Operation Pedestal
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Operation Pedestal was a British attempt to get vital supplies to the island of Malta during World War II in mid-1942 during the height of the Axis siege of Malta. The British knew that Malta would have to capitulate if the flow of desperately needed fuel and ammunition did not reach its forces here. The convoy is also known as the Battle of Mid-August and, in Malta, as the Santa Marija ConvoyTemplate:Ref.
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Background
Previous convoys such as Harpoon (from Gibraltar) and Vigorous (from Egypt) had most of the merchantmen sunk and their cargoes lost and their escorts damaged.
The supplies were to be carried in a convoy of fourteen merchant ships. Key among them was the SS Ohio, the only large tanker available (and the largest tanker in the world at the time). In case it was lost, the others would carry some fuel supplies in the form of drums. So that the convoy could get through it was to be protected by a huge force of warships, including two battleships, three aircraft carriers, seven cruisers and thirty-two destroyers. Once they reached the Sicily channel, Z Force (the battleships, the aircraft carriers, and three cruisers) were to return Gibraltar, while the convoy was to continue on to Malta with the remaining four cruisers and the destroyers escorting. The operation started on 9 August 1942, when the convoy sailed through the Pillars of Hercules.
The Regia Marina, on their side, had the problem of low diesel oil reserves, which kept the largest vessels in the Italian ports, reducing their scope for operations. When the British convoy was detected, it was decided to attack it with German and Italian aircraft based in Sardinia, then send ten submarines into the Sicily channel; one Italian cruiser division was to deliver the final attack. To allow this to happen diesel oil was transferred from the battleships' tanks to the cruisers.
Operation timeline
11th August
1pm: The German submarine U-73 sneaks through the destroyer screen of thirteen vessels, and sinks the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle using four torpedoes.
HMS Furious launches her shipment of Supermarine Spitfires, which fly on to Malta for the defence of the island. Her part of the mission complete, Furious turns back for Gibraltar.
The destroyer HMS Wolverine (escorting Furious) detects, rams and sinks the Italian submarine Dagabur. Wolverine's bow is seriously damaged, but the vessel is able to make Gibraltar for repairs.
8pm: An air attack by Italian (S.84, CR.42, C.202, and Re.2001) fighters and bombers against the aircraft carriers damages the flight deck of HMS Victorious.
Allied aircraft from Malta make attacks on Sicilian airfields to damage, deter, or draw off Axis planes.
12th August
The Italian cruiser division, formed of three heavy cruisers (Gorizia, Bolzano, and Trieste), three light cruisers (Eugenio di Savoia, Raimondo Montecuccoli, and Muzio Attendolo) and seventeen destroyers set sail to meet the British convoy.
The carriers were flying off Fulmars and Sea Hurricanes as air cover. The first air attack by 19 Ju88s was met by AA fire and these fighters. Four bombers were claimed for the loss of a fighter and two were shot down by the escorting ships.
The submarine Brin was driven off by destroyers.
A Short Sunderland flying boat attacked the Giada which was waiting for the convoy off Algiers, damaging it. The Giada was attacked again later by another flying boat which caused more damage, the Brin was able to bring down the flying boat with its own defences.
At noon, another air attack came in of Italian and German bombers and Italian fighters. The attacks deviated from their planned timetable and the convoy got brief respites rather than enduring a continuous wave of attacks. A freighter the Deucalion was the only victim.
From 1400 to 1900 the destroyers dropped depth charges to the port and starboard every 10 minutes to deter the submarines.
5pm: the Italian submarine Cobalto having already been damaged by depth charges from the destroyer screen surfaced and was promplty rammed and sunk by HMS Ithuriel which then picked up 3 officers and 38 crew.
Z Force less Wilton prepared to turn back to Gibraltar. Another Axis air attack arrived. A high level attack was cancelled due to lack of escorts, but dive bombers sank a merchant ship. HMS Indomitable was struck several times killing some 50 crew and damaging the flight deck and hanger and causing flooding. As a result, Indomitable's aircraft had to land on Victorious. The aircraft already on her deck were pushed into the sea to make room. Unable to take any more part in the operation, Indomitable turns back to Gibraltar with an escort formed up of Charybdis, Lookout, Lightning and Solami within a couple of hours she was back up to 28 knots. In the same air attack the destroyer HMS Foresight was sunk.
