Themes

Article Highlights

• Introduction

• Battle of Calabria

• Battle of Matapan

• Operation Pedestal

Operation Pedestal

Operation Pedestal was the convoy to Malta in August 1942 that became the epitome of the dangers Mediterranean convoys were to encounter. The Mediterranean was the most dangerous theatre of operations with the highest amount of RN warship losses in the War.

In the Mediterranean from 1940-1942 the Royal Navy was fighting an enemy with greater air superiority. Admiralty knew that Malta as the hub of the British Mediterranean strategy needed sustaining.

In 1942, the situation in Malta was getting very desperate because of the failure of the two previous convoys, so officials decided to implement a fast heavily escorted convoy from Gibraltar. Operation Pedestal would be the designation of this fast convoy, comprising of thirteen freighters and the oil tanker Ohio. The escort was massive comprising of the battleships Nelson (Flag under Admiral E.N.Syfret) and Rodney, three aircraft carriers, seven cruisers and twenty-four destroyers.

This fast convoy would have to run the gauntlet of Axis Aircraft; dive bombers, torpedo bombers and high level bombers, submarines and surface craft, in fact the enemy would throw everything they had against this convoy. The main body of the escort would have to turn back at the Skerki Channel, leaving only four cruisers and twelve destroyers with the convoy, even Malta was not worth the risk of exposing capital ships to the full fury of the German Luftwaffe. After the main escort had left, enemy submarines moved in and did the worse damage, the cruisers Cairo and Manchester were sunk, Nigeria and Kenya badly damaged and eight of the surviving merchant ships were destroyed. Earlier four torpedoes from a U-boat had sunk the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle sinking her in less then 10 minutes.

Malta Convoy under attack, August 1941 (RNM)

Only four merchant ships would eventually get through into Malta with the tanker Ohio. Her precious cargo of 10,000 tons of fuel oil had survived, despite the best efforts of German Stukas and JU88’s to finish her off. Spitfires from Malta saw off the German aircraft, which finally saved the Ohio although a 1000lb bomb did hole her in the final attack.

The stricken Ohio entered Grand Harbour Malta on 15 August, heavily damaged and lashed between two destroyers to keep her afloat; outstanding seamanship had won the day. The tide of fortune had turned for the Allied cause in the tideless Mediterranean.

Operation Pedestal, Malta, August 1942. People and Army band watching merchant ship Melbourne Star enter Valetta Harbour unscathed (RNM)