The next submarine to patrol in the western Mediterranean was the Netherlands O24 (Luitenant ter zee 1e Kl O de Booy) and she left Gibraltar on 7th June for the Genoa area. On arrival there she sighted two convoys too far away for a torpedo attack but on 12th she sighted a large unescorted tanker. Her first salvo of torpedoes missed mainly because one of them broke surface and warned the target. O24, however, was able to surface and engage with her gun securing a number of hits and stopping the enemy. Another single torpedo missed too, but a third from her upper deck training tubes hit and sank the tanker, which was Fianona of 6660 tons. The same day she stopped a 500-ton schooner and sank her with a demolition charge. O24 then moved to the Spezia area and missed another tanker on 17th. She again moved, this time to the Gulf of Lions, where she had no success and returned to Gibraltar on 23rd June. Overlapping this patrol, Severn (Lieutenant Commander ANG Campbell RN) left Gibraltar on 14th for Naples. On 20th off Palermo she fired four torpedoes at a range of 2000 yards at a large merchant vessel and, as she was uncertain of the enemy's course and speed, followed it up with two more but all missed. On 22nd off Naples she sighted an Italian U-boat and, as the firing range was only 900 yards, she sought to economise in torpedoes and only fired two. The result was a miss. An auxiliary anti-submarine vessel subsequently hunted her, but on 20th June she sighted Polinnia of 1292 tons bound from Naples to Cagliari. She had only four torpedoes left and fired one at 1500 yards that hit and stopped the enemy. She then closed in to 1000 yards and fired another, which also hit, and Polinnia sank. Finally, on 28th in the Gulf of Creed in Sardinia, she fired one of two remaining torpedoes at a range of 2500 yards at Ugo Bassi of 2900 tons, which hit and she blew up with a very heavy explosion and sank.

The last patrol from Gibraltar in June was by O23 (Luitenant ter zee 1e Kl GBM van Erkel), who sailed on 25th for the Leghorn area. On 30th she encountered the southbound laden tanker Capacitas of 5371 tons and hit her with three torpedoes out of a salvo of four, which caused her to capsize and sink. O23 then developed an oil leak and was hunted by Italian destroyers but fortunately was able to shake them off. She was forced to withdraw to the Gulf of Lions where she emptied the leaking tank but she had no further contacts during this patrol.

The intervention of the Eighth Flotilla in the Mediterranean in June² was a substantial success. Not only were six ships of 20,490 tons sunk but also it enabled much of the traffic to Libya to be attacked that passed through this area before transiting the Straits of Messina or rounding the western end of Sicily. As a result the already overstretched Italian Navy was forced to provide escorts for all traffic in the area as well as for the normal coastal traffic and passages to Sardinia and Sicily.

In the central Mediterranean, the submarines from Malta persevered on the Tunisian coast, off Sicily and Calabria and off Tripoli, and made one sortie into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Their aim was, as usual, to interfere with the Axis supply routes to North Africa. It was particularly important to make an effort early in June as the British Army offensive, Operation 'Battleaxe', to relieve Tobruk and recapture some of the lost ground, was due to begin on 15th. At the beginning of June, Unique and Utmost were off Lampedusa and in the Gulf of Hammamet respectively. On 3rd June, Unique (Lieutenant AF Collett RN) fired two torpedoes into Lampedusa harbour, sinking Arsla of 735 tons. Later the same day she sighted three cruisers but was too far off to attack³. These boats were relieved by Urge (Lieutenant EP Tomkinson RN), who sighted three convoys on 4th, 5th and 6th but the first two were out of range and, although she fired three torpedoes at close range at the third, she missed. Unique, Upright and Union were out again in the middle of the month. On 20th, Unique, when attacking a convoy in a flat calm, was seen before firing and was counter attacked with twelve depth charges. She was seen again when attacking another convoy and was again subjected to an attack by depth charges, some of which were uncomfortably close. Upright (Lieutenant JS Wraith RN) saw nothing, but Union (Lieutenant RM Galloway RN), after sighting convoys out of range on 10th and 20th, attacked a third on 22nd firing three torpedoes at a range of 1200 yards and sinking Pietro Querini of 1004 tons.

