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Operation Collar
Part of the
Second World War

Relief map of the Mediterranean Sea
Date12–29 November 1940
Location
Mediterranean Sea
37°12′00″N 11°20′00″E / 37.20000°N 11.33333°E / 37.20000; 11.33333
Result British victory

Operation Collar (12–29 November 1940) was a small, fast, three-ship convoy escorted from Gibraltar to Malta and Suda Bay in Greece during the

Second World War. The convoy left Britain on 12 November 1940 and passed Gibraltar on 24 November, escorted by two cruisers, two ships for Malta and one bound for Alexandria
?????. Other British operations took place in the Mediterranean at the same time partly as diversions. Operations in the Eastern Mediterranean by the Mediterranean Fleet took place as Operation MB 9, the main part of which was to escort four ships to Malta, bring back for unloaded ships from the previous Malta convoy and to exchange a battleship and two cruisers with two cruisers and four corvettes sailing from Gibraltar.

The usual AN (Aegean North, Port Said to Piraeus) and AS (Aegean South, Piraeus to Port Said) convoys were covered by the main body of the Mediterranean Fleet and the two aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean attacked land targets in Libya and the Dodecanese Islands. The Italian Fleet had not been deterred by the losses of the Battle of Taranto (11/12 November) from seeking battle with the British and had had notice of the sailings from Gibraltar from its network of agents. The Italian fleet sailed toards Force H, leading to the inconclusive Battle of Cape Spartivento (Cape Teulada to the Italians) on 27 November. The two merchant ships reached Malta on 26 November and the third ship reached Suda Bay on 27? 28? November.

Background

British strategy

Main articles: Battle of Calabria and Battle of Taranto
Map of the western Mediterranean

The disaster to the British of the Allied defeat in the

Pantellaria (Operation Workshop) in the Sicilian Narrows between Sicily and Tunisia, was criticised by Cunningham, since maintaining control of it would be far harder than capturing it, given the effort needed to supply Malta. Operation Collar, a plan for the escort of three merchant ships from Britain through the Mediterranean, two to Malta and one to Alexandria, seemed to be a much more practical operation of war.[1]

Map of the Aegean sea

Force H was established in Gibraltar at the end of June 1940, to replace the French Marine Nationale in the western Mediterranean. The commander of Force H, Admiral James Somerville, would have the responsibility of protecting the convoy from Gibraltar to Malta and had doubts, despite the hostility towards him at the Admiralty and in Whitehall and the controversial sacking of his former commander, Admiral Dudley North. Force H was smaller than the Mediterranean Fleet and the redeployment of the big ships of the {{lang|it|Regia Marina]] to Italian west coast ports made it likely that his force would bear the brunt of Italian counter-measures. Force H had the battlecruiser HMS Renown and the battleship Royal Sovereign but Royal Sovereign was under repair in the Gibraltar shipyards, leaving Force h with one big ship against three Italian battleships. The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal had no Italian equivalent but against the French battleship Strasbourg in July, the torpedo bomber crews of Ark Royal had failed to hit and slow the ship, thought to be due to the lack of training and inexperience of the Fleet Air Arm crews.[2]

At the eastern end of the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean Fleet was busy escorting convoys in the Mediterranean and Aegean from Port Said and Haifa, Cyprus and Piraeus and oil tankers from Haifa to Greece. Cruisers transferred troops and equipment from Egypt to Greece as the Regia Aeronautica made frequent but ineffective air attacks.[3]

Italian strategy

Main article: Operation White
Ustica, north of Sicily

During the British Operation White (15–18 November 1940) Supermarina, the headquarters of the Italian Navy had been informed of the arrival of the aircraft carrier Argus at Gibraltar on 14 November and that most of Force H had sailed on 15 November. Supermarina made preparations for an anti-convoy operation and began the operation after air reconnaissance spotted the British ships on a course of 90°, fifty miles north of the Alhucemas Islands. The battleships Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare of the First Division sailed from Naples and the heavy cruisers Bolzano, Trento and Trieste of the Third Division departed from Messina, accompanied by their destroyer flotillas, rendezvousing at 10:30 a.m. on 16 November. By the late afternoon, the Italian force was 45 nmi (83 km; 52 mi) north north-east of Ustica, north of Sicily, ready to intercept the British ships. When it was clear that the British had turned for home the Italian force returned to base and Supermarina received notice that Force H was back at Gibraltar on 19 November.[4]

British plans

Operation Collar

At the west end of the Mediterranean the freighters SS Clan Forbes (7,529 GRT) and SS Clan Fraser (7,529 GRT) for Malta and MV New Zealand Star (10,941 GRT) for Alexandria were en route from Britain to Gibraltar.[5] Force F (Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland) HMS Manchester and Southampton carrying 1,370 Royal Air Force technicians, was to escort the merchant ships and were to be joined by the destroyer HMS Hotspur and later by the corvettes HMS Peony, Salvia, Gloxinia and Hyacinth in transit to the Mediterranean Fleet.[6][a] The convoy was covered at a distance to the north by the rest of Force H known as Force B (Somerville) comprising the battlecruiser Renown, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the cruisers HMS Sheffield and Despatch the destroyers HMS Faulknor, Firedrake, Forester, Fury, Encounter, Duncan, Wishart, Kelvin and Jaguar.[7].[6]

Operation MB 9

MB 9 was devised to get Force D, the slow battleship

Dodecanese Islands. The Mediterranean Fleet was busy protecting convoys from Port Said and Haifa to Cyprus and Piraeus, while the cruisers were transporting troops to the Aegean, under frequent attack by the Regia Aeronautica.[8]

Force A comprised the battleships HMS Valiant and Warspite, the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and their escorting destroyers. Force E, the 7th Cruiser Squadron, comprised HMS Ajax, Orion and HMAS Sydney escorted an AN convoy (AN, Aegean North) to Suda Bay. Illustrious attacked Leros on 26 November.

