Force K was the name given to three BritishRoyal 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 Axis air attacks on Malta led to Force K being reduced and on 8 April 1942, the last ship of the force was withdrawn.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 (16–20 November) Force K was re-established against Axis convoys.
Force K was a force composed of the heavy cruisers Norfolk and Devonshire to search for German surface raiders in the South Atlantic between January and February 1941.[2]
Force K (1941)
HMS Aurora in 1938
Force K was re-created on 21 October 1941, with the light cruisersHMSAurora and Penelope and the destroyersLance and Lively, to operate from Malta against Italian ships carrying supplies to the Axis forces in North Africa.[3] On the night of 8/9 November 1941, in the Battle of the Duisburg Convoy, Force K sank the convoy, forcing Comando Supremo, the supreme command of the Italian armed forces, to consider Tripoli "practically blockaded". Convoys to Tripoli were suspended, only Benghazi remaining in use.[4][5] Soon afterwards, Force K was reinforced at Malta by Force B, comprising the light cruisers HMSAjax and Neptune and the destroyersHMSKandahar and Jaguar. The combined force was so effective that in November 1941, the Axis supply line suffered 60 per cent losses.[6]
HMS Lance entering Grand Harbour, Malta
On 19 December, at about the time of the First Battle of Sirte, ships from both forces ran into an Italian minefield (including German deep water mines) while pursuing an Italian convoy.[7]Neptune was sunk and Aurora damaged.[6] The destroyer Kandahar also struck a mine while attempting to assist Neptune and was scuttled the next day by the destroyer Jaguar. Following this and with a resurgence of the Axis aerial bombardment of Malta, the remaining surface ships were withdrawn, except for Penelope, which was too badly damaged to leave. Frequent air attacks while she remained in harbour earned Penelope the nickname "HMS Pepperpot"; the light cruiser sailed for Gibraltar on 8 April 1942, terminating the second Force K.[8]
Force K (1942)
HMS Cleopatra (photographed in 1945 IWM FL 5210)
Operation Stoneage (16–20 November 1942), a convoy to re-victual Malta, was unloaded in record time.[9] The supplies brought to Malta enabled the third Force K to be established on 27 November, with the cruisers HMSCleopatra, Dido, Euryalus and four ships of the 14th Destroyer Flotilla.[10]Stephen Roskill, the official historian of the Royal Navy, wrote in 1962 that the arrival of Stoneage ended the two-year siege of Malta. Submarines were transferred from Magic Carpet rides (supply runs) to offensive operations and at the end of November, 821 Naval Air Squadron (Albacores) transferred to Malta as did Force K; a Motor Torpedo Boat flotilla arrived soon afterwards.[11]
Another cruiser and destroyer force began to operate from Bône in Algeria, which, from 1 December, enabled the Navy to attack Axis convoys to Tunisia from both directions.[12] In 2003, Richard Woodman wrote that Stoneage delivered 35,000 short tons (32,000t) of supplies, which advanced the deadline at which Malta would be compelled to surrender for lack of supplies to mid-December. The Eighth Army had expelled the Axis forces from Egypt and Cyrenaica, having entered Benghazi on 20 November. In Tunisia, the First Army was about 40mi (64km) from Bizerta, preparing for its next advance. Allied success on land made convoy operations much safer and Operation Portcullis, the next Malta convoy, arrived safely on 5 December.[11]
Playfair, I. S. O.; Flynn, F. C.; Molony, C. J. C. & Toomer, S. E. (2004) [1956]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Germans come to the help of their Ally (1941). History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Vol.II (repr. Naval & Military Pressed.). London: HMSO. ISBN1-84574-066-1.
Playfair, I. S. O.; Flynn, F. C.; Molony, C. J. C. & Gleave, T. P. (2004a) [1960]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: British Fortunes reach their Lowest Ebb (September 1941 to September 1942). History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol.III (pbk. repr. Naval & Military Pressed.). HMSO. ISBN1-84574-067-X.
Playfair, I. S. O.; Flynn, F. C.; Molony, C. J. C. & Gleave, T. P. (2004b) [1966]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol.IV. Uckfield: Naval & Military Press. ISBN1-84574-068-8.
