Operation Halberd was a British naval operation that took place on 27 September 1941, during the Second World War. The British were attempting to deliver a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta. The convoy was escorted by several battleships and an aircraft carrier, to deter interference from the Italian surface fleet, while a close escort of cruisers and destroyers provided an anti-aircraft screen. The Italian fleet sortied after the convoy was detected, but turned back after learning the strength of the escorting force. Air attacks by Italian bombers and fighters damaged several ships, and forced one of the merchant vessels to be scuttled. The rest of the convoy arrived at Malta and discharged their cargo.

The convoy

Operation Halberd was at the time the largest Malta supply effort of the war. Nine merchant ships carrying 81,000 tons of military equipment and supplies sailed from Liverpool on 16 September and from the Clyde on 17 September as part of convoy W****S (Winston Specials) 11X, passing Gibraltar on 24 September 1941, with a close escort under the command of Rear-Admiral Harold Burrough. The nine ships were (Data from Llewellyn-Jones (2007) unless indicated.)

British forces

Force H, under the command of Admiral James Somerville, accompanied the convoy as defence against Italian surface ships. Force H consisted of the battleships HMS Nelson (28), HMS Rodney (29) and HMS Prince of Wales (53) with the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (91) operating 12 Fairey Swordfish and 27 Fairey Fulmars of 807 and 808 Naval Air Squadrons. Force H included cruisers HMS Kenya (14), HMS Edinburgh (16), HMS Sheffield (C24), HMS Euryalus (42) and HMS Hermione (74), and was screened by destroyers HNLMS Isaac Sweers (1940), ORP Garland and ORP Piorun (G65), and HMS Duncan (D99), HMS Farndale (L70), HMS Foresight (H68), HMS Forester (H74), HMS Fury (H76), HMS Heythrop (L85), HMS Laforey (G99), HMS Lance (G87), HMS Legion (G74), HMS Lightning (G55), HMS Lively (G40), HMS Oribi (G66), HMS Cossack (F03), HMS Gurkha (G63) and HMS Zulu (F18). Submarines HMS Ursula (N59) and HMS Unbeaten (N93) patrolled south of the Strait of Messina while HMS Upright (N89) and HMS Utmost (N19) patrolled north of the Strait. The Polish submarine ORP Sokół patrolled north of Sicily with HMS Urge and HMS Upholder (P37) while the Dutch submarine HNLMS O 21 patrolled south of Sardinia. Malta had recently received 27 long-range fighters (22 Bristol Beaufighters and 5 Bristol Blenheims), which had been bombing and strafing Italian airfields on Sicily and Sardinia, and would provide air cover for the convoy after Force H retired before reaching the Sicilian narrows.

Italian forces

Italian submarines deployed to ambush the British battleships thought to be planning a bombardment raid against the Italian coast. Dandolo, ITALIAN SUBMARINE Adua and ITALIAN SUBMARINE Turchese patrolled south of Ibiza while ITALIAN SUBMARINE Axum, Serpente, ITALIAN SUBMARINE Aradam and ITALIAN SUBMARINE Diaspro patrolled east of the Balearic Islands. Squalo, Bandiera and ITALIAN SUBMARINE Delfino patrolled Southwest of Sardinia and Narvalo was off the African shore of the Sicilian narrows. Light cruisers ITALIAN CRUISER Muzio Attendolo and ITALIAN CRUISER Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi of the 8th cruiser division sailed from Palermo with Maestrale-class destroyers Maestrale, Grecale and Scirocco of the 10th destroyer flotilla to take position off La Maddalena. Battleships ITALIAN BATTLESHIP Vittorio Veneto and ITALIAN BATTLESHIP Littorio were prepared to sortie from Naples with ITALIAN DESTROYER Granatiere, ITALIAN DESTROYER Fuciliere, ITALIAN DESTROYER Bersagliere and Gioberti of the 13th flotilla, and ITALIAN DESTROYER Nicoloso da Recco, ITALIAN DESTROYER Emanuele Pessagno and ITALIAN DESTROYER Folgore of the 16th flotilla while cruisers ITALIAN CRUISER Trieste, ITALIAN CRUISER Trento and ITALIAN CRUISER Gorizia from Taranto with ITALIAN DESTROYER Corazziere, ITALIAN DESTROYER Carabiniere, ITALIAN DESTROYER Ascari and ITALIAN DESTROYER Lanciere of the 12th flotilla prepared to join them. Sardinia deployed thirty Macchi C.200, twenty Fiat CR.42 Falco fighters and twenty-six Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 and SM.84 torpedo bombers against the convoy while Sicily deployed fifteen C.200 and three Reggiane Re.2000 fighters and nine Junkers Ju 87 with twenty-four Fiat BR.20, SM.79 and SM.84 as high-level bombers and plus three with torpedoes. More Italian aircraft were operational but were assigned other missions including bombing Malta.

