Course for Malta: Force the Passage or Turn Back
Rear-Admiral has commanded the out of Alexandria, his flag flying aboard the cruiser Naiad. A sailor known for his firmness, he has already led several sorties into the central Mediterranean and knows how hard it is to resupply Malta, strangled by the siege.
Sailing from Alexandria on 12 February, three cargo ships — the , the and the — make up convoy MW9, escorted by destroyers and the anti-aircraft cruiser Carlisle; Vian's squadron puts to sea in turn to cover them. But the route runs within reach of the Sicilian and Libyan airfields, from which the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica strike relentlessly. Malta, almost out of flour and fuel, awaits this delivery as a reprieve. So long as enemy aircraft command the sky, every hour at sea exposes the slow cargo ships to another wave of assault.
Vian must decide how to proceed: push the cargo ships through to Valletta at all costs despite the air attacks; divert the convoy southward to draw away from the Sicilian airfields, at the cost of dwindling fuel; or turn back to save the escort if losses become prohibitive.
Eastern Mediterranean, February 1942, British rear-admiral: how to bring the cargo ships through to Malta under Axis bombing?
Convoy MW9 was destroyed before reaching Malta. On 14 February, Axis bombers hit the , forcing it to divert to Tobruk; the caught fire and had to be scuttled; the , crippled, was scuttled in turn once the escort learned that the Italian battleship Caio Duilio had sortied. Not a single sack of supplies reached Valletta: Malta remained strangled until the summer convoys, including Operation Pedestal in August. himself would distinguish himself the following month at the Second Battle of Sirte, on 22 March 1942, where his cruisers and destroyers held off a superior Italian squadron with smoke screens and bold charges — a feat that earned him Churchill's personal congratulations.
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