Smith, Peter C.; Dominy, John R. (1980). Cruisers In Action 1939-1945. London: William Kimber. ISBN0718302184.
Stegemann, B.; etal. (2015) [1995]. "Part I Chapter 3: The Strategic Dilemma of the summer and Autumn of 1940: An Alternative or Interim Strategy c. The Offensive against Sidi Barrani". In Falla, P. S. (ed.). The Mediterranean, South-East Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941: From Italy's Declaration of non-Belligerence to the Entry of the United States into the War. Germany and the Second World War. Vol.III. Translated by McMurry, D. S.; Osers, E.; Willmot, L. (2nd pbk. trans. Oxford University Press, Oxforded.). Freiburg im Breisgau: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt. ISBN978-0-19-873832-9.
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 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 Battle of the Barents Sea was a World War II naval engagement on 31 December 1942 between warships of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) and British ships escorting Convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR. The action took place in the Barents Sea north of North Cape, Norway. The German raiders' failure to inflict significant losses on the convoy infuriated Hitler, who ordered that German naval strategy would henceforth concentrate on the U-boat fleet rather than surface ships.
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 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. The engagement was inconclusive as both forces were protecting convoys and wished to avoid battle.
Operation Collar was a small, fast three-ship convoy during the Second World War. The convoy left Britain on 12 November 1940 and passed Gibraltar on 24 November, escorted by two cruisers, two ships for Malta and one bound for Alexandria. Numerous other operations took place partly as diversions and the Italian Fleet sailed to attack British ships, leading to the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento on 27 November. The two merchant ships reached Malta on 26 November.
Operation Stoneage or Operation Stone Age was an Allied convoy operation to the Mediterranean island of Malta in the Second World War. To disguise the destination of the ships, some took on their cargo at Port Sudan in the Red Sea. The four ships of Convoy MW 13 sailed from Alexandria on 16 November, escorted by cruisers, destroyers and round-the-clock air cover from captured airfields in Egypt and Cyrenaica.
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 MW 11 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 MW 11c 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. Convoy MW 11a and Convoy MW 11b sailed next day from Haifa, Port Said and Alexandria; one ship was sent back because of defects. Italian and German (Axis) aircraft attacked Convoy MW 11c 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 Substance was a British naval operation in July 1941 during the Second World War to escort Convoy GM 1, the first of the series from Gibraltar to Malta. The convoy, escorted by Force H, was attacked by Italian submarines, aircraft and MAS boats.
The Battle of the Duisburg 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 dash from Taranto for Tobruk in Libya to transport Blackshirt anti-tank units, in case of an armoured attack from Egypt by the British.
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.
Club Run was an informal name for aircraft ferry operations from Gibraltar to Malta during the Siege of Malta from 1940 to 1942 during the Second World War. Malta was half-way between Gibraltar to Alexandria and had the only harbour controlled by the British in the area. Malta had docks, repair facilities, reserves and stores, which had been built up since the cession of the island to Britain in 1814. Malta had become an important staging post for aircraft and a base for air reconnaissance over the central Mediterranean.
Operation Calendar was an Anglo–American operation in the Second World War to deliver 52 Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft to Malta. Spitfires were necessary to challenge Axis air superiority over Malta because they had the performance that Hurricane fighters lacked. Aircraft carriers were necessary to get fighter aircraft to positions in the western Mediterranean from which they had the range to reach Malta but British aircraft carriers were busy elsewhere, under repair or too small to deliver enough Spitfires to be effective.
Operation Bowery was an Anglo-American operation during the Second World War to deliver fighter aircraft to Malta, an operation known informally as a Club Run. Spitfires were needed to replace the remaining obsolete Hurricane fighters, to defend Malta from Axis air raids.
Operation Portcullis was the voyage of the Allied Convoy MW 14 with supplies to Malta from Port Said in Egypt 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.
Operation Hurry was the first British operation in a series that have come to be known as Club Runs. The goal of the operation was to fly twelve Hurricane Mk I fighters from HMS Argus to Malta, guided by two Blackburn Skuas. Force H, based in Gibraltar, took the opportunity to raid Elmas airfield in Sardinia and conduct a deception operation with HMS Enterprise. The Mediterranean Fleet conducted diversions in the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea.
Force B was the name of several British Royal Navy task forces during the Second World War.
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