convoy sail from Egypt, it would be attacked by the 8th Cruiser Division based at Navarino in Greece but the division was ordered into the Ionian Sea on 12 August, to support the 3rd Cruiser Division.

Axis preparations

Axis planners lacked information about Allied plans but had fair knowledge of the Allied order of battle and the movement of Allied forces inside the Mediterranean, from the reports of ship-watching stations near Gibraltar, reconnaissance aircraft and submarines. Reports from the ''Abwehr'' on 5 August convinced Kesselring that the Allies were preparing a big operation to supply Malta from the west, in conjunction with a simultaneous attack on Mersa Matruh in Egypt. Allied bombers from Malta were expected to attack Italian naval forces as Malta fighters covered the passage of a convoy through the Sicilian Narrows. The Germans also considered a threat to Crete when the convoy had reached Malta and Kesselring ordered increased readiness of ''Luftwaffe'' units in Sicily and Crete, aircraft being transferred from Crete to Sardinia and Sicily.

''Fliegerkorps'' II reduced operations to increase serviceability, prepared facilities at Elmas in Sardinia for reinforcements sent from ''Fliegerkorps'' X in the eastern Mediterranean. The Allies learned through Enigma that the ''Luftwaffe'' had supply difficulties in Sardinia, preventing the movement there of long-range bombers and of fighter operations to the extent intended and that the ''Luftwaffe'' had sent 40 to 45 long-range bombers and 6 twin-engined fighters from the eastern Mediterranean; '' Fliegerführer Afrika'' was forced to divert aircraft for convoy escorts in the Tobruk area. On the morning of 8 August, a report erroneously indicated that an Argus-class carrier and four destroyers had sailed into Gibraltar and ''Abwehr'' agents reported much shipping in the Strait of Gibraltar on the night of By ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft were on Sicily along with of the ''Regia Aeronautica'' and another assembled on Sardinia.

The sighted the British ships at 04:30 on 11 August; the captain approached on the surface and fired three torpedoes, claiming a hit on the carrier in a 09:36 sighting report and during the evening a photographed the fleet from high altitude, immune to anti-aircraft fire or FAA fighters. The Italian submarines were ordered into three patrol lines to intercept the convoy. On 12 August, Kesselring began discussions with (Italian High Command) for the co-ordination of Axis forces for the forthcoming operation. During the morning Kesselring reported that the ''Luftwaffe'' was fully committed to bomber escort sorties, could not provide air cover for Italian ships and suggested laying mines but the ''Regia Marina'' had already laid one. The inability of the ''Luftwaffe'' to provide air cover for the Italian fleet greatly reduced its opportunities to intervene but the light cruiser ''Muzio Attendolo'' was sent with two destroyers from Naples to Messina.

At an afternoon meeting the surface ships were discussed again, the risk of attack from Malta-based aircraft led Cavallero to decide that the fleet could not be risked without sufficient protection by aircraft. The decision was taken to attack the convoy with submarines between Algiers and the Balearic Islands, torpedo boats between Cap Bon and Pantelleria and then the remnants of the convoy would be finished off by the 3rd and 7th Cruiser divisions General Rino Corso Fougier, the ''Regia Aeronautica'' chief of staff, had reported that 40 modern fighters and bombers were available and that the day before, 101 aircraft had transferred from Italy to Sardinia and Sicily, bringing the total to 247 but ''Superaereo'' would not begin attacks until 13 August. Radio-controlled bombers would be used to crash onto the aircraft carriers and bombers from Crete and 10 torpedo-bombers from the training school at Grosseto had flown to Sardinia. In Sicily, crews resting from operations were alerted and six Bf 110 long-range fighters were sent from Africa, bringing the Axis total to

Battle

9/10 August

''Force R'' left Gibraltar on 9 August, ready to meet the convoy at a rendezvous south of Majorca; ''Force F'' made an uneventful passage of the Straits in dense fog during the night of Fishing boats and one merchant vessel were passed at close quarters but due to the moonless night and the fog, Syfret thought it improbable that the force had been sighted from the shore. ''Abwehr'' agents near Gibraltar and Ceuta ''had'' sighted the convoy and the British decrypted their Enigma messages, learning how well-informed the Axis were and of their plans to defeat the convoy. At about 08:00 on 10 August, German reconnaissance aircraft detected the convoy and at 12:45 reported that the convoy was about north of Algiers.

At 17:00 a French aircraft reported two aircraft carriers, two battleships, two cruisers, fourteen destroyers and twelve merchant vessels about north of Oran. ''Luftwaffe'' reconnaissance aircraft reported at 19:00 that a convoy of two battleships, two carriers, two cruisers, fourteen destroyers and twelve merchantmen was on an easterly course, north-north-east of Oran. By the afternoon of 10 August, Kesselring and ''Supermarina'' were aware that a convoy of forty to fifty ships, including possibly two carriers and nineteen freighters, was in the western Mediterranean, sailing on an easterly course at a speed of . The convoy was expected to be south of Majorca by 06:00 on 11 August and south of Sardinia by the same time on 12 August. ''Fliegerkorps'' II in the western Mediterranean was alerted and ''Fliegerkorps'' X was ordered to reconnoitre the eastern Mediterranean beyond the 25° E line of longitude after dawn on 11 August.

11 August

Despite Axis submarines, three cruisers and twenty-six destroyers refuelled from the tankers ''Dingledale'' and ''Brown Ranger'' of ''Force R'' by dawn. (Previous Malta convoys had refuelled on arrival but now the island had no oil to spare.) The convoy was south of the Balearic Islands on course for Cap Bon at daybreak and at about 06:20, a U-boat sighted the convoy. At 08:15 a ''Luftwaffe'' reconnaissance aircraft reported that the convoy was north-west of Algiers; fifteen minutes later, a began to shadow the convoy at and continued throughout the day. At noon, the convoy was about south of Majorca, sailing due east on a zigzag course. ''Furious'' conducted the flying off between 12:30 and 15:15 of 38 Spitfires for the journey to Malta and then turned round with her escorts for Gibraltar (37 of the aircraft reached Malta).

