Operation Harpoon (1942)

The operations Vigorous and Harpoon were British convoy operations in the Mediterranean during World War II from June 2 to June 16, 1942. Goal of surgery is to supply the besieged Malta with supplies was.

Course of the battle

Both of Alexandria ("Operation Vigorous ") and Gibraltar ("Operation Harpoon " ) ran from British convoys to Malta, which were initially opposed by the Axis Powers from the air. On June 14, left naval forces under Admiral da Zara the ports of Messina and Taranto ( 2 battleships, 4 cruisers, 10 destroyers ) to intercept the convoy. The British responded with air strikes, and later for the first time in the Mediterranean, with the support of the Americans, the USAAF bombers attacked with type B -24 " Liberator ". The Allies initially damaged the cruiser Trento and the battleship Littorio, the axis powers sank the destroyer HMS Hasty and damaged the cruiser HMS Newcastle difficult. On June 16, a British submarine sank the Italian cruiser Trento unmaneuverable, on the Allied side lost to the destroyer HMS Airedale and HMS Nestor and the cruiser HMS Hermione. Two other cruisers were damaged.

Also the convoy from Gibraltar suffered significant losses. Italian cruiser damaged the destroyer HMS Bedouin initially ( then sunk by the Italian Air Force ) and HMS Partridge, later other ships were damaged or sunk by air attacks. Other Allied losses were in Italian minefields.

Follow

The Mediterranean battle in June 1942 was a limited success of the Axis powers. Only three merchant ships and four destroyers reached Malta. But while the supply problem on the Allied side was limited to Malta, a chronic, general supply problem has developed on the part of the Axis Powers. Italian convoys suffered on the way to North Africa because the British Ultra Secret significant losses. The naval battle in June 1942 meant the last holding of the Italian battle fleet to major fighting. Due to lack of fuel, the Italian battleships remained in the sequence in the ports.