Malta 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.
The civilian population and the garrison required imports of food, medical supplies, fuel and equipment; the military forces on the island needed reinforcements, ammunition and spare parts. British convoys were escorted to Malta by ships of the Mediterranean Fleet, Force H and aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force, during the Battle of the Mediterranean. British and Allied ships were attacked by the Italian Regia Aeronautica and Regia Marina in 1940 and from 1941, by the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine.
In 1942, the British assembled large flotillas of warships to escort Malta convoys, sent fast warships to make solo runs to the island and organised Magic Carpet supply runs by submarine. Hurricane and then Spitfire fighters were flown to Malta from aircraft carriers on Club Runs from Gibraltar towards Malta. In mid-1942, Axis air attacks on the island and on supply convoys neutralised Malta as an offensive base and an Axis invasion, Operation Herkules, was set for mid-July 1942 but cancelled.
The siege of Malta eased after the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein. The Axis retreat from Egypt and Cyrenaica brought more of the seas around Malta into range of Allied land-based aircraft. In Operation Stoneage, which began after Operation Torch, round the clock air cover was possible and all the merchant ships reached Malta. Mediterranean convoys were resumed to supply the advancing British forces, from which ships for Malta were detached and escorted to and from the island.
Background
Malta, 1940–1941
, a Mediterranean island of had been a British colony since 1814. By the 1940s, the island had a population of 275,000 but local farmers could feed only one-third of the population, the deficit being made up by imports. Malta was a staging post on the British Suez Canal sea route to India, East Africa, the oilfields of Iraq and Iran, India and the Far East. The island was also close to the Sicilian Channel between Sicily and Tunis. Malta was also a base for air, sea and submarine operations against Axis supply convoys by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm.Central Mediterranean, 1942
Military operations from Malta and using 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. Resources available to sustain Malta were reduced when Japan declared war in December 1941, and conducted the Indian Ocean raid in April 1942. Malta was neutralised as an offensive base against Italian convoys by the attacks of the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe in early 1942. Several warships were sunk in Valletta harbour and others were withdrawn to Gibraltar and Egypt. Food and medicines for the Maltese population and the British garrison dwindled along with fuel, ammunition and spare parts with the success of Axis attacks on Malta convoys. The Italian Operation C3 and the Axis Unternehmen Herkules invasion plans against Malta were prepared but then cancelled on 16 June 1942.Battle of the Mediterranean
The Allies waged the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa, against the Axis forces of Italy aided by Germany, which sent the Deutsches Afrika Korps and substantial Luftwaffe detachments to the Mediterranean in late 1940. Up to the end of the year, with of cargo reached Malta without loss and a reserve of seven months' supplies had been accumulated. Three convoy operations to Malta in 1941 lost one merchant ship. From January 1941 to August 1942, ships delivered but were sunk and modern, efficient, merchant ships, naval and air forces had been diverted from other routes for long periods; thirty-one supply runs by submarines were also conducted. Reinforcements for Malta, included Runs, risky aircraft carrier ferry operations to deliver fighters. From August 1940 to the end of August 1942, and Spitfire fighters were flown off aircraft carriers in the western Mediterranean. Many other aircraft used Malta as a staging post for North Africa and the Desert Air Force.Prelude
When Italy declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940, the Taranto Naval Squadron did not sail to occupy Malta as suggested by Admiral Carlo Bergamini. With Italian bases in Sicily, British control of Malta was made more difficult from its bases in Gibraltar to the west and Cyprus, Egypt and Palestine to the east, which were much further away. Two weeks later, the Second Armistice at Compiègne ended British access to Mediterranean Sea bases in France and passage to Mediterranean colonies. The British attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940 against French naval ships, began an informal war between Vichy France and Britain. Axis support for General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War also caused the British to be apprehensive about the security of the British base at Gibraltar. It was soon clear that unlike the Atlantic, where the war was fought by U-boats and surface and air escorts, operations in the Mediterranean would depend on air power and the possession of land bases to operate the aircraft.Events on land in Greece, Crete, Libya and the rest of the south shore of the Mediterranean would have great influence on the security of sea communications by both sides. An Italian conquest of Egypt could link Abyssinia, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea. The Italian invasion of Egypt in September 1940, was followed by Operation Compass, a British counter-offensive in December, which led to the destruction of the Italian 10th Army and the conquest of Cyrenaica in January 1941. Hitler transferred the Fliegerkorps X to Sicily in Unternehmen Mittelmeer to protect the Axis supply routes past Malta, and sent the Afrika Korps to Libya in Unternehmen Sonnenblume which, with Italian reinforcements, recaptured Cyrenaica. Fliegerkorps X was transferred to Greece in April 1941 and the 23rd U-boat Flotilla was based at Salamis, near Athens, in September.