Enigma decrypts showed that at 11:55, the light cruisers ''Eugenio di Savoia'', ''Raimondo Montecuccoli'', ''Muzio Attendolo'' of the 7th Cruiser Division at Cagliari had been ordered by ''Supermarina'' to be at two hours' notice from 18:00 and that with the heavy cruisers ''Gorizia'', ''Bolzano'' and ''Trieste'' of the 3rd Cruiser Division at Messina, had been informed at 13:00 that Italian submarines were operating north of Bizerte. Three Axis submarines were seen departing Cagliari at 20:45 and the British learned that at 18:00 the 7th Cruiser Division with seventeen destroyers, had sailed east and that the 3rd Cruiser Division had departed from Messina and Naples. Allied intelligence also learned that ''Panzerarmee Afrika'' in Egypt believed that the convoy was a threat to Tobruk. Kesselring thought that a landing on the North African coast might be attempted and next day issued an order of the day that landings by the Allies would influence operations in Africa and must be prevented. ''Luftgau Afrika'' (Air District Africa) expected a landing at Tripoli on

At 08:00, sighted ships out of range but behind them another group of merchantmen were followed by the carrier ''Eagle''. She was able to manoeuvre within and fire four torpedoes which hit ''Eagle'' at 13:15, sinking the ship eight minutes later south of Cape Salinas, north of Algiers. The destroyers , and the tug ''Jaunty'' rescued of the complement of and all but four Sea Hurricanes (in the air during the sinking) were lost, about of the fighter cover for the convoy. The German submarine escaped, possibly due to layers of the sea being at different temperatures, affecting the ships' ASDIC and after the torpedoing there were frequent false alarms. At 14:30 a , one of ten 122 aircraft that had shadowed the convoy from 10:10, flew a reconnaissance sortie over the convoy, too high for the Sea Hurricanes to intercept. The ''Luftwaffe'' attacked just after sunset at 20:56, when the convoy was about from Sardinia, with bombers and three He 111 torpedo-bombers. The Heinkels flew low to drop torpedoes and the attacked out of the dusk in shallow dives, that evaded the fighters but anti-aircraft fire from the convoy shot down two for no loss and then damaged several British fighters as they landed on. During the night the Axis airfields in Sardinia were attacked by B-24 Liberators and Bristol Beaufighter, Beaufighters, which set a hangar on fire and destroyed several aircraft; a commando raid the same night on airfield in Sicily failed.

Night, 11/12 August

On the night of the Italian 7th and 3rd Cruiser divisions and 17 destroyers sailed from Cagliari, Messina and Naples to engage the British convoy. The RAF at the Malta Operations Room sent orders in plain language to a Vickers Wellington, Wellington bomber that dropped flares and sent messages in clear, supposedly guiding a fictitious B-24 Liberator force, to bluff the Italian ships away from the convoy. ( had cancelled the operation before the British signals were received, because of a lack of air cover.) At 00:20, the British discovered from Enigma that Italian intelligence had sighted four British cruisers and ten destroyers and thought that part of the convoy might be proceeding to the eastern Mediterranean. Enigma also revealed operation orders from II to the fighters of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77) at Elmas in Sardinia, to expect a convoy in the Sicilian Narrows early on 12 August. II was to co-operate with the in Sicily and Sardinia, flying in waves with fighter escorts against the convoy.

British intelligence concluded that the convoy and its huge escort force had caused the Axis commanders to be apprehensive of a landing anywhere along the North African coast or on Crete. Axis precautionary measures had been taken on the assumption that if Crete was the target, landings would occur before 14 August. Defensive measures were also taken in the Benghazi–Tripoli area of Libya, where a squadron of Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and the long-range bombers based at Derna, Libya, Derna were alerted to move to Benghazi or Tripoli, supported by Ju 52 transport aircraft. prepared detachments to repel landings and moved forces to the Sollum–Mersa Matruh area, to defend the coast east of Tobruk. At 07:00, all ship movements from North Africa to Italy and the Aegean were suspended and by late afternoon, the British knew that the anticipated a landing at Tripoli on 13 or 14 August. Fighter and dive-bomber reinforcements were sent from Sicily and Enigma intercepted a message from Hermann Göring, the commander in chief of the ''Luftwaffe'', ordering that the ''Luftwaffe''

and that the attacks were to be directed against the British aircraft carriers and merchantmen. At 00:54, , part of the escort force for ''Furious'', had been detached with four more destroyers for anti-submarine patrols after the loss of ''Eagle'', detected a submarine at , accelerated, obtained a visual contact at and rammed the Italian submarine at , sinking the submarine with all hands.

12 August

Morning

Axis aircraft resumed shadowing at 05:00 and at 06:10, ''Indomitable'' sent Martlets to shoot down two reconnaissance aircraft, which proved too high and too fast to intercept. Four Sea Hurricanes and Fulmars took off from the two carriers for air cover and every aircraft was readied to fly. German reconnaissance aircraft kept watch on the convoy, flying too high and fast for the FAA fighters. At 09:15, when the convoy was about south-south-west of dive-bombers of Lehrgeschwader 1, ''Lehrgeschwader'' 1 (''LG'' 1) were intercepted out. Four were shot down and another two were claimed by navy anti-aircraft gunners (German records showed five shot down and two lost over Sardinia from mechanical failure) for the loss of one FAA fighter. The German crews made extravagant claims but did little damage and three Italian reconnaissance aircraft were also shot down. Beaufighters returning from a raid on Sardinia saw the 7th Cruiser Division (Da Zara) at sea and raised the alarm. The cruisers had sailed from Cagliari into the Tyrrhenian Sea at 08:10 on 11 August, escorted by the destroyers , and , to rendezvous with ''Muzio Attendolo'' from Naples.

