OPERATION VIGOROUS-JUNE 1942

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aurora
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OPERATION VIGOROUS-JUNE 1942

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The first ships to sail left Port Said on the 11th of June in a 'diversionary convoy' of four merchantmen, escorted by the Coventry and seven Hunt-class destroyers. They were to go west as far as the meridian of Tobruk, and then turn back and meet the main convoy. It was hoped that this deception would bring the enemy fleet south prematurely; but events did not work out that way.

The main convoy had assembled in two parts at Haifa and Port Said, and they and their escorts were sailed to rendezvous with the returning 'diversionary convoy' off Alexandria on the 13th. Admiral Vian and the rest of the warships (seven cruisers and seventeen destroyers) left Alexandria that same evening to overtake the merchantmen off Tobruk. Enemy aircraft quickly found the real convoy, one of whose number was damaged and sent to Tobruk on the 12th. Another could not keep up, and was sent back to Alexandria; but she never got there. About forty German bombers found and sank her on the 14th.

Throughout the night of the 13th - 14th enemy aircraft kept touch with the convoy, and dropped flares continuously around it. When daylight came, fighters from the Western Desert broke up at least one strong formation of enemy bombers. That afternoon, the 14th, one merchantman was sunk and another damaged by bombs. A new threat developed at sunset when enemy motor torpedo-boats approached from the north. By 11:15 p.m. Vian knew that Italian heavy warships had left Taranto, and that they could make contact with him at about 7 a.m. next morning. To hold them off throughout a long summer day was an impossible proposition, so he asked the Commander-in-Chief whether he was to retire. Admiral Harwood, hoping first to make as much distance as possible towards the west, told Vian to hold on until 2 a.m. and then reverse course. That difficult manoeuvre - for there were about fifty ships involved - was safely executed, but it gave the E-boats their chance. Shortly before 4 a.m. one of them torpedoed the Newcastle. Not long afterwards the destroyer Hasty was struck by a torpedo, and had to be sunk by a consort.

At dawn on the 15th the Italian fleet, consisting of their two newest battleships, the Vittorio Veneto and the Littorio, two heavy and two light cruisers and about a dozen destroyers, was some 200 miles north-west of the retiring convoy. Shortly before 7 a.m., on the Commander-in-Chief 's instructions, the convoy turned again to the west. At about the same time the Malta-based torpedo-bombers attacked the enemy and, as already mentioned, hit and disabled the 8-inch cruiser Trento. Our submarines were meanwhile making strenuous, though vain, endeavours to get into position to attack the Italian battleships. Next, between 9 and 10 o'clock the Liberators and torpedo-bombers from Egypt attacked; although both striking forces reported several hits, in fact the only one scored was a bomb hit on the Littorio's forward turret, which did her no serious injury. The Italian battleships still held on to the south. At 9:40, with the enemy only 150 miles away, Admiral Harwood ordered the convoy to turn east for the second time; then, just before noon, after hearing the Beauforts' claim to have hit both battleships, he ordered it to resume the course for Malta.

Finally, at 12:45 p.m., realising that the air reports might have been incorrect, that our reconnaissance aircraft were not in touch and that he could not assess the true situation, Admiral Harwood signalled that he must leave it to the cruiser Admiral's discretion whether to hold on or retire. Vian received this message at 2:20 p.m. The Birmingham had meanwhile been damaged by a bomb hit, and a little later the destroyer Airedale suffered severely in a heavy dive-bombing attack. She had to be sunk by our own forces. Though no more of the convoy had been damaged, the detachment of another ship which could not keep up had reduced its numbers from the original eleven to six.

Our reconnaissance aircraft had meanwhile regained touch, and the enemy fleet, having reached a point only about 100 miles from the convoy, was reported at 4:15 to have set course for Taranto. As soon as this was clear the Commander-in-Chief signalled 'Now is the chance to get [the] convoy to Malta', and asked what was the state of the escorts' fuel and ammunition supplies. This message arrived during a heavy air attack, and the information requested was difficult to collect. 'All known forms of attack' were, in Admiral Vian's words, being made on the convoy and escorts. They lasted from 5:20 until about 7:30 p.m. and, although fighter cover was but intermittent, only the Australian destroyer Nestor was seriously damaged. When Vian reported that less than one-third of his ships' ammunition remained, and that what was left was going fast, the Commander-in-Chief recalled all ships to Alexandria.

That, unfortunately, was not quite the end, since in the early hours of the 16th U-205 torpedoed and sank the cruiser Hermione, and the damaged Nestor had to be scuttled. The other ships were back in Alexandria on the evening of the 16th. On the enemy's side, a Malta-based Wellington scored a torpedo hit right forward on the Littorio in a night attack made at about the same time as the Hermione was sunk. But she was not seriously hurt and was able to maintain her speed. All the Italian ships returned safely to Taranto on the afternoon of the 16th, at about the same time that Admiral Vian's force reached Alexandria.

NB. There appeared to be much vacillation by the CinC in this naval operation ???

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/U ... -II-2.html
Quo Fata Vocant-Whither the Fates call

Jim
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aurora
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Re: OPERATION VIGOROUS-JUNE 1942

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None of the Vigorous ships reached Malta. One cruiser, HMS Hermione; three destroyers, HMS Airedale, Hasty and HMAS Nestor and two merchant ships had been lost in the attempt. Three cruisers, one destroyer and one corvette were damaged. British air attacks sank the Italian cruiser Trento and damaged Littorio.
Nevertheless, the Italian Fleet succeeded in blocking the Allied convoy even if there was no direct contact between the surface forces. Royal Navy gunners shot down 21 of the approximately 220 attacking aircraft.
Quo Fata Vocant-Whither the Fates call

Jim
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aurora
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Re: OPERATION VIGOROUS-JUNE 1942

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Adm. Cunningham's own judgement was- that if Harwood had left Vian alone;Vian would have gone straight on,indeed Cunningham wondered why Harwood had not ordered Vian to press on. Would the convoy have got through if Cunningham had still been CinC-the reply to this question was given by Vian in writing in 1954 "that no Flag Officer ever thought of not going through with a direct operation order from Andrew; but he would never have given such an order unless he was confident that the operation was achievable with the forces allocated"
Quo Fata Vocant-Whither the Fates call

Jim
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