Prelude

Ships of the Mediterranean Fleet operating from Alexandria began making heavy radio traffic in the hope of diverting Luftwaffe attention to possible preparations for a major operation in the eastern Mediterranean. On 24 September Admiral Somerville shifted his flag from Nelson to Rodney and Nelson sailed west into the Atlantic at 18:15 escorted by Garland, Piorun and Isaac Sweers to give the impression the strength of Force H was being reduced. Nelson turned back after dusk to join the merchant ships from Convoy WS 11X, now renamed convoy G****M 2 as the second convoy from Gibraltar to Malta. Force H separated from the merchant ships in the early hours of 25 September so Axis aerial reconnaissance might think only Force H was at sea. Fulmars from Ark Royal provided air cover over the convoy. Italian aircraft found Force H on the afternoon of 25 September, and assumed the battleships were on a bombardment raid against the Italian coast. A CANT Z.506 seaplane observing Force H at 09:32 on 26 September reported a battleship with an aircraft carrier incorrectly identified as HMS Furious (47). Since Ark Royal had been seen leaving Gibraltar, the Italians assumed Furious might be flying off aircraft to reinforce Malta while Ark Royal attacked Genoa. The Italian fleet sailed from Naples to take a defensive position with the 8th cruiser division off northern Sardinia, but was ordered not to engage the British fleet unless the Italians held a decisive superiority of forces.

Battle of 27 September

Force H rejoined the convoy at 07:10 27 September. Sixteen destroyers formed a bent line screen ahead of two columns of merchant ships. The port column was led by the cruiser Kenya, followed by Ajax, Clan MacDonald, Imperial Star, Rowallan Castle and City of Calcutta. The starboard column was led by the cruiser Edinburgh followed by Clan Ferguson, MV Dunedin Star, HMS Breconshire and City of Lincoln. Rodney took position behind the port wing of the screen followed by Prince of Wales. Nelson took position behind the starboard wing of the screen followed by Ark Royal in formation with the anti-aircraft cruisers Euryalus and Hermione. The cruiser Sheffield took position astern of the merchant ships, while the destroyers Piorun and Legion assumed plane guard positions astern of Ark Royal. Italian aircraft correctly identified Ark Royal at 08:10, and at 10:45 reported the convoy speed of 16 kn, which indicated that merchant ships were with the convoy. The battleships from Naples rendezvoused with the cruisers from Taranto at 10:40 and were joined by the 8th cruiser division at 11:48. The Italian fleet was faster than the battleships of Force H, but was inferior to the British force in firepower. The Regia Aeronautica gave priority to fighter defence of bomber strikes, and the six fighters providing air cover over the Italian fleet could not travel more than 100 km from their base. Since Italian aircraft had reported only a single British battleship, the Italian fleet received authorisation at noon to engage the British formation. The Regia Aeronautica was requested to provide increased air cover for the Italian fleet by 14:00. The Regia Aeronautica launched a strike of 28 SM.79 and SM.84 torpedo planes with 20 Cr.42 fighters. The convoy came under air attack at 13:00. The strike was met by defending Fulmars and heavy anti-aircraft fire. Three bombers pressed through the barrage of starboard wing destroyers to launch torpedoes at Nelson. Nelson turned to comb the torpedo tracks, and inadvertently steadied on the reciprocal course of a torpedo which struck the port side of the forecastle. Nelson slowed to 15 knots, but maintained position in the convoy. The Italian plane had released the torpedo at a range of only 450 yd and endured concentrated anti-aircraft fire from Prince of Wales before being shot down by one of the Fulmars. Six more torpedo planes and 1 fighter failed to return from the strike. Friendly fire from Rodney and Prince of Wales shot down two Fulmars, and a patrolling Swordfish had been shot down by the Italian fighters before the strike ended at 13:30. The Italian fleet was shadowed by British aircraft from Malta beginning at 13:07. At 14:30 the Italian fleet was about 40 nmi from the convoy, but "...decided to return home around 14:30 on 27 September when..." it "... learned that the British had two battleships, a carrier and six cruisers at sea." Aircraft from Ark Royal shadowed the Italian fleet from 15:15 to 17:50. Cr.42 fighters arrived at 15:30 to provide air cover but the squadron leader of the first flight was shot down by friendly fire from an Italian destroyer. Two more Italian pilots were lost when another flight of ten C.200s ran out of fuel and ditched in the sea. At 14:46 Prince of Wales, Rodney, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and six destroyers steamed toward the Italian fleet but were recalled at 17:00 before making contact and rejoined the convoy at 18:30. Nelson, Rodney, Prince of Wales and Ark Royal turned west to return to Gibraltar, escorted by Duncan, Fury, Gurkha, Lance, Legion, Lively. Garland, Piorun, and Isaac Sweers. Euryalus fell in astern of the port column of merchant ships while Sheffield and Hermione joined the starboard column as the remaining destroyers closed into a night steaming formation. The formation was attacked by a few torpedo bombers, and Imperial Star was struck by a single torpedo. Oribi took the damaged freighter in tow. Italian Motoscafo armato silurante (MAS torpedo boats) deployed through the Strait of Messina, but failed to find the convoy.

Aftermath

Hermione detached from the convoy to bombard Pantelleria to put the airfield out of action when the convoy arrived in Malta. The damaged Imperial Star was scuttled without loss of life to maintain convoy speed and the convoy arrived in Malta on 28 September. Force H was attacked on its return journey by three submarines and Adua was sunk by Gurkha and Legion. Another Ark Royal Fulmar fell to friendly fire from Prince of Wales, raising British aircraft losses to three Fulmars from friendly fire and one Swordfish shot down by the Italians. Italian aircraft losses were 21 including seven bombers and one fighter from enemy action, one fighter from friendly fire and ten fighters from fuel exhaustion. Somerville was knighted in recognition of his command of Force H during Operation Halberd. It was the second time Somerville had received that honour, and it occasioned a memorable congratulatory message from Andrew Cunningham "Fancy, twice a knight at your age".

Footnotes