Early on 12 August, ''Trieste'' sailed from Genoa for Naples with the and a torpedo-boat, , to join the 3rd Cruiser Division, which had left Messina early with the cruisers ''Gorizia'', ''Bolzano'' and six destroyers after receiving a signal from that four cruisers and ten destroyers (MG 3) were close to Crete. The Italian cruisers and destroyers rendezvoused north of Ustica off Palermo at the west end of Sicily, some of the ships being short of fuel and then moved south in two squadrons, preceded by the torpedo-boats and ''Centauro''. British reconnaissance aircraft from Malta had flown over Italian ports, a Spitfire pilot saw that the 3rd Cruiser Division had left port and at 18:54 a Baltimore crew saw the Italian ships rendezvous. On Malta, Park was not disturbed until the convoy and escort losses of the day, which depleted ''Force X''; five Wellington bombers were sent to find the Italian cruisers and 15 Bristol Beaufort, Beaufort torpedo-bombers and fifteen Beaufighters stood by.

The biggest convoy attack came around noon from Sardinia-based aircraft; a wave of ten SM.84 bombers from 38° and eight Fiat CR.42 Falco, CR.42s of 24° ''Gruppo CT'' flying as bombers with 14 MC.202 escorts, followed after five minutes by nine Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s and ten SM.84 torpedo bombers attacking the starboard side of the convoy, escorted by 12 Re.2001 fighters and 21 SM.79s and 12 Re.2001s from the port side, all the bombers aiming for the merchant ships. The second wave had been delayed by 15 minutes due to a shortage of mechanics for the Re.2001s and only 31 aircraft could take off. The bombers were met by an anti-aircraft barrage, the merchantmen took evasive action and none was hit by the bombers that managed to get into range. The third wave comprised a pair of Re.2001G/V fighter-bombers from the (Special Section), intended to carry low-altitude armour-piercing bombs. The bombs were not ready and the aircraft carried anti-personnel bombs; the fighter-bombers were accompanied by a special radio-controlled SM.79, loaded with a bomb and directed by Ferdinando Raffaelli in a CANT Z.1007 Alcione, Cant Z1007b11.

The wave was escorted by two of the five Fiat G.50 Freccia, G.50 fighters of the 24° ''Gruppo CT'' which managed to find the formation. Rafaelli in the Z.1007 guiding the bomb by radio. The radio failed and the SM.79 flew straight on, instead of diving onto an aircraft carrier as intended and crashed into Khenchela, Mount Khenchela in Algeria. The was mistaken for a Hurricane formation and both hit ''Victorious'', one bomb killing six sailors and wounding two, the other bouncing off the deck and exploding over the sea. The first ten SM.84 bombers carried electric torpedoes which were designed to travel in an increasing spiral. The torpedoes were dropped from the ships, which used the evasive manoeuvres practised in Operation Berserk to escape.

Between the second and third waves of ''Regia Aeronautica'' aircraft, 37 Ju 88s from Kampfgeschwader 54, ''Kampfgeschwader'' 54 (KG 54) and Kampfgeschwader 77, ''Kampfgeschwader'' 77 (KG 77) attacked, having flown from Sicily with 21 Bf 109 fighter escorts, after using radio-countermeasures to blind the British radar on Malta. Five aircraft had turned back with mechanical failures but the rest evaded four Fulmars. was hit and forced out of the convoy, escorted by . The number of Axis aircraft in the attacks was unprecedented, with and sorties for only meagre results. Two bombers, a torpedo-bomber and a fighter had been lost for one hit on ''Victorious'' and the damage to ''Deucalion''. The quantity of anti-aircraft fire had led many aircrew to release their bombs and torpedoes early; the Italian aircraft from Sardinia could refuel and rearm to attack again and a Cant Z1007 and several ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft continued to shadow the convoy.

Enigma decrypts showed the British that at 18:30 on 12 August, an S-boat flotilla was due to sail at 16:00 from Porto Empedocle in Sicily for Cap Bon to operate in the area until about 04:30 on 13 August. At 21:45, a ''Fliegerkorps'' II assessment revealed that the Axis thought that there were fifty-one ships in the western Mediterranean, including two carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers and twenty destroyers. The Germans mistakenly thought that a US was present but correctly identified ''Rodney'' and ''Nelson''. The convoy was thought to consist of of , protected by ten to sixteen fighters and plenty of anti-aircraft guns. The was driven off by destroyers and at 09:30 a Short Sunderland, Sunderland flying boat damaged off Algiers. At 13:34 another Sunderland from No. 202 Squadron RAF, 202 Squadron caused more damage but ''Giada'' shot down the flying boat before heading for Valencia (until 14 August) with one dead and eight wounded crewmen on board.

Afternoon

The convoy was approached at 16:30 by Marcello class submarine#Emo, ''Emo'', which manoeuvred into position to fire torpedoes at a carrier from ; a sudden course change led Franco to change targets, launch four torpedoes and dive. The convoy had changed course again and the torpedoes missed; observers on ''Tartar'' saw the torpedo tracks and raised the alarm. ''Lookout'' sped towards a periscope, which was that of ''Avorio'' moving into an attack position, and forced it to dive, spoiling its attack; at 17:40, ''Lookout'' returned to the convoy. At 16:49 ''Cobalto'' was depth charged by while at periscope depth, forced to the surface, engaged by gunfire and rammed by ''Ithuriel'', sinking at 17:02. ''Ithuriel'' lost two crewmen who had boarded ''Cobalto'' to try keep the submarine afloat; two Italian seamen were lost and the rest were rescued by the British. ''Ithuriel'' was badly damaged, lost its Asdic, was slowed to and had to make for Gibraltar. Syfret had two destroyers on each flank of the convoy drop depth charges every ten minutes to deter submarines. ''Force F'' entered the Italian submarine ambush area C and just after 16:00 obtained an ASDIC contact on ''Granito'', forced it away with five depth charges but then had to return to the convoy. (Many submarine alarms were possibly caused by ghost Asdic contacts, due to the warm waters of the Mediterranean.)

