Operation Pedestal

OPERATION PEDESTAL...photo IWMc..

It's 1942, the Second World War rages on and Malta is under siege. The small Mediterranean island had been bombarded for almost two years by enemy forces keen to control this strategic post.

The Siege had taken its toll, the people of Malta and the personnel tasked with protecting her were starving. Plans were made for the biggest convoy to set sail for the island to be formed and Operation Pedestal began.

Twelve large merchant ships, loaded with ammunition, aircraft spares, food and medical supplies, along with an American tanker the Ohio carrying much-needed fuel, and another American ship, headed to Malta.

Allan Scott, then a Spitfire pilot, was stationed on the island in 1942. He explains how the convoy was targeted by enemy forces as it made its way to land, eventually limping home on 15 August 1942.

He said: "As soon as the convoy was within range of the island, all three squadrons gave continuous cover to it. It had already been attacked and had lost quite a few ships by the time we reached it.

"On one of the sorties we had four Spitfires. We arrived just as it was being badly bombed by the Italians.

"As we came within range, I spotted a bomber doing a run in on one of the ships. It was a Breda 88 carrying a full bomb load. I managed to do a beam shot on it, allowing about eight rings deflection.

"My fire, from nose to tail, shot it out of the sky and I flew through its debris. While this was happening the ships were pooping off everything they could find, and flak clouds from them were highly dangerous from our point of view.

"The convoy limped nearer to Malta, its losses severe. Fourteen ships plus escorts had started out, including the carriers Eagle and Furious.

"Eagle was sunk and Furious too damaged to be able to continue with the convoy. We managed to cover three ships into Valletta harbour with two laggers to get in by nightfall.

"The last to limp in on the fourteenth was the tanker Ohio, severely bombed and, incredibly, carrying the remains of a Stuka on the stern. The efforts to protect its precious cargo and get it to port had been heroic.

15 August: The arrival of the OHIO at Malta: The tanker OHIO discharging oil into the oilers BOXALL and PLUMLEAF. The OHIO was probably the most important ship in the convoy with her cargo of 11,000 tons of petrol which was desperately needed to maintain the aircraft flying from Malta. OHIO had been torpdoed on 12 August and had been subsequently damaged by bombs on 13 August and was forced to drop out of the convoy. She was brought into Malta by a superb feat of seamanship involving her own crew and the destroyers HMS PENN and LEDBURY.
© IWM (A 11498)

"Frantic in their relief, the jubilant crowds came out to wave the Ohio into port, knowing only too well had this convoy not got through, Malta would have fallen and the course of the war dramatically changed."

The convoy became known as the Santa Marija in Malta after it landed on the religious feast day of the Virgin Mary, 15 August 1942.

HMS Exeter

HMS Exeter in the Panama Canal

HMS Benbow

HMS Benbow leading her sister ships Iron Duke and Marlborough in a line-a-head

Algérie

Algérie in 1941

HMS Rodney

HRH The Duke of Gloucester inspecting the ship's company of HMS Rodney.

HRH THe Duke of Gloucester's visit to Gibraltar. October 1941. During his visit, the Duke inspected various naval units and was also invited to the ceremony of the keys, which has been carried out almost without a break since 1779.


Creator: Marshall (Lt).

Source: © IWM (A 5842)

HMS Duke of York

During the course of covering outward/homebound convoys to Russia, 6 to 10 March contact with Tirpitz was established off the Lofoton Islands by aircraft from Victorious.

The photo shows HMS DoY with HMS KGV in the distance racing to intercept Tirpitz.
A Powerful Force indeed, ready for action and more than capable.

The photo was taken from onboard HMS Victorious.

(Covering force consisted of KGV, DoY, Victorious, Berwick, and twelve Destroyers)

A subsequent torpedo attack failed and Tirpitz slipped back to base without being brought to action.

© IWM (A 7896)

IJN Battleship Nagato

IJN Battleship Nagato

HMS Anson

HMS ANSON at anchor in Victoria Harbour at Hong Kong.

Exact date unknown but she arrived off Hong Kong on 29 August and was base ship there till December. After a trip to Australia, including a refit, she revisited Hong Kong briefly in 1946 finally leaving for home on 21 June.
Interestingly the Japanese surrender of Hong Kong was signed on board her on 16 September 45

IWM (A 30746)

USS Vincennes

USS Vincennes on August 8, 1942. The smoke is from a shot-down crashed Japanese aircraft.  The caption with this photo said that this is the last known photo taken of Vincennes. (Royal Australian Navy photo)

HMS Devonshire

The heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire photographed from the light cruiser HMS Mauritius during a mail transfer in the Indian Ocean - Oct 1942.

