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:
“Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be “too clever by half.” The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.”
—John Major (b. 1943)
““O what unlucky streak
Twisting inside me, made me break the line?
What was the rock my gliding childhood struck,
And what bright unreal path has led me here?””
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)