The ''Regia Aeronautica'' units based in Sardinia managed to prepare eight Cr.42 dive-bombers and an escort of nine Re.2001 from 362° and nine SM.79 bombers from Decimomannu Air Base, Decimomannu. The SM.79s failed to find the convoy and a Re.2001 was shot down by an 806 Squadron Martlet from ''Indomitable''. The convoy crossed the 10th meridian, beyond which aircraft based in Sicily could fly with fighter escorts and 105 aircraft prepared to attack in three waves. Problems with the fighter escorts were encountered because the Re.2001s of the 2° had escorted the Sardinia-based bombers and landed in Sardinia, making them unavailable until the next day. The torpedo- and dive-bombers were sent to Pantelleria to fly with the 51° (MC.202s) and avoid the problems of co-ordination when aircraft flew from different bases. Four aircraft were sent on reconnaissance sorties; four of the Italian Ju 87s of 102° were found to lack long-range tanks and torpedoes could not be attached to six SM.84s. Fulmars from ''Victorious'' shot down a SM.79 on reconnaissance but a Cant Z1007 maintained contact. II arranged to co-ordinate with the Italians but the operations were independent. I , Sturzkampfgeschwader 3, ''Sturzkampfgeschwader'' 3 (StG 3) had transferred from Trapani to Elmas and at 17:30 hrs, 20 Ju 87s with Bf 109 escorts took off.

Evening

Italian Ju 87s of 102° arrived in poor visibility but at 18:35 the clouds parted. The Italian formation had been detected by radar while out and three Martlets, twelve Sea Hurricanes and three Fulmars were airborne but faced MC.202 and Bf 109 escorts, the best Axis fighters. The dive- and torpedo-bomber attacks were well synchronised, the Ju 87s diving as the torpedo bombers approached in three waves at . The Ju 87s managed a near miss on ''Rodney'' with the bomb exploding in the sea, one ''Stuka'' being shot down by a Hurricane and one by anti-aircraft fire. As the ships manoeuvred to evade the torpedo-bombers, another wave of Ju 87s arrived at and bombed ''Indomitable'' from out of the sun, hit the flight deck twice and near-missed three times, with bombs, killing fifty and wounding 59 men and seriously damaging the ship, which caught fire and slowed to , leaving ''Victorious'' as the last operational carrier. By 20:30, ''Indomitable'' had worked up to but the damage to the flight deck left it out of action. Aircraft landed on ''Victorious'' but those that could not be accommodated were thrown overboard.

''Charybdis'', ''Lookout'', ''Lightning'' and ''Somali'' gave assistance to ''Indomitable'' and the SM.79 torpedo-bombers were met with concentrated anti-aircraft fire. Twelve of the SM.79s managed to drop torpedoes, at the long range of ; was hit on the stern, sending crewmen flying through the air. The ship was scuttled the following day. A final Axis attack with twelve SM.79s and 28 Ju 87s cost two Ju 87s shot down and two damaged for no Allied loss; after returning to Pantelleria, the Axis aircraft were strafed by three Beaufighters, which flamed a fuel depot, destroyed a Ju 52 and damaged two SM79s and an SM.84, also killing an Italian pilot caught on the airfield. The Axis air forces had flown bomber sorties during the day and the Germans claimed that they had damaged an aircraft carrier, a cruiser, a destroyer and a large merchant ship. Both sides over-claimed, the British counted 39 shot-down aircraft against the true figure of 18 Axis aircraft lost; three Fulmars, three Sea Hurricanes and one Martlet had been shot down.

The loss of ''Eagle'' with its 16 aircraft and the damage to ''Indomitable'' which kept its 47 more aircraft out of action, reduced the number of operational fighters to eight Sea Hurricanes, three Martlets and 10 Fulmars, as ''Force Z'' was due to leave the convoy, to remain outside the range of Axis aircraft based in Sardinia. Syfret had intended ''Force Z'' to turn west upon reaching the Skerki Bank at 19:15 but ordered the turn at 18:55 to get ''Indomitable'' out of danger. ''Rodney'' was having boiler trouble which slowed ''Force Z'' to but because of the number of aircraft involved in the Axis attacks, Syfret thought that there could be no more before dark and that the danger at the Skerki Bank would come from after dawn. About forty minutes after the turn a ''Luftwaffe'' reconnaissance aircraft reported the new course; Pedestal was about from Malta with no local air cover, because of the four Fulmars left for the convoy, one had been shot down and one damaged by Bf 109s. At 18:55, Burrough, with the close escort of ''Force X'', continued towards Malta with the merchant ships and ''Force R'' cruised in the western Mediterranean in case it was needed, until ordered to return to Gibraltar (arriving in the morning of 16 August).

Night, 12/13 August

At about 20:00, the convoy manoeuvred from four to two columns to pass through the Skerki Channel, the starboard column with ''Kenya'' in the lead and ''Manchester'' sixth back, the port column with ''Nigeria'' leading and ''Carlisle'' in the centre, ten destroyers sailing outside the columns. Five Italian submarines were waiting and at 19:38, fired four torpedoes at a freighter from and heard three explosions. The sound of the detonations turned out to be from torpedoes fired by hitting ''Nigeria'' with 52 men killed, and ''Ohio'' blowing a hole in its side and starting a fire; the crew put out the fire and were soon able to make . The torpedoing of HMS ''Nigeria'' and ''Cairo'' (eventually sunk by the British), the diversion of to become Burrough's new flagship and the detachment of four Hunt-class destroyers to stand by the damaged cruisers, temporarily deprived ''Force X'' of its commander, the two columns of the leaders and deprived the convoy nearly half its escort. On hearing that ''Nigeria'' and ''Cairo'', which were equipped as Fighter Direction ships, had been torpedoed, Syfret ordered ''Force Z'' to send back HMS ''Charybdis'', also fitted for fighter direction, with and to reinforce ''Force X''. ''Nigeria'' and the other damaged ships turned back to Gibraltar, escorted by , and .

