In World War II, Operation Harpoon was one of two simultaneous Allied convoys sent to supply Malta in the Axis-dominated Mediterranean Sea in mid-June 1942. One convoy, called Operation Vigorous, left Alexandria. The other, Harpoon, travelled in the opposite direction from Gibraltar. Both convoys met with fierce Axis opposition and only two of seventeen merchant ships completed the journey. Followed by Operation Pedestal. Combatants Allies: Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France/Free France, United States, Canada, China, India, Australia, Poland, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8... The Malta Convoys were a series of supply convoys to sustain the Mediterranean island of Malta during World War 2. ... Satellite image The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ... For other uses, see Alexandria (disambiguation). ... British shells fall astern of the Italian light cruiser Muzio Attendolo during the battle Operation Pedestal was a British attempt to get vital supplies to the island of Malta during World War II in mid-1942 during the height of the Axis siege of Malta. ...

A series of British naval disasters in the Mediterranean allowed the Regia Marina to gain naval supremacy in the central Mediterranean. The Italian Fleet also took advantage of the situation and moved onto the offensive, blocking or decimating at least three large British convoys bound for Malta. This lead to a number of naval engagements, such as the Second Battle of Sirte, the Battle of Mid-June or Operation Harpoon (plus Operation Vigorous) and finally to Operation Pedestal, all of them favourable to the Axis. The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval battle between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina during the World War II. It took place on 22 March 1942, in the Mediterranean, north to the Gulf of Sirte, west of Malta. ... British shells fall astern of the Italian light cruiser Muzio Attendolo during the battle Operation Pedestal was a British attempt to get vital supplies to the island of Malta during World War II in mid-1942 during the height of the Axis siege of Malta. ...

The only real success of the Italian Fleet was the attack on the Harpoon convoy, near Pantellaria, when the Tribal class destroyer HMS Bedouin, the large tanker Kentucky (10000 Tons) and the freighter Burdwan (6000 Tons) were sunk by gunfire and torpedos of the Italian 7th Division, Commanded by Admiral Da Zara (cruisers Raimondo Montecuccoli, Eugenio di Savoia, destroyers Ascari, Orari, Maestrale, Premuda and Vivaldi, this one severely damaged). The merchantmen were previously hit by air strike and then finished off by the Italian warships. The destroyer instead, dismantled by the Italian salvoes and left dead in the water, was sent to the bottom by an aerial torpedo. Two other freighters fell victims of torpedo-bombers, another destroyer sank in a minefield. The cruiser HMS Cairo, the destroyer HMS Partridge and the minesweeper HMS Hebe, all took several hits from Italian gunfire. Only two transports of the original six reached Malta, one of them in bad condition after a mine explosion. This was the only squadron-size victory for the Italian surface forces in World War II. Pantelleria, or Pantalaria, ancient Cossyra, is an island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, 100 km (62 mi) southwest of the south-western extremity of Sicily, and 70 km (43 mi) E. of the African coast, belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani. ... The Tribal class, or Afridi class, were a large group of destroyers built for the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy that saw action in World War II. // Design History From 1926 all Royal Navy destroyers had descended from a common lineage based upon the prototypes Amazon... HMS Cairo (D87) was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, named after the Egyptian city of Cairo, was a light cruiser of the Royal Navy. ... The O and P class were two classs of destroyers of the Royal Navy launched in 1941 and 1942. ...

External reference

• Operation Harpoon
• Order of battle