Malta convoys

Malta convoys
Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean
Relief map of the Mediterranean Sea
Operational scope	Supply operations
Location	Malta
Planned by	Mediterranean Fleet RAF Middle East (RAF Middle East Command from 29 December 1941) Merchant Navy Allies
Commanded by	Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, 1 June 1939 – March 1942 Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, 22 April 1942 – February 1943
Objective	Break of the Siege of Malta
Date	27 June 1940 – 31 December 1943
Outcome	Allied victory
Casualties	1,600 civilians on Malta 5,700 service personnel on land, sea and in the air Aircraft: 707 Merchant ships: 31 sunk Royal Navy: 1 battleship 2 aircraft carriers 4 cruisers 1 minelayer 20 destroyers/minesweepers 40 submarines unknown number of smaller vessels

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 (1940–1943). British and Allied ships were attacked by the Italian Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force) and Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in 1940 and from 1941, by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and Kriegsmarine (German Navy).

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, Unternehmen Herkules (Operation Hercules), was set for mid-July 1942 but cancelled.

The siege of Malta eased after the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942). 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 (8–16 November), 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.