''KG'' 54 and ''KG'' 77 dispatched 30 with seven He 111 torpedo-bombers from 6/KG 26 escorted by six Bf 110s of 6/''ZG'' 26 and the destroyers were still with the damaged ships and when the raid was detected by radar at 20:35; six long-range Beaufighters of No. 258 Squadron RAF, 248 Squadron arrived and were also fired on by the convoy gunners. ''Ashanti'' and laid a smokescreen to cover the light western horizon, the sun having set at 20:10 but the reduced anti-aircraft firepower of the convoy and escorts failed to prevent the attack. After thirty minutes was stopped, hit in the bows (possibly by the ), eventually to continue at . ''Clan Ferguson'' was torpedoed and set ablaze, later to be destroyed by an ammunition detonation, ''Rochester Castle'' was damaged and ''Empire Hope'' was sunk by a destroyer after rescuing the crew. At 21:05 ''Alagi'' fired a salvo of four torpedoes at ''Kenya'', the tracks of which were seen on ''Port Chalmers'' and reported. ''Kenya'' turned sharply and avoided three of the torpedoes but the fourth hit aft on the starboard side; ''Kenya'' was able to keep up but this left ''Force X'' with ''Manchester'' as the only undamaged cruiser. ''Bronzo'' reported that it had sunk ''Deucalion'' and the captain of ''Kenya'' described the state of the convoy as "chaotic". At 21:30, the commander of ''Alagi'' reported that he had sunk the merchant ship ''Empire Hope'' and damaged ''Kenya'' and that

At 23:56, the convoy passed south of Zembra island towards Kelibia on Cap Bon, to avoid the minefields between Africa and Sicily, still out of formation. Three minesweeping destroyers sailed ahead, followed by the cruisers ''Kenya'', ''Manchester'' and two freighters. ''Charybdis'' and the destroyers ''Eskimo'' and ''Somali'' from ''Force Z'' were still some hours behind and ''Ashanti'' was steaming fast to overhaul the main body. Three destroyers remained with nine of the merchantmen and ''Bramham'' was en route after ''Deucalion'' had been sunk. The main part of the convoy was attacked at 00:40 by four boats of the German III Squadron and 13 torpedo boats of the Italian 18° ''MAS'', 2° ''MS'' and 20° ''MAS'', which made 15 attacks; the long line of merchant ships and the reduced number of escort ships providing an easy target. The 18° ''MAS'' detected the convoy on radar, south-east of Pantelleria and attacked the escorts at the head of the procession, coming under fire, as they fired torpedoes to no effect. The Italian boats then attacked the merchant ships.

The convoy was vulnerable because the lighthouse at Cap Bon revealed their position about offshore. S 58 and S 59 sighted the first ships at 00:20, attacked and S 58 was damaged, turning away for Porto Empedocle. S 59 attacked and claimed a freighter about north-east of Cap Bon but no ships were hit there. At 01:02 near Ras Mustafa south of Kelibia, MS 16 or MS 22 attacked the convoy to no effect but then attacked ''Manchester'' from close range and each scored a hit, flooding its boilers, fuel tanks and magazines and wrecking three of its four propeller shafts, the ship taking on a 12° list until counter-flooding reduced the list to 5°. , and ''Glenorchy'' following on, swerved around ''Manchester'' and lost formation. ''Glenorchy'' mistakenly claimed the destruction of a torpedo boat and the two MAS boats ran aground in Tunisia. Power was restored on ''Manchester'' and 156 men were taken on board ''Pathfinder'' but at 05:00, the captain ordered the ship be scuttled and the remaining crew to make for the Tunisian coast.

Between 03:15 and 04:30 about off Kelibia, the torpedo boats hit and sank ''Wairangi'', ''Almeria Lykes'' (US), (US) and ''Glenorchy'', as they took a short cut to catch up with the convoy. ''Rochester Castle'' was torpedoed but escaped at and caught up with the main body by 05:30, by when ''Charybdis'', ''Eskimo'' and ''Somali'' had arrived, increasing the escort to two cruisers and seven destroyers around ''Rochester Castle'', ''Waimarama'' and ''Melbourne Star''. ''Ohio'' and its destroyer were slowly closing the distance and further back were ''Port Chalmers'' and two destroyers. ''Dorset'' was sailing independently and ''Brisbane Star'' lurked near the Tunisian coast, ready to make a run for Malta after dark. Dawn brought an end to the torpedo boat attacks and at 07:30, Burrough sent ''Eskimo'' and ''Somali'' back to help ''Manchester'' but they arrived too late, took on survivors who had not reached the shore and made for Gibraltar.

13 August

Morning

An attack by the Italian cruisers appeared imminent, after air reconnaissance had sighted them the previous evening, heading south about from the west end of Sicily, on course to reach the convoy at dawn. At 01:30 the cruisers had turned east and run along the north coast of Sicily; British aircraft from Malta had conducted a ruse to decoy the cruisers but the main attacking force on Malta was held back, in case the Italian battleships sailed from Taranto. Some of the Italian cruisers were ordered to return to port and the rest were sent through the Straits of Messina to join the 8th Cruiser Division against the MG 3 decoy convoy in the eastern Mediterranean. had been waiting since 10 August north of the Milazzo, Capo Milazzo lighthouse and after being attacked, moved close to Stromboli, arriving early on 13 August. The Italian cruisers were heard first by hydrophone and then seen through the periscope at 07:25, heading north between the islands of Filicudi and Panarea. The ships were making with eight destroyer escorts and two CANT Z.506 aircraft overhead. Her commander raised the periscope for only short periods, to avoid being seen by the destroyers and the Cants, while manoeuvring into an attack position.