Victorious was able to put a patrol up in the air again by 18:20
8pm: Italian submarine Axum launched four torpedoes, sinking the cruiser HMS Cairo and damaging the oil tanker SS Ohio and the cruiser HMS Nigeria. A combined Italian-German air attack sank two merchant ships.
9pm: Italian submarine Alagi sank a merchant ship and damaged the cruiser HMS Kenya; another submarine, the Bronzo, sank another merchant ship, Deucalion. Nigeria and the other damaged ships turned back to Gibraltar with Wilton and Bicester as escorts.
Other submarines, the Emo, Avorio and Dandolo among them were driven off by depth charges.
13th August
Passing Tunisia, the convoy is subjected to attack by torpedo boats. The cruiser HMS Manchester is hit at 1 am by torpedoes leaving her dead and the water and listing. She restored power and some of her crew were transferred to Pathfinder but she was later scuttled. Six merchant ships were sunk by torpedoes during the attacks
Marshal Kesselring, commander of the German Air Command based in Sicily, denied air coverage to the Italian cruiser division, having little regard for the fighting capability of the Regia Marina, and preferring to use his aircraft for direct attacks on the British convoy. Without the protection of the aircraft, and considering the proximity of the air base of Malta, the Supermarina (the Regia Marina High Command) decided to withdraw the cruisers to Messina. They pass the area of the submarines Safari and Unbroken. The latter lies in wait and fires torpedoes. The Bolzano is struck in her oil tank and runs aground, the Attendolo loses 60 feet of bow. Neither is in action again before the end of the war.
6.46pm: A Junker 88 attack hits Ohio, which is severely damaged and reduced to 4 knots.
The convoy is now with range of Spitfires and Beaufighters from Malta.
Aftermath
Image:The ohio.jpg Axis air and sea attacks sank nine of the cargo ships as well as one aircraft carrier (Eagle), two cruisers (Manchester and Cairo), and one destroyer (Foresight).
The British claimed one Italian submarine and thirty-nine aircraft. Ohio under Capt. Dudley Mason GC, then the world's largest oil tanker capable of doing over 16 knots, suffered seven direct hits and twenty near misses and lost all power, but was taken under tow by three destroyers (HMS Penn, HMS Ledbury and HMS Bramham) and arrived in port on 15 August.
The arrival of the oil and supplies lifted the siege of Malta. By transferring fighters from the carriers to Malta, the British re-established a creditable air garrison on the island. Malta exerted a block of Axis supplies to North Africa immediately before the Second Battle of El Alamein.
The Forces
Allied
British ships taking part in this operation included:
- Battleships:
- Aircraft Carriers:
- Eagle (sunk)
- Victorious
- Indomitable (damaged)
- Furious (carrying land-operating Spitfires as reinforcements for the island.)
- Cruisers:
- Destroyers:
- Merchant Ships
- SS Almeria Lykes
- MV Brisbane Star (damaged, arrived 14 August)
- MV Clan Ferguson
- MV Deucalion
- MV Dorset
- MV Empire Hope
- MV Glenorchy
- MV Melbourne Star (arrived 13 August)
- SS Ohio (fuel tanker, damaged, arrived 15 August)
- MV Port Chalmers (arrived 13 August)
- MV Rochester Castle (damaged, arrived 13 August)
- SS Santa Elisa (freighter, drums of fuel, sunk)
- SS Waimarana (freighter, drums of fuel, sunk)
- MV Wairangi
Notes
- Template:NoteThe arrival of the last of the convoy on August 15 1942 coincided with the Feast of the Assumption (Santa Marija) and to this day the convoy is known in Malta as the Santa Marija Convoy or Sta Marija Convoy. The public holiday and celebrations which occur on that day are in part carried out in celebration of the arrival of the convoy. For the fortitude and courage of the Maltese during the siege, the island and people of Malta were awarded the George Cross.