Ursula (Lieutenant AJ Mackenzie RN) was on patrol off Tripoli at the beginning of June but she returned empty handed after missing merchant ships on 27th and 31st May at 2500 and 1500 yards with two torpedoes fired from the quarter at each of them. In the Ionian Sea, Upholder (now Lieutenant AR Hezlet RN) was sent to patrol a focal point where the routes from Messina to Benghazi and from Taranto to Tripoli intersected, but she only saw a hospital ship⁴. Unbeaten (Lieutenant EA Woodward RN) patrolled the east coast of Sicily in the middle of the month and on 16th she sighted a large liner⁵ southbound at high speed and carrying out a continuous slow zigzag. Four torpedoes were fired at a range of 4500 yards, but they missed this difficult target. On 23rd June, a signal was first decrypted in time to be acted upon. It revealed that four liners full of troops were about to leave Naples for Tripoli by the Straits of Messina. Urge was already on patrol south of Messina and Upholder (again Lieutenant Commander MD Wanklyn RN) and Unbeaten were at once sailed from Malta to join her. As the convoy emerged from the Straits it was heavily attacked by aircraft from Malta and turned back to Messina. Only Upholder caught a glimpse of it as it retired, and she could not get into a torpedo firing position⁶. Upholder was then recalled to Malta. As soon as she had gone, the convoy sailed again and passed Urge, who was engaged in an operation against the railway line at Taormina, and reached Tripoli safely. Urge landed her Commandos under Captain Taylor in folbots⁷ on 27th and they succeeded in blowing up a train in a tunnel near Cape San Alassio. Captain Simpson believed that these attacks on the Italian railways were of considerable value. For a small effort on our part, the Italians were forced to guard some 800 miles of coastal track and this would need a large number of troops. Urge also sighted two heavy cruisers with four destroyers on 29th June. She fired four torpedoes at a range of 5000 yards but with no result. She was counter attacked by the escort but was undamaged⁸. On 2nd July, before returning to Malta, Urge sighted a merchant ship escorted by what she thought was an armed merchant cruiser. She fired four torpedoes at a range of 3000 yards and heard one hit but both ships continued on their way apparently undamaged. Subsequently one of these ships, the ex Norwegian Brarena of 6696 tons, was sunk by air attack on her way from Palermo to Tripoli.

As has already been indicated, with the isolation of Malta, it was found necessary to run supplies in to the island by submarine. The first of these trips had been done in May by Cachalot when she joined the station from the United Kingdom. On 5th June, Rorqual (Lieutenant LW Napier RN) left Alexandria with 24 passengers, 147 bags of mail, two tons of medical stores, 62 tons of aviation spirit and 45 tons of kerosene. She arrived on 12th June and unloaded, and at once embarked 17 passengers, 146 cases of four-inch submarine ammunition for the First Flotilla at Alexandria, 10 tons of miscellaneous stores for the fleet and 130 bags of mail. She arrived at Alexandria on 21st and at once loaded a similar cargo to make another trip sailing on 25th¹⁰. Osiris (Lieutenant Commander TT Euman RN), who had arrived at Gibraltar after refitting in the United Kingdom, left for Malta also on 25th with a cargo of petrol, stores and mail. She managed to sink two caiques on her way, and arrived on 3rd July. A fourth trip was made during the month and this was by Cachalot (Lieutenant HRB Newton DSC RN), who left Alexandria on 12th June and arrived in Malta on 19th.

The month of June had been a very successful one for our submarines, which suffered no losses. Signals of congratulation were received from both C-in-C Mediterranean and the Admiralty. They made twenty-seven attacks expending some 74 torpedoes and sinking thirteen ships totalling 35,955 tons. However only three of these, of some 3107 tons, were actually carrying supplies to North Africa and in this month the Italians landed a record 125,000 tons. Although the 'Battleaxe' offensive by the British army in the middle of June was repulsed, General Rommel complained that he was not receiving enough supplies at the front. This, however, was not because sufficient supplies wore not getting across the Mediterranean so much as that the land transport system could not get them forward. He was demanding that more should be landed at Benghazi rather than Tripoli, which was some five hundred miles closer to the front. It could be argued that the British submarine campaign did not concentrate sufficiently on the southbound traffic to North Africa, and instead wasted effort off Sardinia and in the Aegean on empty ships returning to Italy. However it was at this time that the Italians first began to worry about their losses as a proportion or their total carrying power in the Mediterranean. Losses were now greater than their shipbuilding programmes, and the size of their merchant fleet was beginning to decline. The British submarine operational policy of sinking anything they could find wherever it was, and whatever it was doing, probably was the best in the long run.