At 08:05, the cruisers slowed to for ''Gorizia'' to fly off a seaplane and then the destroyer ''Fuciliere'' machine-gunned a periscope seen at . The Italian destroyers chased several sonar contacts and three sailed within of ''Unbroken'', which fired four torpedoes after they had passed by. ''Unbroken'' dived to and after 2.15 minutes, an explosion was heard followed by a second after another 15 seconds. Observers on ''Gorizia'' and ''Bolzano'' had seen torpedo tracks and ''Gorizia'' was turned sharply but ''Bolzano'' was hit while beginning its turn. The deck crew of ''Muzio Attendolo'' had not seen the torpedo tracks or received the alert from ''Fuciliere'' and the ship took evasive action only after ''Bolzano'' was hit, which was too late. ''Unbroken'' descended to and commenced silent running; ''Fuciliere'' (carrying sonar) and ''Camica Nera'' slowed to hunt the submarine. The destroyers detected ''Unbroken'' at 08:45 and accurately dropped 105 depth charges in the next 45 minutes but at too shallow a depth. Two destroyers escorted ''Gorizia'' and ''Trieste'' to Messina and five remained with ''Bolzano'' and ''Muzio Attendolo'', periodically dropping depth charges as a deterrent.

''Muzio Attendolo'' was hit forward and of its bow was blown open but suffered no fatalities. The ship was towed towards Messina but when the bow fell off, the ship managed to sail on at , escorted by ''Grecale'', ''Ascari'' and later ''Freccia'', reaching Messina at 18:54. ''Bolzano'' was struck amidships, six engine rooms and a magazine flooded and a fire started, the commander of the 11th Destroyer Flotilla being ordered to tow the ship and run it aground on Panarea. ''Bolzano'' burned until the next day, watched over by Italian fighters and after a month of repairs, was towed to Naples. ''Muzio Attendolo'' was damaged for the duration of the war. After remaining submerged for ten hours, ''Unbroken'' surfaced and was recalled to Malta. (''Supermarina'' had re-routed the cruiser force after a submarine (''Unbroken'') had been detected, which had been predicted by Mars, enabling him to forestall the Italians, who broke orders by not zigzagging and by slowing. After the incident, ''Supermarina'' assumed that the submarine had escaped because Italian depth charges were not powerful enough, rather than the sonar-equipped ships had been hampered by the turbulence of destroyer wakes and depth charge explosions.)

At 07:00 the convoy was about from Malta and Axis reconnaissance accurately reported four freighters, two cruisers and seven destroyers but not five more destroyers. Trailing behind were ''Dorset'' and ''Port Chalmers'' with two destroyers and two more off to the west. ''Brisbane Star'' was in the Gulf of Hammamet and six British submarines were south of Pantelleria. ''Fliegerkorps'' II sent 26 in several waves and at 09:15, 16 Ju 87s escorted by eight Bf 109s and eight Bf 110s attacked. Ten of II/LG 1 near missed ''Ohio'' and hit ''Waimarama'' which disintegrated; the aviation fuel on deck burst into flame and one of the bombers was destroyed in the explosion. passed through the fires, rescuing 27 survivors of the ship's complement of 107 men.

The wreckage of ''Waimarama'' showered flaming debris on and several of her crew abandoned ship prematurely, some of whom were later rescued by ''Ledbury''. At 09:23, eight Italian Ju 87s with ten MC.202 escorts attacked and a ''Stuka'' was shot down and crashed onto ''Ohio'', another was shot into the sea and a Spitfire was shot down, either by a MC.202 or navy anti-aircraft fire. ''Rochester Castle'' was damaged by a near miss from a and ''Dorset'' was hit by ''Stukas'' of I/StG 3 and abandoned. The attackers lost two Ju 87s and a Bf 109 and a Beaufighter was shot down. ''Port Chalmers'' was hit and at 11:25, five SM.79 torpedo-bombers, with 14 MC.202 escorts, attacked and the crew found a torpedo caught in the starboard Paravane (weapon), paravane, which exploded harmlessly. An SM.79 was shot down by a Spitfire and two destroyers were left behind with the disabled ships.

Afternoon

The remnants of the convoy steamed on to meet the four minesweepers and seven motor minesweepers of the 17th Minesweeper Flotilla of the Malta Escort Force at 14:30. ''Melbourne Star'', ''Port Chalmers'' and ''Rochester Castle'' reached Grand Harbour at Valletta at 16:30, where Operation Ceres, the immediate unloading of the ships began. Another air attack at dusk by 14 Ju 87s, sank ''Dorset'' but when the main body was within of Malta, 18 were recalled in the face of 407 Spitfire sorties from the island. ''Penn'' tried to tow ''Ohio'' but the tanker was listing and snapped the tow line; in a later attack, a bomb hit the same area as a previous torpedo hit and broke ''Ohios keel. The last ship to arrive, ''Brisbane Star'' evaded a U-boat and managed to steam at despite the damage to its bows. Off Tunisia, ''Brisbane Star'' was attacked by two SM.79 torpedo bombers, whose torpedoes turned out to be duds. The ship evaded Italian MAS boats; it was then boarded by the Sousse harbour master, who tried to impound the vessel until persuaded to relent and let the ship sail on after dark. ''Ledbury'' was attacked by two SM.79s but shot them down. ''Force X'' had turned for Gibraltar at 16:00 with the cruisers ''Charybdis'', ''Kenya'' and five destroyers; ''Fliegerkorps'' II made a maximum effort against the force, which made it easier for the remaining merchant ships to reach Malta. ''Force X'' was attacked by 35 and 13 Ju 87s, achieving only a near miss on ''Kenya'' for a loss of a and a ''Stuka''. The ''Regia Aeronautica'' attacked with 15 bombers and 20 torpedo-bombers for no loss and during the afternoon, ''Force X'' met ''Force Z'', the ships being attacked by aircraft, submarines and light craft; ''Foresight'' was scuttled by ''Tartar'' when it could no longer sail. ''Eskimo'' and ''Somali'', carrying survivors from ''Manchester'' were the last to reach Gibraltar at 17:30 on 15 August.

