| Force B | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1940–1942 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Engagements | Battle of the Mediterranean Battle of Calabria Operation MB8 Battle of Cape Matapan Operation Judgement First Battle of Sirte Asiatic-Pacific Theater Indian Ocean raid |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Bernard Rawlings Algernon Willis Andrew Cunningham Henry Pridham-Wippell |
Force B was the name of several British Royal Navy task forces during the Second World War.
Force B was first formed by the Mediterranean Fleet in July 1940. Comprising the battleship Warspite and five destroyers, it saw action at the Battle of Calabria under the command of Vice Admiral Andrew Cunningham.
In November 1940, it was involved in Operation MB8, a complicated operation involving several forces with different but co-ordinated aims. During this period Force B comprised the cruisers HMS Ajax and HMAS Sydney and delivered reinforcements to Crete. The force sailed on 4 November with Convoy AN 6 en route to Greece, departing that evening to Crete, then heading north to join Force C (the cruiser HMS Orion) at Pireaus. From there the combined force under the command of Vice Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell moved east into the Straits of Otranto to divert the Italian Fleet whilst the balance of the British forces attacked the port of Taranto in the Battle of Taranto (Operation Judgement). Whilst in the straits, the cruisers fought the Action in the Strait of Otranto after they intercepted an Italian convoy of four ships then sank them. [1]
In March 1941, again under Pridham-Whippell, Ajax and the cruisers Orion, Gloucester and Perth formed Force B in an operation to bring the Italian fleet to battle, resulting in the Battle of Cape Matapan. [2] In June, Force B was re-formed to assist Allied forces in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign with Ajax, Phoebe and four destroyers. During this period, ships of the force were engaged by Vichy submarine Caiman, which was damaged in a two-hour hunt and the destroyers Guepard and Valmy, which left the destroyer Janus badly damaged. [3]
In November, Force B (Rear Admiral Bernard Rawlings), comprising Ajax, Neptune and two destroyers, HMS Kandahar and Jaguar was moved to Malta to reinforce the ships of Force K and to carry out offensive sweeps against Axis supply ships en route to Libya. On 19 December, after taking part in conveying a supply ship into Malta in Operation MD 8, which had led to the First Battle of Sirte, Force B was deployed to find the Italian convoy encountered in that engagement but fell foul of a minefield off Tripoli, resulting in the loss of Neptune and Kandahar and damage to two other ships. After this, forces B and K were withdrawn from Malta. [4]
With the outbreak of war in the Pacific and the advance of the Japanese on Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, British naval forces in the Far east were forced to retreat, first to Java, then to Trincomalee in Ceylon. In March 1942, Admiral James Somerville took command of a force of 29 warships, many approaching obsolescence. To remedy this deficiency he divided his ships into fast and slow divisions, Force A and Force B respectively. [5] This Force B comprised four First World War-vintage Revenge class battleships, the light carrier HMS Hermes, the cruisers HMS Caledon and HMS Dragon and destroyers HMS Decoy, HMS Fortune, HMS Griffin and HMS Scout. The ships were joined by Dutch cruiser HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck and destroyer Isaac Sweers and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) destroyers HMAS Norman and Vampire. [6] This force came under the command of Rear Admiral Algernon Willis.
This force came under attack during the Japanese Indian Ocean raid and on 9 April Hermes and Vampire were sunk by aircraft from the |Japanese carrier strike force Kido Butai . After this Force B was withdrawn to Kilindini, in British East Africa, where it was based until the RN could recoup its position in the theatre. Force B's only major action, apart from escort duty was to support Operation Ironclad, the invasion of Vichy-held Madagascar, in May 1942, during which HMS Ramillies was attacked and damaged by Japanese midget submarines in Diego Suarez harbour. [7]
The Battle of Cape Matapan was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 to 29 March 1941. Cape Matapan is on the south-western coast of the Peloponnesian Peninsula of Greece.
HMS Ajax was a Leander-class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy during World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the siege of Tobruk. This ship was the eighth in the Royal Navy to bear the name. In February 1942, she was adopted by the civil community of Halifax, West Yorkshire.
Operation Pedestal, known in Malta as Il-Konvoj ta' Santa Marija, was a British operation to carry supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War.
The Battle of Calabria, known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. Ships of the Regia Marina were opposed by vessels of the Mediterranean Fleet. The battle occurred 30 nmi to the east of Punta Stilo, Calabria, on 9 July 1940. It was one of the few naval battles of the Mediterranean campaign involving large numbers of ships on both sides, claiming victory. The battle was indecisive and the ships returned to base; it was the first battleship engagement between the Regia Marina and the Mediterranean Fleet.
The Battle of Cape Spartivento, known as the Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War, fought between naval forces of the Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina on 27 November 1940.
The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval engagement in the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Gulf of Sidra and south-east of Malta, during the Second World War. The escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta held off a much more powerful squadron of the Regia Marina. The British convoy was composed of four merchant ships, escorted by four light cruisers, one anti-aircraft cruiser and 17 destroyers. The Italian force comprised a battleship, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and ten destroyers. Despite the British success at warding off the Italian squadron, the Italian fleet attack delayed the convoy's planned arrival before dawn, which exposed it to intense air attacks that sank all four merchant ships and one of the escorting destroyers in the following days.