DURING THE FIRST PART OF JULY, submarine operations continued much as before, but in the second part they were absorbed in operations to pass an important convoy to Malta from the west. On 1st July there were sixteen submarines at sea in the Mediterranean. In the western basin, Severn and O23 from Gibraltar were still in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and Utmost from Malta was north of Messina. Osiris and P38 were on passage to Malta from Gibraltar, and Thrasher was on passage from Malta to Alexandria. Upholder, Upright, Urge, Unique and Union were on patrol in the area south of Messina and off the Calabrian and Sicilian coasts, while Triumph was in the Gulf of Sirte. Torbay and Perseus were on patrol in the southern Aegean and Parthian was still off Beirut, with the Greek submarine Nereus off Kastelorizo. Most or these submarines had returned to base or reached their destinations by the middle of the month, and some others had put to sea to relieve them. By the time the Malta convoy sailed from Gibraltar on 20th July, some fourteen attacks had been carried out. On 1st July Upholder (Lieutenant Commander MD Wanklyn RN), on her tenth patrol, fired three torpedoes at an armed merchant cruiser escorting a convoy at very close range (300 yards) without result and it is probable that the torpedoes ran under. On 3rd, she sighted a convoy of three ships escorted by destroyers. She fired three torpedoes at a range of 1800 yards, two of which hit and sank Laura Cosulich of 5870 tons. She was then counter attacked with nineteen depth charges. In the southwest Aegean, Torbay (Lieutenant Commander ACC Miers RN) was at work again. She had already sunk a caique by gunfire on 30th June, and on 2nd July she attacked a convoy of two ships escorted by a destroyer with an aircraft overhead in the Zea Channel. She fired a salvo of six torpedoes at a range of 3000 yards hitting and sinking the leading ship, which was Citta di Tripoli of 2935 tons. She was then forced deep by the escort. On 5th July, after sinking another caique by gunfire in the Doro Channel, she sighted the Italian submarine Jantina off Mykoni Island. She fired another six torpedoes at a range of 1300 yards, more than one of which hit, and the U-boat sank. Finally on 10th she encountered the tanker Strombo of 5230 tons escorted by a destroyer and an aircraft. The escort forced her deep 'missing the DA', but she caught it up and fired four torpedoes on a very broad track and obtained two hits. Strombo was a total loss but did not actually sink until over a month later.

Operation 'Substance' was a success and five of the merchant ships arrived safely In Malta. The troopship Leinster, however, ran aground leaving Gibraltar and had to be left behind. The destroyer Fearless was sunk, and a cruiser and two destroyers were damaged and had to return to Gibraltar with some troops still embarked. To bring those troops to Malta a second operation by fast warships called Operation 'Style' was mounted. It left Gibraltar at the end of the month and some submarines remained in their patrol positions to cover it. The Italians were confused by the British movements, and assessed the operation as one to fly in air reinforcements. They opposed the convoy with aircraft, submarines and motor torpedo boats, but the battlefleet did not put to sea,

