The Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11/12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham, and Italian naval forces, under Admiral Inigo Campioni. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, employing 21 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean Sea.
HMS Newfoundland was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. Named after the Dominion of Newfoundland, she participated in the Second World War and was later sold to the Peruvian Navy and renamed BAP Almirante Grau.
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.
HMS Forth, pennant number F04 later A187, was a submarine depot ship.
HMS Maidstone was a submarine depot ship of the Royal Navy. She operated in the Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. She was later used as a barracks ship and then a prison ship in Northern Ireland.
HMS Legion was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She entered service during the Second World War, and had a short but eventful career, serving in Home waters and the Mediterranean. She was sunk in an air attack on Malta in 1942. The ship had been adopted by the British civil community of the Municipal Borough of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in November 1941.
HMS Sirius was a Dido-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Portsmouth Dockyard, with the keel being laid down on 6 April 1938. She was launched on 18 September 1940, and commissioned 6 May 1942.
HMS Ursa was a U-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War. She was later converted into a Type 15 fast anti-submarine frigate, with the new pennant number F200.
The second HMS Talisman (N78), and the first to enter service under the name, was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead and launched on 29 January 1940.
HMS Tigris was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down at Chatham Dockyard and launched in October 1939.
HMS Tudor was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built as P326 at Devonport Dockyard, and launched on 23 September 1942. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Tudor, after the Tudor period or Tudor dynasty.
HMS Urge was a British U-class submarine, of the second group of that class, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 30 October 1939, and was commissioned on 12 December 1940. From 1941 to 1942 she formed part of the 10th Submarine Flotilla based in Malta and spent most of her career operating in the Mediterranean, where she damaged and sank enemy warships and merchant vessels and undertook both SBS and SIS special operations. She was commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Edward Philip Tomkinson, DSO, RN. She was lost with all hands and a number of naval passengers on 27 April 1942 after striking a German mine off Malta.
HMSOlympus was an Odin-class submarine, a class originally designed for the Royal Australian Navy to cope with long distance patrolling in Pacific waters. Olympus was built to the same design for the Royal Navy. She served from 1931 to 1939 on the China Station and 1939-1940 out of Colombo. In 1940 she went to the Mediterranean. She was sunk by a mine off Malta in May 1942 killing 89 crew. 9 survivors: Herbert Rawlings,
HMS Usurper (P56) was a Royal Navy U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrongs at High Walker. So far, she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Usurper.
HMS Pandora was a British Parthian-class submarine commissioned in 1930 and lost in 1942 during the Second World War. This class was the first to be fitted with Mark VIII torpedoes. On 4 July 1940 she torpedoed and sank the French aviso Rigault de Genouilly off the Algerian coast. In an extension of the Lend-Lease program, Pandora, along with three other British and French submarines, was overhauled at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in the United States. She was sunk on 1 April 1942 by Junkers Ju 87 aircraft from Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 at the Valletta dockyard, Malta.
HMS Phoenix was a Parthian-class submarine of the Royal Navy, launched in 1929. She was the eighteenth warship of the Royal Navy to use the name Phoenix. She served on the China Station from her commissioning until the start of the Second World War. Phoenix was then relocated to the Mediterranean Sea and was sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Albatros on 16 July 1940.
HMS Pakenham (G06) was a P-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy built and operated during World War II. Commissioned in early 1942, she took part in the invasion of Madagascar, and several Malta Convoys, before being disabled in a battle with Italian torpedo boats in April 1943 and scuttled.
Italian submarine Dagabur was an Adua-class submarine built for the Royal Italian Navy during the 1930s. It was named after the town of Dagabur in eastern Ethiopia. The submarine played a minor role in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, supporting the Spanish Nationalists. On August 11, 1942, during World War II, Dagabur was rammed by destroyer HMS Wolverine and sank with all hands.
Captain Michael Lindsay Coulton "Tubby" Crawford DSC & Bar was an officer in the Royal Navy and submariner.
World War II was the first war where naval aviation took a major part in the hostilities. Aircraft carriers were used from the start of the war in Europe looking for German merchant raiders and escorting convoys. Offensive operations began with the Norwegian campaign where British carriers supported the fighting on land.
United Kingdom
