Operation MB8 was a British Royal Navy operation in the Mediterranean Sea from 4 to 11 November 1940. It was made up of six forces comprising two aircraft carriers, five battleships, 10 cruisers and 30 destroyers, including much of Force H from Gibraltar, protecting four supply convoys. It consisted of Operation Coat, Operation Crack, Convoy MW 3, Convoy ME 3, Convoy AN 6 and the main element Operation Judgement (the Battle of Taranto).
Operation Coat.
Operation Coat was a reinforcement convoy from Britain to Malta, carrying troops and anti-aircraft guns. The convoy was made up of the battleship , heavy cruisers and and three escorting destroyers. It was covered by the aircraft carrier , light cruiser and three more destroyers, all from Force H, out to mid-Mediterranean; three Force H destroyers would remain, the rest turning back from Sicily.
Convoy MW 3.
Convoy MW 3 was made up of three empty merchantmen from Malta with an Australian destroyer and the monitor bound for the base at Suda Bay in Crete thence to Alexandria. The convoy was escorted by the anti-aircraft cruiser , accompanied by three destroyers. The convoy left Alexandria on 4 November and reached Malta on 10 November.
Convoy ME 3.
Convoy ME 3 comprised four merchantmen sailing in ballast from Malta to Alexandria, under escort of the battleship , "Coventry", and two destroyers. The convoy sailed from Malta on 10 November and arrived in Alexandria on 13 November.
Convoy AN 6.
Convoy AN 6 consisted of four slow tankers bound for Greece from Egypt, in support of the British expedition there, escorted by a slow trawler. Shaping a similar course were reinforcements for Crete, embarked in the light cruisers and as Force B, while Force C, the light cruiser (Vice Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell) transported RAF supplies to Greece and inspected Suda Bay. All three would rejoin to form Force X for an 11/12 November raid on the Otranto Strait.
Operation Crack.
Operation Crack was an attack on Cagliari by aircraft from "Ark Royal", "en route" to Malta, branching off from Operation Coat.
Operation Judgement.
Operation Judgement, under the command of Admiral Andrew Cunningham, was executed by aircraft from the carrier , escorted by the battleships "Ramillies", , and . They met the heavy cruiser , the light cruiser and three destroyers, then escorting Convoy MW 3 and provided cover. A rendezvous with the "Barham" group from Operation Coat was to be made, with "Illustrious", "Gloucester", "York" and "Berwick" detaching to attack Taranto, coincident with the Force X raid. The Italians were aware of sorties from Alexandria and Gibraltar by 7 November and sent nine submarines to attack a Malta convoy (MW 3) detected on 8 November. Bombers (unsurprisingly) failed even to pinpoint the Judgement force and when Force H was detected heading back toward Gibraltar on 9 November, the Italians assumed that MW 3 had turned around, too.
Italian confusion arose when "Barham", "Berwick", "Glasgow" and their destroyers were detected 10 November off Lemnos. The correct deduction, that they had detached from the Gibraltar-bound force, was not accompanied by a correct guess they would join with Cunningham. The same day, "Ramillies", "Coventry" and two destroyers protecting ME 3 were detected and again, bombers failed to locate them. The complexity of Operation MB8, with its forces and convoys, deceived the Italians into thinking that only normal convoying was underway. While Italian reconnaissance was characteristically bad, in the end, the Italians had only failed to keep track of "Illustrious". That the Italians expected the British to behave in what was, at the time, their usual way was the cause of the mistake.
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