During and immediately after Operation 'Substance', our submarines continued their general attack on enemy shipping throughout the Mediterranean. On 20th July, Utmost (Lieutenant Commander RD Cayley RN), in her billet north of Messina, made a night attack on a large merchant ship firing two torpedoes at a range of 3000 yards. The second torpedo ran crooked and she missed. Utmost then landed her Commandos to make another attempt to blow up the railway near San Eufemia, but the operation was initially foiled by a moonlight bathing party. Later a train was successfully blown up bringing down the overhead power lines. On 28th in the same area she fired two torpedoes at a range of 700 yards, hitting and sinking Federico of 1465 tons. On 24th July, Urge (Lieutenant ER Tomkinson RN), off Palermo, fired two torpedoes at a merchant ship at a range of 1100 yards and missed astern, while Upholder (Lieutenant Commander MD Wanklyn RN), off Cape St Vito, attacked and damaged a supply ship of 4984 tons escorted by a destroyer, scoring one hit out of three torpedoes fired at a range of 5000 yards. This was followed by a dive to 150 feet and a counter attack of nineteen depth charges. Four days later in the evening when off Marittimo, she sighted a southbound force of two six-inch gun cruisers with two destroyers as escort¹³. She fired a full salvo of four torpedoes from periscope depth at a range of 4400 yards, hitting the rear cruiser, Garibaldi, which was seriously damaged but managed to get back to her base where she was out of action for four months. This success was followed by a counter attack of thirty depth charges. Next morning, Upholder fired her last torpedo at a convoy of four ships, but the range was 2200 yards and it failed to score a hit¹⁴.

Olympus (Lieutenant Commander HG Dymott RN), off Naples, had on 21st July attacked a convoy at long range, firing two single torpedoes, which missed. Two days later a troop convoy of large liners passed and she intended to fire a salvo of four at one of them. Two torpedo tubes, however, misfired and a third ran half out of its tube and the last torpedo ran wide of the target. This was a serious missed opportunity at a range of 3000 yards and an indication of this submarine's need of a refit. That night the torpedo gunner's mate dived over the side and, working under water, remedied matters to a certain extent. Olympus also suffered from the peeling off of her anti fouling paint, leaving her with patches of a light grey colour. She was sighted submerged by an aircraft on 28th July and bombed damaging her battery, and she was subsequently hunted by an auxiliary anti-submarine vessel, but fortunately without further damage. On her way home, having tried to intercept the cruiser force reported by Upholder she was at last rewarded, and off the coast of Sardinia fired a single torpedo at a range of 800 yards at Monteponi of 747 tons which was in convoy and sank her.

Tetrarch (Lieutenant Commander GH Greenway RN), who had relieved Torbay in the Aegean in the middle of July, sighted several ships out of range. On 20th she was forced deep by the escort of a large merchant ship as she was about to fire, and subsequently only got away one torpedo after the target. This was from right astern at a range of 4000 yards and missed, and she drew a counter attack on to herself. On 22nd she looked into Port Vathi but there was nothing to attack, but at Karlovassi she engaged some caiques with her gun, obtaining a number of hits before gunfire from the shore drove her off. On her way home she missed a German ship off Gaidero Island on 25th July. The range was 1800 yards, but the first torpedo ran crooked and the second missed due to a periscope fault. Finally on 27th she sank a caique full of German soldiers off Nio Island. South of Messina on the 24th July, Upright (Lieutenant JS Wraith RN) sighted a floating dock, which was being towed from Taranto to Palermo. She fired only two torpedoes as the third tube misfired and one of these hit the towrope. She was heavily counter attacked, fortunately without damage, although she did dive involuntarily to 340 feet causing some leaks. She was therefore unable to renew the attack and the floating dock escaped. Unique (Lieutenant AF Collett RN), also in this area, landed a train wrecking party south of Messina on the night of 29th/30th July, which was successful. Another landing the following night, however, was not a success as the fuzes failed.