Operations MG 3 and MG 4

In the eastern Mediterranean, the decoy operation MG 3 had begun when convoy MW12 with three freighters had sailed from Port Said after dusk on 10 August. The merchant ships were escorted by two cruisers, ten destroyers and two smaller escorts and another merchant ship escorted by two cruisers and three destroyers left Haifa at 03:00 the next day. The two forces rendezvoused early on 11 August and sailed west to the longitude of Alexandria, then turned back. ''U-83'' had reported that four cruisers and ten destroyers were close to Crete and a message from a Sunderland was intercepted. Reconnaissance reports from Malta noted a smokescreen over Valletta, apparently to conceal two cruisers; this was later taken to mean that the British were hiding the departure of ships heading westwards towards the convoy. The large size of the convoy was interpreted by ''Supermarina'' to imply an operation in the eastern Mediterranean and prepared to reinforce the 8th Cruiser Division at Navarino.

German aircraft had spotted the movements and early on 12 August, Kesselring informed ''Fliegerkorps'' X that four merchant vessels, six cruisers and an unknown number of destroyers were at 33° 40' N, 28° 34' E, sailing north-east at . Kesselring thought that the convoy was a British wireless-telegraphy spoof but might also be a supply convoy for Malta and ''Fliegerkorps'' X was ordered to reconnoitre all of the eastern Mediterranean on the morning of 12 August but no aircraft were available to cover the Italian cruisers, operations against the convoy taking priority. During the night of 12/13 August, the cruisers and with four destroyers conducted Operation MG 4, a bombardment of Rhodes (city), Rhodes port on the island of Rhodes. During the day, the RAF attacked Maritsa, Rhodes, Maritsa airfield on Rhodes and a British submarine landed British Commandos, Commandos on the east coast of Sicily (a ''False Nose Job'') at Simeto south of Catania, to sabotage electricity pylons. The Italian 8th Cruiser Division remained in port and the Germans detached a destroyer to reinforce the Italians; local traffic along the North African coast and shipping between Italy and Greece was suspended but MG 3 failed to divert Axis attention from Operation Pedestal.

14–15 August

On the afternoon of 14 August, ''Brisbane Star'' arrived at Valletta Harbour with Spitfires circling overhead. ''Ohio'' was surrounded by ships to nurse the tanker to Grand Harbour and several American volunteers from ''Santa Eliza'' manned anti-aircraft guns on ''Ohio'' during the tow. The weight of the tanker kept breaking the tow lines, while constant air attacks were made by 20 bombers that destroyed the rudder, made a hole in her stern and brought the decks awash. The tanker was towed in by the destroyers ''Ledbury'' and ''Penn'' lashed on either side, with the minesweeper acting as a stabiliser at the stern. More air attacks disrupted the towing formation, until it was re-established with ''Bramham'' replacing ''Ledbury'' for the remainder of the journey.

''Ohio'' was towed into Grand Harbour at 09:30 on 15 August, to cheering crowds and a band playing ''Rule Britannia''. The crowd fell silent as the ships entered harbour, men removed their hats, women crossed themselves and a bugle sounded ''Still''. The tanker discharged oil into two tankers and water was pumped in at the same time, to reduce the chance of structural failure. ''Ohio'' settled on the bottom just as the last of the fuel was emptied. The surviving ships' cargo was unloaded in Malta by about 3,000 soldiers before being transferred to guarded stores. Some supplies were looted in the process; the looters included police officers, watchmen, British soldiers and Maltese civilians.

Aftermath

Analysis

German reports on 17 August claimed that all the tankers in the recent Mediterranean convoy had been sunk and none of the transports had reached their destination (assumed to be Egypt). The Allies had lost thirteen vessels, including nine merchantmen, one aircraft carrier (''Eagle''), two cruisers (''Manchester'' and ''Cairo'') and a destroyer (''Foresight'') but the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy had saved Malta. The arrival of about of general cargo, together with petrol, oil fuel, kerosene and diesel fuel, was enough to give the island about ten weeks' supply beyond the few weeks that the existing stocks would last. Axis propaganda broadcasts made extravagant claims but a ''Kriegsmarine'' report noted the incomplete and contradictory evidence, allowing only a provisional conclusion. The arrival of four merchant ships and a tanker was ''unsatisfactory'', because the revival of Malta as an offensive base would affect Axis supply routes in what might be the "decisive phase of the struggle for North Africa". reached the same conclusion and Giuseppe Santoro (general), Giuseppe Santoro, deputy chief of staff of the , wrote that the British had achieved a strategic success by bringing Malta back into action "in the final phase of the struggle in Egypt".

In August, with Malta still besieged, 35 per cent of Axis convoy shipping to North Africa was lost. Later that year, Admiral Eberhard Weichold summed up the view,

In 1994, James Sadkovich wrote that Operation Pedestal was a tactical disaster for the British and that it was of a magnitude comparable to the German attack on Convoy PQ 17 about a month earlier. In 2000, Richard Woodman called Operation Pedestal a strategic victory, raising the morale of the people and garrison of Malta, averting famine and an inevitable surrender. In 2002, Giorgio Giorgerini wrote that the operation was an Italian success; Italian submarines had adopted more offensive tactics and sunk a cruiser and two merchantmen, damaged two cruisers and the tanker ''Ohio''. In 2002, Jack Greene and Alessandro Massignani called the convoy operation the last Axis victory in the Mediterranean but that it was a tactical not a strategic success. The arrival of ''Ohio'' justified the convoy despite the loss of nine of the merchant ships (one in Valletta harbour). Axis shipping had been suspended during the operation, partly because the transport ''Ogaden'' had been sunk off Derna on 12 August, by and after ''Ohio'' arrived, Axis ships had to make longer journeys. On 15 August, ''Lerici'' was also sunk by ''Porpoise'' and on 17 August, ''Pilo'' was sunk by aircraft and the tanker ''Pozarica'' was sunk on 21 August.