First year
July 1940
In the Battle of Calabria, Regia Marina escorts of an Italian convoy engaged the battleships,, and the aircraft carrier. The British cruisers and destroyers covered two convoys heading from Malta to Alexandria. The first, Malta Fast 1 /Malta East 1, was composed of El Nil, Knight of Malta and Rodi; the second, Malta Slow 1 /ME 1 was composed of Kirkland, Masirah, Novasli, Tweed and Zeeland.August 1940
Operation Hurry
Using an aircraft carrier to ferry land-based aircraft to Malta had been discussed by the Admiralty in July and once Italy had declared war, the reinforcement of Malta could be delayed no longer. The training aircraft carrier was used to despatch twelve Hurricanes to Malta from a position to the south-west of Sardinia. Hurry was the first Club Run to reinforce the air defence of the island, despite the British Chiefs of Staff decision two months earlier that nothing could be done to reinforce Malta. Club Runs continued until it was possible to fly the aircraft direct from Gibraltar.September 1940
Operation Hats
The Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria escorted the fast Convoy MF 2 of three freighters carrying of supplies, including reinforcements and ammunition for anti-aircraft guns and met at Malta another convoy from Gibraltar. En route, Italian airbases were raided; the Regia Marina had superior forces at sea but missed the opportunity to exploit their advantage.October 1940
Operation MB 6
Four ships of Convoy MF 3 reached Malta safely from Alexandria and three ships returned to Alexandria as Convoy MF 4. The convoys were part of Operation MB 6 and the escort included four battleships and two aircraft carriers. An Italian attempt against the returning escort by destroyers and torpedo boats ended in the Battle of Cape Passero, a British success.November 1940
Operation Judgement
The five ship Convoy MW 3 from Alexandria and four ship return Convoy ME 3 arrived safely, coinciding with a troop convoy from Gibraltar and the air attack on the Italian battle fleet at the Battle of Taranto.Operation White
In Operation White, twelve Hurricanes were flown off Argus to reinforce Malta but the threat of the Italian fleet lurking south of Sardinia prompted a premature fly-off from Argus and its return to Gibraltar. Eight Hurricanes ran out of fuel and ditched at sea, with seven pilots lost. An enquiry found that the Hurricane pilots had been insufficiently trained about the range and endurance of their aircraft.Operation Collar
Operation Collar was intended to combine the passage of a battleship, heavy cruiser and light cruiser with mechanical defects from Alexandria to Gibraltar, with a four-ship Convoy MW 4 to Malta and the sailing of ME 4 from Malta comprising Cornwall and the four empty ships from Convoy MW 3, escorted by a cruiser and three destroyers. Attacks on Italian airfields in the Aegean and North Africa were to be made at the same time. Three ships at Gibraltar, two bound for Malta and one for Alexandria were to be escorted by the cruisers and. Operation MB 9 from Alexandria began on 23 November, when Convoy MW 4 with four ships sailed with eight destroyer escorts, covered by Force E of three cruisers. Force D comprising a battleship and two cruisers sailed on 24 November and next day, two more battleships, an aircraft carrier, two cruisers and four destroyers of Force C departed Alexandria. MW 4 reached Malta without incident; ME 4 had sailed on 26 November, two destroyers returned to Malta; the cruiser and one destroyer saw the freighters into Alexandria and Port Said on 30 November.Force F from Gibraltar was to pass 1,400 soldiers and RAF personnel from Gibraltar to Alexandria in the two cruisers, slip two supply ships into Malta and one to Crete. The other warships destined for the reinforcement of the fleet at Alexandria were to be sent on, the cruisers being accompanied by two destroyers and four corvettes. Force B provided the covering force with the battlecruiser Renown, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the cruisers Sheffield and Despatch, and nine destroyers. The destroyers and corvettes left Alexandria on the night of 23/24 November to rendezvous with the merchant ships and their destroyer escorts from Britain. The cruisers embarked the troops and RAF personnel, leaving Gibraltar on 25 November. The British were unaware that Italian reconnaissance aircraft had spotted the sorties from both ends of the Mediterranean and set up submarine ambushes. Two Italian battleships, three cruisers and two destroyer flotillas had left harbour, more cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats following. Force D was attacked on the night of 26/27 November but the attack was so ineffectual that the British did not notice. On 27 November, aircraft from Force F spotted the Italian battle fleet, the force headed for Force D and prepared to defend the merchant ships, in what became a confused and inconclusive engagement. Two Italian submarines attacked three cruisers in the Sicilian Narrows as they waited for the eastbound convoy on the night of 27/28 November to no effect and the two ships for Malta arrived on 29 November, as Force H returned to Gibraltar and the through convoy and naval ships reached Alexandria.