O23 (Luitenant ter zee 1e Kl GRM van Erkel) left Gibraltar on 2nd August to patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and had a blank patrol except for an attack using Dutch torpedoes at no less than 15000 yards, which missed. Urge and Ursula patrolled south of Messina without success. On 6th August, P33 was sent to patrol off Tripoli, an area that had not been visited for a little while and she was joined by P32, who sailed on 12th. Torbay (Lieutenant Commander ACC Miers RN) left Alexandria on 2nd August to patrol off Benghazi and in the Gulf of Sirte. On 12th she fired four torpedoes at long range (6000 yards) at a convoy escorted by destroyers, motor anti-submarine boats and aircraft, but missed. Four days later she sank a schooner using demolition charges and was then ordered to Paximadia Island in Messara Bay in Crete to rescue a number of British troops in hiding there. On the night of 18th/19th she embarked 28 soldiers and 12 Greeks. The Greeks had to be forcibly landed next night to take another 92 soldiers, after which Torbay set course for Alexandria. Thrasher (Lieutenant Commander PJ Cowell DSC RN) patrolled in the Aegean from 6th-25th of the month. She made one attack on an escorted merchant ship on 16th, in which she fired four torpedoes at the very long range of 8000 yards without success. Tetrarch (Lieutenant Commander GH Greenway RN) left Alexandria on 11th August for the Gulf of Sirte, and on 16th she fired two torpedoes into Benghazi harbour aimed at the destroyer Perseo but they exploded in the torpedo nets. On 19th she attacked a convoy in very shallow water with three torpedoes at a range of 1000 yards, but she was sighted by an aircraft and forced deep before the sights came on. She fired by asdics but the torpedoes missed. On 22nd in similar conditions she let a convoy pass and pursued it on the surface after dark. Next day she fired two torpedoes at 500 yards at two large schooners sinking Fratelli Garre of 413 tons. The day after, she found two schooners at anchor and fired a single torpedo at each of them at a range of 3000 yards. One torpedo hit and sank Francesco Garre of 395 tons. Tetrarch, when returning to Alexandria was bombed and machine gunned by one of our own aircraft after making a mistake with the recognition procedure, but was fortunately undamaged.

The convoy of large Italian liners had been running a shuttle service to Tripoli since April. Except for the sinking of Conte Rosso at the end of that month they had operated without loss. They had used different routes for each succeeding trip. Signal intelligence lead to an attempt to intercept them in June without success, and they had been attacked and missed off Naples by Olympus on 23rd July, but had otherwise proved elusive. In mid August, decrypts of Italian naval ciphers revealed that a convoy of four large liners was again to make the voyage from Naples to Tripoli with troops. This time, however, they were to pass west of Sicily and down the Tunisian coast. On 16th Unique (Lieutenant AR Hezlet RN) was despatched from Malta to reinforce P32 and P33, which were already off Tripoli. Urge (Lieutenant EP Tomkinson RN) and Unbeaten (Lieutenant Commander EA Woodward RN) were sent out from Malta on 18th to patrol south west of Pantellaria. Of the other submarines on patrol at the time, Upholder was on the north coast of Sicily, but was unable to intercept, and Ursula was south of Messina, and so could only have been of use if the convoy had gone that way. Information of the convoy's progress in the Tyrrhenian Sea was obtained by RAF reconnaissance, and an enemy report was sent out to the submarines. On 19th August both Urge and Unbeaten sighted the convoy of four liners escorted by six destroyers. Urge, however, was seen submerged by an aircraft and forced deep, being counter attacked by destroyers for over an hour. Unbeaten fired three torpedoes, the fourth tube misfiring, at the long range of 6500 yards, but without result in the rough sea.

Unique, on arrival off Tripoli on 18th, made contact by asdic signals with P32 but could not get in touch with P33. It is probable that P33 had already struck one of the mines recently laid off Tripoli. She was lost with all hands including her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant RD Whiteway Wilkinson DSO RN, with three other officers and 28 men. Unique was able to get into position by watching the minesweepers sweeping the channel to seawards. She then sighted the liners Oceania, Neptunia, Marco Polo and Esperia escorted by six fleet destroyers, a torpedo boat, and two MAS boats with three flying boats overhead. At 1019 she fired four torpedoes at a range of 650 yards from inside the screen at the rear ship in the port column. An MAS boat passed over her fore casing just before she fired. Three torpedoes hit and sank Esperia of 11400 tons in sight of Tripoli. Of 1170 troops on board, however, 1139 were saved. P32 (Lieutenant DAB Abdy RN), to the eastwards of Unique, while she was actually attacking the same convoy, struck a mine and was sunk. She had tried to dive deep under the shallow minefield that she had been warned about, but on coming to periscope depth to fire torpedoes, struck a mine forward. She sank to the bottom in 210 feet; eight men were drowned but 24 survived the explosion. It was decided to attempt to escape using the Davis Apparatus, two doing so successfully through the conning tower, but the rest, using the engine room escape hatch, were all drowned. Her Commanding Officer and one rating who had escaped by the conning tower, were picked up by the Italians and made prisoners of war, but three other officers and 26 men were drowned. Unique, after her attack, was not directly counter attacked although a destroyer passed overhead soon after firing. She worked her way to seawards but later in the day was seen submerged, and bombed by a small flying boat causing an oil fuel leak, which meant that she had to return at once to Malta. Credit for this interception and sinking of an important troopship is due therefore not only to a submarine but also to the cryptographers and indeed also to air reconnaissance. Cryptography, in addition to its successes in being responsible for actual interceptions, was also of great value in building up a picture of convoy routes and in revealing the enemy's needs for supplies and his shortages.