Pearl Harbour 7th December 1941

Battleship row under attack. Moment of a torpedo hit on USS West Virginia and shock waves clearly seen. Little known is close up of Arizona reveals faint black line running from Ford Island to bow area. This was water line for all of Ford Island Base and was destroyed when Arizona exploded. The first project for Navy Shipfitters after the attack was replacing this water line.

HMS Campbelltown

HMS Cambeltown wedged in the dock gates of Saint-Nazaire, France, 28 Mar 1942.

USS Newcomb

USS Newcomb, hit by 5 suicide planes and still floating

IJN Yamato

Yamato departing on Operation Ten-Go, April 1945.

IJN Haruna

IJN Haruna after the Japanese surrender in 1945

HMS Sussex

You know your armour belt is pretty good when a kamikaze attack leaves pretty much the dent of the engine and the outline of the aircraft that hit it.

HMS Sussex was one of the London sub-class of the County-class heavy cruisers in the Royal Navy. She was laid down by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, at Hebburn-on-Tyne on 1 February 1927, launched on 22 February 1928 and completed on 19 March 1929.

RM Duca Degli Abruzzi

Italian light cruiser Duca degli Abruzzi in 1938.  She was scrapped in 1972.

HMS Superb

HMS Superb emerging from the industrial Grime and Smog in 1909 to the obvious excitement of these lads. Some of whom would probably be wearing the uniform of the Royal Navy in 5yrs time

Argentinian Battleship Rivadavia

The Argentinian battleship Rivadavia under construction at the Fore River Shipyard located at Quincy, Massachusetts in 1912.

Rivadavia and her sister, Moreno, were the first Argentinian dreadnoughts. They were built in response to the arrival of the Brazilian Minas Geraes class as a part of the South American Dreadnought race. The requirements for the Rivadavia class were left open as Argentina wanted bidders to offer the most modern designs.

The United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and the United States all bid on building the ships. Though the United States was one of the initial bidders, it was thought that actually winning the bid was a long shot. The Argentinian Navy strongly favoured the United Kingdom. On the other hand, Germany already supplied the military and having them also supply the Navy would have been attractive. To make matters more complicated, the Vice President of Argentina was pro-Italy due to connections he made while serving as an Envoy there.

However, despite these odds, the United States found itself an unexpected ally in the form of La Prensa, the largest newspaper in Buenos Aires. The paper was in favour of American dreadnoughts. To help support their case, La Presna provided evidence of British meddling in previous naval deals. This led to outrage among the Argentinian public and led to the Navy calling for a second round of bidding.

This time around, the United States found itself offering the lowest bid at 10.7 million, almost 1 million dollars cheaper than the United Kingdom's bid. Though the United Kingdom attempted to slash prices, skilful diplomacy by the United States government sealed the deal. The dreadnought Rivadavia would be built by the Fore River Shipyard while Moreno would be built by the New York Shipbuilding Company. Steel would be supplied by the Bethlehem Steel Company.

The choice of the United States as the builder came as a shock to European nations who saw themselves as leaders in naval development. However, they underestimated the power of the gigantic United States steel industry which could produce steel at a much lower price than Europe could. Bethlehem Steel could produce steel 8£ cheaper per ton compared to the cheapest British plants.

French Battleship Richelieu

Richelieu was a French battleship and the lead ship of her class. She was a scaled-up version of the previous Dunkerque class.

Designed to counter the Italian Littorio-class battleships, Richelieu was ordered in 1935 and was completed before the Littorios, making her the first modern battleship built after the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. She featured a main armament of eight 380 mm (15 inch) guns in two quadruple turrets in forward superfiring positions. Her armour and underwater protection were equal to most contemporary craft. In trial runs, her speed was a little higher than her European contemporaries and only surpassed by the U.S. Navy's modern, fast battleships.
In June 1940 she was nearing completion in a shipyard in Brest in northwest France. To avoid capture she left the yard for Dakar in French West Africa (modern-day Senegal). She served during World War II, first on the Vichy Regime side, notably fending off a 1940 Allied attack on Dakar. In 1943 she switched to the Allied side. After refitting in New York Navy Yard, she operated with Royal Navy forces in the Indian Ocean in 1944 and 1945. She took part in the return of French forces to Indochina in 1945 and continued to serve into the 1960s.
The Richelieu was initially meant to receive 406mm guns, which proved to be non-practical. 380mm was judged to be the maximum that could be used in a quadruple turret.

 In the end, Project 1 (35,000 tons, 31.5 knots, 8x 380mm (2×4) prevailed, although it brought some concerns that the secondary armament (the project called for 20 130mm guns) would be weaker than the British Nelson and Rodney, which were the reference for ships of that tonnage.
Engineers were summoned again, and the ship gained its 15 152mm.
The 380/45 Model 1935 gun was the most powerful ever mounted on a French battleship.
Each shell weighed 884kg and had an initial velocity of 830m/s.
The front turret had an arc of 156 degrees, the one behind it had an arc of 142 degrees, the centre 152mm turrets had an arc of 180 degrees, and the aft 152mm turrets had an arc of 170 degrees

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On January 1940, Richelieu made its first machinery trials. They lasted until April 7th but were limited because of the danger from U-boats.