Convoy MW 4, the merchant ships Memnon, Clan Macaulay, Clan Ferguson and HMS Breconshire were also at Alexandria, ready to sail for Malta, where the escorts would meet the merchant ship Cornwall from Malta, which had been repaired and the four unloaded ships of Convoy MW 3 (4–10 November). Close escort was to be provided by the destroyers HMS Hyperion, Hero, Hasty, Havock, Ilex and the Australian HMAS Vampire, Voyager and Vendetta.[8]

Prelude

Italian fleet

Map of the central Mediterranean

When the departure of Force B from Gibraltar was reported and Force D was seen by an Italian aircraft on 25 November, the submarines

Sicilian Narrows.[7]

Battle

Main article: Battle of Cape Spartivento

Campioni had orders to avoid a decisive encounter. The Italian destroyer Lanciere and the British cruiser HMS Berwick were seriously damaged during the exchange of fire.[9]

Convoy

After the battle, Force H continued towards Malta until late afternoon on 27 November when, just before

Andrew Cunningham) from Alexandria. Clan Fraser and Clan Forbes arrived at Malta on 29 November and New Zealand Star, escorted by the destroyers HMS Defender and Hereward, continued to Alexandria. This small convoy was also covered by Manchester and Southampton.[7]

Aftermath

Analysis

In 2003 the naval historian, Richard Woodman, wrote that the British operations were based on excellent staff work, communications and the discipline of the ship crews which performed them. The smooth course of such operations could be upset by the actions of the Italians, weather and human error, which had led to the failure of Operation White in mid-November.[10]

Malta convoys

Malta convoys, November 1940[11][b]
Convoy From Sailed To Arrived No. Lost Notes
MW 3 Alexandria 4 November Malta 10 November 5 0
ME 3 Malta 10 November Alexandria 13 November 4 0 Unloaded
MW 4 Alexandria 23 November Malta 26 November 4 0
Collar Gibraltar 25 November Malta 26 November 2 0 Two ships to Malta, one to Alexandria
ME 4 Malta 26 November Alexandria 29 November 5 0

Aegean convoys

Aegean convoys, November to December 1940[12][c]
Convoy From Sailed To Arrived No. Notes
AN 6 Port Said 4 November Piraeus — 6 ships
AS 5 Piraeus 10 November Port Said 15 November 8 ships
AN 7 Port Said 15 November Piraeus 19 November 7 ships
AN 8 Port Said 2 December Piraeus 7 December 5 ships
AS 6 Piraeus 4 December Port Said 7 December 10 ships

Force H

Composition of Force H (Gibraltar)[13][d]
Force Battlecruiser Aircraft carrier 6-inch cruiser Destroyer Notes
B 1 1 2 9[14] Covering Force F[15]
F — — 2 1 Cruisers with troops and airmen for Malta. Convoying four corvettes and three fast merchantmen[15]

Mediterranean Fleet

Composition of the Mediterranean Fleet (Alexandria)[13][e]
Force Battleship Carrier 8-inch cruiser 6-inch cruiser AA cruiser Destroyer Notes
A 2 1 — — — ? Sailed 25 November
C 2 1 1 2 — 4[3] Sailed 25 November, carrier raid on Tripoli[3][f]
D 1 — 1 1 1 4 Sailed 24 November
E — — — 3 — 8[3]

Notes

  1. ^ The corvettes were found to be too slow to keep up with the convoy.[6]
  2. ^ Data taken from Hague (2000) unless indicated.[11]
  3. ^ Data taken from the Shorter Convoy Series of the Arnold Hague Convoy Database unless indicated.[12]
  4. ^ Data taken from Smith (2011) unless indicated.[13]
  5. ^ Data taken from Smith (2011) unless indicated.[13]
  6. ^ The destroyers and Coventry continued westwards[3]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Smith 2011, p. 259.
  2. ^ Smith 2011, pp. 260–261.
  3. ^ a b c d e Woodman 2003, p. 96.
  4. ^ Smith 2011, pp. 266–267.
  5. ^ Jordan 2006, pp. 96, 115.
  6. ^ a b c Brown 2015, p. 24.
  7. ^ a b c Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 50.
  8. ^ a b Woodman 2003, pp. 95–96.
  9. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 49–50.
  10. ^ Woodman 2003, p. 95.
  11. ^ a b Hague 2000, p. 192.
  12. ^ a b AHCD 2024.
  13. ^ a b c d Smith 2011, p. 268.
  14. ^ Woodman 2003, p. 98.
  15. ^ a b Woodman 2003, p. 97.

References

Further reading

See also


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