As well as her success against Bolzano, Triumph had other adventures north of Messina. She had been sent to this area to land a larger party of Commandos than usual at the mouth of the Torrente Furiano to blow up an important railway viaduct thirty miles west of Messina. Twelve men were to be landed under Lieutenant Schofield of the Royal Fusiliers in eight folbots, carrying five hundredweight of explosives. A large submarine was required for this expedition and Triumph had also to disembark her reload torpedoes to make room for all this impedimenta. She had made a periscope reconnaissance on 22nd April, but the swell was too heavy to land, and then she was required to intercept the Italian cruiser force. Subsequently she had to land the Commandos on the night of the 27th/28th but a small fishing boat had to be disposed of which was in the way. The Commandos were able to land the next night, but two folbots were damaged and only eight men got ashore. Nevertheless they blew up two of the seven spans of the bridge. Although Triumph searched for two days, fog prevented the Commandos being recovered and the enemy captured them all. She regretfully left the area to return to Malta on the last day of the month.

The month of August was a successful one for our submarines. In twenty attacks firing 62 torpedoes, they had sunk five ships of 19,430 tons and had damaged the heavy cruiser Bolzano and two other ships totalling 28.571 tons. Although only two of these ships were carrying troops and supplies to North Africa, these included the troopship Esperia. In this month the RAF and Fleet Air Arm sank seven ships of 20,981 tons to swell the total. The Italians only succeeded in getting 46,755 tons across and lost 20% on the way. However they transported 37,201 tons of petrol with a loss of only one per cent. During August, supplies continued to be run in to Bardia by the Italian submarines Zoea, Corridoni and Atropo. The Allied successes owed a great deal to the work of their cryptographers. To the submarine successes must be added a number of operations against coastal railways which, it was hoped, would mean more coastal shipping would have to be used, as well as diverting troops to guard vulnerable bridges and tunnels near the sea. During August, the U-class submarines from Malta achieved nearly all the successes. Rorqual, Osiris, Otus and Thunderbolt made four storing trips to Malta during the month. Two submarines were lost during August, which were P32 and P33, both newcomers to the station and both lost on new Italian minefields off Tripoli. Two submarines arrived from Halifax as reinforcements, Talisman and the Thunderbolt, but against this, Taku left the station to refit,

ON 1ST SEPTEMBER, THE SUBMARINES AT MALTA were organised into a separate flotilla under the command of Captain GWG Simpson who had recently been promoted. The new flotilla was numbered the Tenth, and remained based ashore on Manoel Island in Sliema Harbour. Its name ship was Talbot and the old monitor, Medusa (exM29), which was used by the submarines as a fuel barge, was renamed accordingly. Operations, however, continued to be co-ordinated under C-in-C Mediterranean by Captain(S) First Submarine Flotilla in Medway at Alexandria. In practice this made little difference. Captain Raw had, in fact, never interfered with the operation of the Malta submarines. Air raids in Malta had, by this time, fallen to one in every twenty-four hours and were made almost exclusively at night. They caused little disruption and no damage. Reinforcements of Hurricane fighters had also been flown in from aircraft carriers during the summer. Tunnelling at Lazaretto had continued during the summer, and by October the plans to put vital facilities underground had been half completed.

