Operation Substance was a British naval operation in July 1941 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to escort Convoy GM 1, the first of the series from

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. The convoy, escorted by

Force H Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in late-June 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place ...

, was attacked by Italian

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s, aircraft and MAS boats (, motor torpedo boats).

Convoy

''Port Chalmers'' carried 250 members of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

one light, one heavy anti-aircraft regiment and thirty field guns to strengthen the island against airborne assault. Medical personnel expected to be needed in the anticipated Siege of Malta were also embarked. Force H included the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

, the

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...

, the fast

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

, the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

s , and with eight

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s and the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

with 21

Fairey Fulmar The Fairey Fulmar is a British carrier-borne reconnaissance aircraft/fighter aircraft which was developed and manufactured by aircraft company Fairey Aviation. It was named after the northern fulmar, a seabird native to the British Isles. The ...

fighters and ferrying seven

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a retired biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was a ...

reinforcements to Malta.

Prelude

The

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

observed a decrease in the intensity of (Italian Royal Air Force) attacks as the stock of

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es at

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

n airfields was nearly exhausted. The ships of Convoy GM 1 sailed from the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

on 13 July 1941 as part of Convoy WS 9C (Winston Specials) and arrived at Gibraltar on 20 July. Ships of the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...

operating from

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

began making much radio traffic to divert attention from Gibraltar towards preparations for a big operation in the eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. Eight Allied submarines were deployed off Italian naval bases but , the Italian naval headquarters, assumed the convoy was ''Ark Royal'' flying-off replacement aircraft to Malta and chose to remain in port. ''Leinster'' ran aground while leaving Gibraltar on 21 July and had to return to port. The found the convoy on 22 July and launched torpedoes which narrowly missed ''Renown'' and .

Battle of 23 July

The convoy was attacked by nine

Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 The Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 ''Sparviero'' (Italian for sparrowhawk) is a three-engined medium bomber developed and manufactured by the Italian aviation company Savoia-Marchetti. It may be the best-known Italian aeroplane of the Second World War. ...

torpedo bombers coordinated with five

CANT Z.1007 The CANT Z.1007 ''Alcione'' (''Kingfisher'') was a three-engined medium bomber designed and produced by the Italian aircraft manufacturer CANT. It was regarded by some as "the best Italian bomber of World War II", although its wooden structure ...

medium bombers. Four Fulmars met the torpedo attack head-on and shot down a SM.79 but another SM.79 dropped a torpedo before it was shot down, which hit ''Manchester''. ''Ark Royal'' launched seven more Fulmars which were unable to engage the high level bombers before they bombed but these failed to hit the merchant ships; three Fulmars were shot down. A later attack by two SM.79s sank killing 35 of her crew. Another bombing near-missed causing severe damage and the destroyer had to be towed back to Gibraltar.

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufor ...

s from Malta reinforced the ''Ark Royal'' Fulmars. MAScamo

detected the torpedo-boats MAS 532 and MAS 533 approaching the convoy after dark but was unable to prevent them from torpedoing SS ''Sydney Star'' () at around 03:00 on 24 July. The merchant ship, carrying 484 army officers and men as passengers along with the crew, came to a dead stop as it took on water. Fearing that the ship's pumps were unable to cope with the damage, the captain requested evacuation of the troops. ''Nestor'' came alongside and took on board approximately 500 men via

gangplank A gangway is a narrow passage that joins the quarterdeck to the forecastle of a sailing ship. The term is also extended to mean the narrow passages used to board or disembark ships. Modern shipping uses gangways to embark and disembark passenge ...

and

Jacob's ladder Jacob's Ladder () is a ladder or staircase leading to Heaven that was featured in a dream the Biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The significance of the dream has been de ...

, leaving the captain and a skeleton crew on board. The captain later estimated that his ship had taken on of water. ''Nestor'' towed it to Malta, arriving at

Grand Harbour The Grand Harbour (; ), also known as the Port of Marsa, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks ( Malta Dockyard), wharves, and fortifications. Description The h ...

shortly after 08:00.

Aftermath

Seven unloaded ships sailed from Malta in Convoy MG 1 on 23 July to be convoyed back to Gibraltar by Force H. One was damaged by a torpedo bomber on the voyage west. ''Ark Royal'' lost six Fulmars defending Convoy MG 1 and the Malta-bound ships from Gibraltar and at least 12

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

aircraft were destroyed by FAA fighters and the AA guns of the Royal Navy. The six merchant ships of Convoy GM 1 arrived in Malta on 24 July where they were observed by a CANT Z.506 reconnaissance seaplane, escorted by 42 Macchi C.200 fighters. Malta sent 22

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

fighters to intercept, which shot down three of the escort without loss.

Subsequent operations

The

Raid on Grand Harbour The Raid on Grand Harbour (), was an Italian raid against Allied shipping in Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta in the early morning of 26 July 1941 during the Second World War. MTM explosive motorboat pilots and Frogmen from the ( 10th Flotilla To ...

, an audacious attack by the elite , using explosive motor-boats (MTM) and

manned torpedo Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use. ...

es early on 26 July was thwarted by Radar and

Ultra Ultra may refer to: Science and technology * Ultra (cryptography), the codename for cryptographic intelligence obtained from signal traffic in World War II * Adobe Ultra, a vector-keying application * Sun Ultra series, a brand of computer work ...

, ending in disaster for the Italians.

Notes

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * *

External links

MV Leinster 1937
{{DEFAULTSORT:Substance, Operation Battle of the Mediterranean Malta Convoys Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom July 1941 in Europe Maritime incidents in July 1941