Britain At Rock Bottom
The end of 1941 saw the nadir of British naval fortunes in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Fleet lost its aircraft carrier to bomb damage, had one battleship sunk off Crete and its two remaining battleships put out of action by Italian human torpedoes. Force H in its turn suffered as well: Ark Royal was sunk by U-81 in November 1941. It was only the lack of action by the Italians that prevented a complete disaster for British fortunes.
1942 opened on a low note. The most urgent task during the first part of the year was supplying Malta. The island had been under heavy attack for many months, and supply convoys had to be very heavily escorted to stand any chance of getting through. Enough succeeded that Malta was kept from starving, but it was very close. The most heavily escorted convoy in the whole of the Second World War was the key to this. In August, Operation Pedestal was mounted which lead to enough supplies being sent to the island to keep it going.
Read more about this topic: Force H
Famous quotes containing the words britain, rock and/or bottom:
“I see no cameras! Where are the cameras?”
—Mary, Queen of Great Britain (1867–1953)
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)
“Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wrecks,
A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon,
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scattered in the bottom of the sea.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)