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.
The First Battle of Sirte was fought between forces of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the Regia Marina during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, south-east of Malta, in the Gulf of Sirte. It was tactically inconclusive as both forces were limited by the strategic goal of protecting a convoy of their own and as such, neither were looking to force battle.
Force K was the name given to three British Royal Navy groups of ships during the Second World War. The first Force K operated from West Africa in 1939, to intercept commerce raiders. The second Force K was formed in October 1941 at Malta, to operate against convoys sailing from Italy to Libya. Axis air attacks on Malta led to Force K being reduced and on 8 April 1942, the last ship of the force was withdrawn. After a convoy was run to Malta in Operation Stoneage Force K was re-established against Axis convoys.
The Malta convoys were Allied supply convoys of the Second World War. The convoys took place during the Siege of Malta in the Mediterranean Theatre. Malta was a base from which British sea and air forces could attack ships carrying supplies from Europe to Italian Libya. Britain fought the Western Desert Campaign against Axis armies in North Africa to keep the Suez Canal and to control Middle Eastern oil. The strategic value of Malta was so great the British risked many merchant vessels and warships to supply the island and the Axis made determined efforts to neutralise the island as an offensive base.
Operation Harpoon was one of two simultaneous Allied convoys sent to supply Malta in the Axis-dominated central Mediterranean Sea in mid-June 1942, during the Second World War. Operation Vigorous was a west-bound convoy from Alexandria and Operation Harpoon was an east-bound convoy operation from Gibraltar.
Operation Vigorous was a British operation during the Second World War, to escort supply convoy MW11 from the eastern Mediterranean to Malta, which took place from 11 to 16 June 1942. Vigorous was part of Operation Julius, a simultaneous operation with Operation Harpoon from Gibraltar and supporting operations. Sub-convoy MW11c sailed from Port Said (Egypt) on 11 June, to tempt the Italian battlefleet to sail early, use up fuel and be exposed to submarine and air attack. MW11a and MW11b sailed next day from Haifa, Port Said and Alexandria; one ship was sent back because of defects. Italian and German (Axis) aircraft attacked MW11c on 12 June and a damaged ship was diverted to Tobruk, just east of Gazala. The merchant ships and escorts rendezvoused on 13 June. The British plans were revealed unwittingly to the Axis by the US Military Attaché in Egypt, Colonel Bonner Fellers, who reported to Washington, D.C. in "Black"-coded wireless messages; it was later discovered that the Black Code had been broken by the Servizio Informazioni Militare.
Operation Halberd was a British naval operation that took place on 27 September 1941, during the Second World War. The British were attempting to deliver a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta. The convoy was escorted by several battleships and an aircraft carrier, to deter interference from the Italian surface fleet, while a close escort of cruisers and destroyers provided an anti-aircraft screen.
The Battle of the Duisburg Convoy, also known as the Battle of the BETA Convoy, was fought on the night of 8/9 November 1941 between an Italian convoy, its escorts and four British ships. The convoy was named "BETA" by the Italian naval authorities and carried supplies for the Italian Army, civilian colonists and the Afrika Korps in Italian Libya.
The Battle of the Espero Convoy on 28 June 1940, was the first surface engagement between Italian and Allied warships of the Second World War. Three 36 kn Italian destroyers made a run from Taranto for Tobruk in Libya to transport Blackshirt anti-tank units, in case of an armoured attack from Egypt by the British.
HMS Kimberley was a K-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served in the Second World War and survived it, being one of only two of the K-class to do so. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Kimberley, after the town of Kimberley, Northern Cape, site of the Siege of Kimberley in the Second Boer War. She was adopted by the civil community of Eastwood, Kimberley and Selston, Nottinghamshire in 1942 after a successful Warship Week campaign for National Savings.
The Battle of Cape Passero (1940), was a Second World War naval engagement between the British light cruiser HMS Ajax and seven torpedo boats and destroyers of the Italian Regia Marina, southeast of Sicily, in the early hours of 12 October 1940. It took place in the aftermath of a British supply operation to Malta.
Operation MB8 was a British Royal Navy operation in the Mediterranean Sea from 4 to 11 November 1940. It was made up of six forces comprising two aircraft carriers, five battleships, 10 cruisers and 30 destroyers, including much of Force H from Gibraltar, protecting four supply convoys. It consisted of Operation Coat, Operation Crack, Convoy MW 3, Convoy ME 3, Convoy AN 6 and the main element Operation Judgement.
The Action in the Strait of Otranto [also the Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1940)] was the destruction of an Italian convoy on 12 November 1940 during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. It took place in the Strait of Otranto in the Adriatic Sea, between the Royal Navy and the Italian Royal Navy.
Operation Portcullis was the voyage of the Allied Convoy MW 14 with supplies to Malta from Port Said in Eygpt during the Second World War. The convoy followed the success of Operation Stoneage which had raised the Siege of Malta. Four merchant ships were escorted to Malta by seven destroyers of the 12th Destroyer Flotilla, supported by three cruisers of the 15th Cruiser Squadron and three destroyers from Alexandria.
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