On June 15, full speed trials were performed, and Richelieu reached a speed of 32.63 knots.

On the same day, because of the fast advance from German troops, Richelieu made preparations to escape to England, but with the possibility of an armistice approaching, the French government decided instead to keep the fleet as a bargaining tool, and Richelieu was ordered to sail to French colonies. She exited Brest just in time and even had to repulse a few attacks from the Luftwaffe.

 Richelieu eventually reached Dakar (Senegal) on June 23, after trading her escort off the coast of Casablanca.
On June 24th, Captain Martin (Richelieu’s CO) received some news that the British were preparing an attack against Richelieu and other French ships, as they were concerned that they might end in German hands.
Martin was given two choices that were to either sabotage her or to flee to the (then neutral) United States
 On July 3rd, HMS Hermes was ordered to join cruiser HMS Dorsetshire who was already off Dakar.
HMS Dorsetshire had already been ordered to either torpedo or ram Richelieu to prevent any escape to the French West Indies.

The French countered any attempt from the Royal Navy by keeping two submarines (Le Glorieux and Le Heros) on a picket line.
On July 8th, Hermes launched her Swordfish who launched 6 torpedoes against the Richelieu. 5 of them missed, but the 6th one hit her, causing some substantial damage amplified by the fact that Richelieu was in shallow water.

Churchill thought that there was another way to get Richelieu (and other French assets in Africa). Knowing of the growingly anti-British feelings amongst the French Navy, following the attacks on Dakar and Mers el Kebir, he decided that the (Free) French would be better equipped to convince the forces defending Dakar to switch side.
On September 23rd, two French planes were launched from the Ark Royal to try to convince Vichy forces to surrender. The result was not the one expected, and the (Free) French airmen were captured an imprisoned.
The same day, at 11:05 AM, British battleships started their attack but missed their targets, only causing light damage to cruiser Montcalm.
For several days, the British force continued air and sea attacks, but no significant damage was done on either side, partially because of poor visibility.
Things changed on September 25th, where visibility was excellent, and the entire British foce closed on Dakar. The attack was against repulsed, and the Royal Navy suffered some damage (Resolution got torpedoed) and finally withdrew.
On November 8th, 1942, Allied forces landed in North Africa. A collateral event of Torch was the occupation by German forces of the southern part of France. Fulfilling their promise to the British Admiralty in 1940, the French didn’t give their ships based in Toulon to the Germans and sunk them instead. (Vichy) French forces in North Africa rallied the Free French, and by November 11, all French Navy ships were on the Allies side.
Richelieu was the top ship the United States had decided to modernize and she sailed to New York, which she reached on February 11th, 1943.

Work on the Richelieu started in Brooklyn on February 24th, 1943. Beside repairs that had to be done following the attacks during Operation Menace, new armament was installed, mainly anti-aircraft guns. The three 380mm guns that had been damaged were replaced with guns from the Jean Bart. Richelieu stayed in New York until October 1943, when she sailed for Gibraltar, escored by USS Tarbell and Ellet. She was eventually met by the light cruisers Le Fantasque and Le Terrible.

While Richelieu was originally assigned to operate in the Mediterranean Sea under British command, she eventually was sent to Scapa Flow, after the Italian fleet surrendered.

Operation Posthorn was a combined operation with British forces (HMS CV Furious, BB Anson) to deter German shipping in Northern Norway. The hopes were that the Kriegsmarine would take the bait and send their heavy cruisers. They failed to show up!
Richelieu was not needed anymore in the Atlantic and was sent to reinforce Admiral Sommerville’s fleet in the Indian Ocean.
There, she saw little action during Operation Cockpit, alongside HMS (BB) Queen Elizabeth, and HMS (BB) Valiant (Force 69) that were constituting a screening force for Force 70 (USS (CV) Saratoga HMS (CV) Illustrious, HMS (BB) Renown).
She also participated in Operation Pedal (attack on Port Blair) and Operation Crimson (attack on Sabang).
During these operations, she proved that her rate of fire (81 380mm shells in 21 salvos, at a rate of one salvo every 50 seconds) was twice as fast as her British counterparts.
On September 6th, 1944, Richelieu was sent back to Algiers and then eventually to Toulon where she was modernized with radar.
She eventually went back to the Indian Ocean for Operation Sunfish (attacks against Sabang), Operation Bishop (Bay of Bengal), and Operation Dukedom (blockade of cruiser Haguro attempting evacuation of Port Blair).
Richelieu finished her service in February 1956, where she served as a school until September 30, 1967.
She was eventually sold to an Italian shipbreaker and was broken up at La Spezia between 1968 and 1969.