September proved an even more successful month than August. Operations were spread throughout the Mediterranean and included patrols in the Aegean and the Adriatic. On 1st September there were twelve submarines on patrol. From the Eighth Flotilla at Gibraltar, O21 was south east of Sardinia and O24 off the Italian Riviera. From the Tenth Flotilla at Malta, Upright was on the north coast at Sicily while Urge was returning to Malta from the Naples area: Unbeaten was south of Messina and Upholder and Ursula were off Tripoli. Of the First Flotilla at Alexandria, Talisman was in the Gulf of Sirte and Thunderbolt was on her way to the same area to join her; Perseus was in the Aegean; Triumph was returning to Malta from the Tyrrhenian Sea and Rorqual was on her way back to Alexandria from the west coast of Greece. Most of these submarines were back in harbour before the middle of the month, but not before some had achieved results. O21 (Luitenant ter zee 1e K1 JF van Dulm), in the Tyrrhenian Sea made no less than five torpedo attacks on various ships but all missed except one¹⁸. On 5th September she sank Isarco of 5738 tons carrying phosphates from Tunisia to Naples rescuing twenty-two men of her crew, and taking them back to Gibraltar. O23 (Luitenant ter zee 1e Kl GBM van Erkel), patrolling off the Italian Riviera missed a three masted barque with torpedoes, but surfaced and sank her by gunfire. This was Carla of 347 tons. Near Elba on 9th, she encountered two ships in convoy and sank Italo Balbo of 5114 tons with torpedoes. O23 then set course round the north of Corsica, and was narrowly missed by torpedoes from an MAS boat before returning to Gibraltar. In the early part of the month Otus (Lieutenant RM Favell RN) and Osiris (Lieutenant CP Norman RN), which were in Malta after bringing in supplies, made their way to Alexandria carrying mail and passengers. Osiris carried a spare destroyer stem piece lashed to her casing. She was ordered to bombard Appolonia airfield on her way, which she did, surprisingly without any return fire from the shore. On 3rd September, Otus sighted a Ramb-class merchant ship escorted by a destroyer, probably on her way to the Dodecanese. She fired four torpedoes at a range of 2000 yards, but the destroyer got in the way and caused her to miss. Perseus (Lieutenant Commander ECF Nicolay RN), in the Aegean on 5th September, attacked a convoy and fired four torpedoes hitting and sinking Maya of 3865 tons at the long range of 5000 yards. One of the salvo also hit a tanker in the convoy and it stopped. A fifth torpedo was fired at this ship an hour later but it missed. Thunderbolt (Lieutenant Commander CB Crouch DSO RN), newly arrived in the Mediterranean, was off Benghazi on 5th September where she was harassed by anti-submarine vessels. On 7th, however, she encountered the escorted merchantman Sirena of 975 tons and sank her. This was a remarkable attack since although it started in the normal way, the target altered course stern on at a range of 2000 yards, and the single torpedo fired overtook and hit her. Thunderbolt then moved her patrol position to the Gulf of Sirte and on 9th bombarded Fort Baroli. Next day she sank the schooner Svan I of 388 tons by gunfire in the anchorage at El Auejai and during this action shore batteries engaged her. On 11th she attacked a convoy of two ships escorted by two destroyers, firing three torpedoes at a range of 1200 yards, hitting and sinking Livorno of 1829 tons. Two days later she attacked a minelayer of the Crotone-class escorted by aircraft and minesweepers, and expended three torpedoes at a range of 3200 yards, but without result. Finally next day she fired four torpedoes at a large escorted supply ship at a range of 4600 yards. Although she claimed a hit at the time, there is no record that the enemy was sunk although she may have been damaged.