Casualties

In 2003, Ian Malcolm listed 160 men killed on ''Eagle'', 132 on ''Manchester'', 52 on ''Nigeria'', 50 on ''Indomitable'', 24 on ''Cairo'', five on ''Foresight'' and three men on ''Kenya''. Merchant Navy casualties were 83 on ''Waimarama'', eighteen on ''Clan Ferguson'', seven on ''Glenorchy'', five on ''Melbourne Star'', four on ''Santa Elisa'', one each on ''Deucalion'', ''Ohio'' and ''Brisbane Star''.

''Ohio'' never sailed again and the British lost the carrier ''Eagle'', the cruisers ''Manchester'' and ''Cairo'' and the destroyer ''Foresight''. The carrier ''Indomitable'', the cruisers ''Nigeria'' and ''Kenya'' and three destroyers were damaged and under repair for some time. On the Axis side, the Italian cruisers ''Bolzano'' and ''Muzio Attendolo'' were damaged and were not operational for the rest of the war, the Italian submarines ''Cobalto'' and ''Dagabur'' were sunk, the Italian submarine ''Giada'' and the German E-Boat S 58 were damaged.

II sent against Pedestal from 11 to 14 August and claimed twelve aircraft shot down for eighteen losses. Total Axis losses were 62 aircraft, 42 Italian and 19 German, including losses on the ground and those shot down by their own side. Royal Navy gunners and FAA fighters claimed 74 aircraft shot down, against post-war data that they destroyed 42 Axis aircraft, 26 from the and 16 aircraft.

The FAA lost 13 aircraft on operations and 16 Sea Hurricanes when ''Eagle'' was sunk, the RAF lost a Beaufighter, five Spitfires and a Sunderland was shot down by ''Giada''. The Allies could not risk such losses again and another large convoy to Malta was not attempted until November 1942, when the re-capture of airfields in Egypt and Libya after the Second Battle of El Alamein made it much easier to provide land-based air cover.

Subsequent operations

From 16 to 18 August, made another Club Run from Gibraltar and dispatched to Malta in Operation Baritone. In September and October, Malta was supplied by the submarines (, on the Magic Carpet run and sailed during the operation with ammunition, aviation fuel and torpedoes). The submarines , ''Clyde'', and made more Magic Carpet runs and the fast minelayer ''Welshman'' made a dash from Gibraltar with of food. In September, with Malta revictualled, Allied forces sank of Axis shipping, including of fuel destined for Rommel, leaving the Axis forces in Egypt consuming supplies faster than receipts, contributing to tactical paralysis during the Second Battle of El Alamein and Operation Torch

Submarines and Beaufort torpedo-bombers, escorted by Beaufighters, regularly attacked Axis supply ships, concentrating on tankers, known to the Allies through Ultra intercepts. An attempt to run a disguised merchant ship to Malta early in November failed and then Operation Stoneage a convoy of four merchant ships from Alexandria, arrived undamaged (the light cruiser ''Arethusa'' was torpedoed with 155 men killed and had to be towed back to port). ''Force K'' was re-established at Malta and in Operation Portcullis five ships were dispatched and arrived safely. Chariot manned torpedoes began to operate from Malta that month and from late December to January 1943, four convoys, Quadrangle A, B, C and D, with pairs of merchantmen in each, delivered of stores without loss; empty ships were retrieved from the island.

Commemoration

In recognition of their fortitude during the siege and air attacks during all of the Mediterranean campaign, Malta was awarded the George Cross (Malta), George Cross in the months immediately preceding this operation. Syfret was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for his "bravery and dauntless resolution in fighting an important convoy through to Malta in the face of relentless attacks by day and night from enemy submarines, aircraft, and surface forces". Rear-Admiral Lyster, who commanded the air operations, was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The Master of the tanker ''Ohio'', Dudley Mason, was awarded the George Cross for showing "skill and courage of the highest order and it was due to his determination that, in spite of the most persistent enemy opposition, the vessel, with her valuable cargo, eventually reached Malta and was safely berthed". Several other men of the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy, including the commander of ''Ledbury'', Roger P. Hill (Royal Navy officer), Roger Hill, received military awards ranging from the Distinguished Service Order and Conspicuous Gallantry Medal to Mentioned in Despatches, for the bravery shown in ferrying the merchantmen to Malta. The United States' Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal was awarded to Junior Third Officer Frederick August Larsen, Jr. and to Cadet-Midshipman, US Merchant Marine Academy, Francis A. Dales for "Heroism beyond the call of duty" for their conduct aboard the ''Santa Elisa'' and ''Ohio''. Operation ''Pedestal'' was the subject of a 1953 black and white British film, ''Malta Story'', that interspersed archive footage of ''Ohio'' with scripted studio scenes.

See also

* Operation Pedestal orders of battle
* Bonner Fellers#World War II, Bonner Fellers

Notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

Books

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Journals

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Reports

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Newspaper articles

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Websites

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Further reading

Books
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Theses
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Websites
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External links

The Supply of Malta




Newsreel: The Battle of the Convoys


Newsreel: Malta Convoy – Further Pictures


Newsreel: Malta Convoy Battle

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Documentary: Malta Convoy, courtesy of the IWM

Merchant Navy Association

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedestal
1942 in Malta
20th century in Malta
Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
Italian naval victories in the battle of the Mediterranean
Conflicts in 1942
Malta Convoys
Naval aviation operations and battles
Naval battles and operations of the European theatre of World War II
Naval battles of World War II involving Italy
Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom
August 1942
WS (Winston Special) Convoys