Malta Channel separates the European island of Malta from the southern tip of Sicily. The channel serves as a sea route link to Europe for the Maltese. Virtu Ferries takes people and cars from Malta to Italy and vice versa.
The channel has a maximum width of 102km (63mi), while at the narrowest point it measures about 81km (50mi). Characterized by relatively shallow waters, it has a maximum depth of 171m (561ft). The seabed, slightly deeper at the southern Maltese end, tends to rise as one approaches the Sicilian coasts.
The English Channel, also known as simply the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest shipping area in the world.
The geography of Italy includes the description of all the physical geographical elements of Italy. Italy, whose territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region, is located in southern Europe and comprises the long, boot-shaped Italian Peninsula crossed by the Apennines, the southern side of Alps, the large plain of the Po Valley and some islands including Sicily and Sardinia. Italy is part of the Northern Hemisphere. Two of the Pelagie Islands are located on the African continent.
The geography of Malta is dominated by water. Malta is an archipelago of coralline limestone, located in Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea, 81 kilometres south of Sicily, Italy, and nearly 300 km north (Libya) and northeast (Tunisia) of Africa. Although Malta is situated in Southern Europe, it is located farther south than Tunis, capital of Tunisia, Algiers, capital of Algeria, Tangier in Morocco and also Aleppo in Syria, and Mosul in Iraq in the Middle East. Only the three largest islands – Malta, Gozo and Comino – are inhabited. Other (uninhabited) islands are: Cominotto, Filfla and the St.Paul's Islands. The country is approximately 316 km2 in area. Numerous bays along the indented coastline of the islands provide harbours. The landscape of the islands is characterised by high hills with terraced fields. The highest point, at 253 metres, Ta' Zuta on mainland Malta. The capital is Valletta.
The Java Sea is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its northwest links it to the South China Sea. It is a part of the western Pacific Ocean.
HMS Intrepid was one of nine I-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s.
HMS Hostile (H55) was an H-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the 1930s. She was the first and so far only Royal Navy ship to bear the name Hostile. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 the ship spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. She was transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in October 1939 to hunt for German commerce raiders in the South Atlantic with Force K. Hostile participated in the First Battle of Narvik in April 1940 and the Battle of Calabria in July 1940. The ship was damaged by a mine off Cape Bon in the Strait of Sicily while on passage from Malta to Gibraltar on 23 August 1940. She was then scuttled by HMS Hero.
HMS Grenade (H86) was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. She was transferred from the Mediterranean Fleet shortly after the beginning of World War II for service in home waters. The ship participated in the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940. German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers sank Grenade as she evacuated Allied troops during Operation Dynamo on 29 May 1940.
HMS Havock was an H-class destroyer built for the British Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, the ship enforced the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides as part of the Mediterranean Fleet. During the first few months of the Second World War, Havock searched for German commerce raiders in the Atlantic Ocean and participated in the First Battle of Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign of April–June 1940 before she was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet in May where she escorted a number of convoys to Malta. The ship took part in the Battle of Cape Spada in July 1940, the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and the evacuation of Greece in April 1941. She was damaged during the Battle of Crete the following month, but participated in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign in June.
HMS Maori was a Tribal-class destroyer named after the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. She served with the United Kingdom Mediterranean Fleet during World War II until she was bombed and sunk by German aircraft while at Malta in 1942. Her wreck was later raised and scuttled outside the Grand Harbour. The wreck is now a dive site.
Tsushima Strait or Eastern Channel is a channel of the Korea Strait, which lies between Korea and Japan, connecting the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea.
HMS Icarus was one of nine I-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s.
HMS Greyhound was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the 1930s. Greyhound participated in the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, the Dunkirk evacuation in May and the Battle of Dakar in September before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in November. The ship generally escorted the larger ships of the Mediterranean Fleet as they protected convoys against attacks from the Italian Fleet. She sank two Italian submarines while escorting convoys herself in early 1941. Greyhound was sunk by German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers north-west of Crete on 22 May 1941 as she escorted the battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet attempting to intercept the German sea-borne invasion forces destined for Crete.
HMS Diamond was a D-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. The ship spent the bulk of her career on the China Station. She was briefly assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1939 before she was transferred to West Africa for convoy escort duties. Diamond returned to the Mediterranean Fleet in early 1940 where she generally escorted convoys to and from Malta. The ship participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in November. Diamond was sunk by German aircraft on 27 April 1941 whilst evacuating Allied troops from Greece.
HMS Decoy was a D-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Ordered in 1931, the ship was constructed by John I. Thornycroft & Company, and entered naval service in 1933. Decoy was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet before she was transferred to the China Station in early 1935. She was temporarily deployed in the Red Sea during late 1935 during the Abyssinia Crisis, before returning to her duty station where she remained until mid-1939. Decoy was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet just before the Second World War began in September 1939. She briefly was assigned to West Africa for convoy escort duties in 1940 before returning to the Mediterranean. The ship participated in the Battles of Calabria without significant damage and escorted ships of the Mediterranean Fleet for most of the rest of the year.
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 modern 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.
Greece is a country of the Balkans, in Southeastern Europe, bordered to the north by Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria; to the east by Turkey, and is surrounded to the east by the Aegean Sea, to the south by the Cretan and the Libyan seas, and to the west by the Ionian Sea which separates Greece from Italy.
The Gozo Channel is short stretch of Mediterranean Sea separating the Maltese island of Gozo from the northern tip of Malta.
Aviere ("Airman") was one of seventeen Soldati-class destroyers, built for the Regia Marina in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Ascari was one of nineteen Soldati-class destroyers built for the Regia Marina in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Completed in mid-1939, she was the last of the first batch of a dozen ships to enter service.
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