Although the 'Substance' and 'Style' convoys had successfully supplied Malta during August, it was considered necessary to run another convoy in September to build up stocks there. It was decided to run this convoy towards the end of the month when reinforcements for Force H from the Home Fleet would be available. The Italians still had five battleships operational with which to contest the passage of this convoy, and it had only been found possible to bring Force H up to a strength of three capital ships. It was therefore considered essential to deploy a strong force of submarines in support of this convoy, which was code named 'Halberd'. This was not only for reconnaissance but to attack the Italian battlefleet should it sortie. Nine submarines were made available. Utmost was already north of Sicily and was ordered to patrol north of Messina, and O21 had just arrived to patrol south east of Sardinia. Upright, Upholder and Urge were sent to take up positions off Cape Rosso Colmo on the west coast of Calabria, off Marittimo and north of Palermo respectively, while Ursula and Unbeaten were sent to patrol south of the Straits of Messina. Finally Trusty and the Polish Sokol, on passage in the western Mediterranean to join as reinforcements, were ordered into the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily. This time some units of the Italian Navy put to sea to oppose the passage of the convoy. They were unable to use all five battleships as they were by now too short of fuel. Two forces were used; the first consisted of Littorio and Vittorio Veneto with eight destroyers, preceded by a second force of four cruisers and another eight destroyers. The Italian Fleet was restricted by instructions only to engage forces that were inferior, and to keep within the umbrella of fighter aircraft from the shore. They were unable to obtain enough information from air reconnaissance to compare the relative strengths, but nevertheless cruised to the east of Sardinia during the 27th and 28th September before returning to base. The only contact made with any of our six submarines in the Tyrrhenian Sea was by Utmost, who sighted three cruisers returning to Naples. She attacked but was forced to dive deep to avoid being rammed by one of the escorts and did not get her torpedoes away. Operation 'Halberd' was a success and eight of the nine merchant ships arrived in Malta safely although the battleship Nelson was damaged by an aircraft torpedo.

Immediately before, during and after 'Halberd' and for the rest of September, the usual submarine patrols continued. On 24th, Urge (Lieutenant EP Tomkinson RN) fired a single torpedo at a small merchant vessel off the west coast or Calabria but it had a gyro failure and circled, then dived to the bottom, and exploded uncomfortably close. That night in the Gulf of Gioja, she attempted to recover an agent landed by Utmost in April but was disturbed by an MAS boat. She tried again next night but one or her officers who went ashore in a folbot was killed by fire from the shore, and Urge was forced to make a rapid withdrawal by the arrival of a destroyer at high speed. It seems that the enemy obtained information from the agent and had set a trap. This confirmed Captain Simpson's dislike of these special operations that could so easily lead to the loss of a submarine²⁰. Before returning to Malta, Urge bombarded the railway with her 12-pd. gun but without effect. Torbay (Lieutenant Commander ACC Miers RN) sailed again for the Aegean on 6th September, and although she made six attacks firing fourteen torpedoes she failed to score a single hit. On 10th she sighted a merchant ship escorted by destroyer, and fired three torpedoes at a range of 1500 yards after first being thwarted by the escort. The first torpedo was seen and the target evaded the salvo. She pursued submerged all day and caught up with her quarry in Candia harbour by the evening. She fired another torpedo at her stern, which was sticking out from behind the breakwater but it missed. On 18th three more torpedoes missed a small escorted merchant ship at a range of 2000 yards, probably because of an error in the estimation of her speed. Next day in an attack on two ships in convoy with four torpedoes at a range of 4000 yards she was forced deep by he escort and counter attacked, and the torpedoes missed again. Then on 21st two torpedoes fired at an escorted Romanian ship at a range of 300 yards also failed to hit, probably because they ran under. Finally on 23rd she encountered a small coaster towing a lighter with a destroyer and an aircraft as escort. Two torpedoes at a range of 1600 yards missed yet again and an exasperated Torbay returned to Alexandria on 26th September.

Thrasher, (Lieutenant Commander PJ Cowell DSC RN) left Alexandria to patrol off Benghazi on 12th September. She plotted the courses of the Italian local patrols and so verified the positions of the minefields off the port. On 23rd in the early hours she sighted three darkened ships and fired three torpedoes at a range of 1000 yards. One torpedo ran crooked but a second ran right under one or the enemy ships which were now seen to be destroyers, and not supply ships as at first thought. Two days later, also at night, she sighted a convoy of two ships escorted by two destroyers and fired five torpedoes at a range of 3500 yards, but all missed. Thrasher then went on to Malta arriving on 1st October. Tetrarch (Lieutenant Commander GH Greenway RN) left to patrol in the Aegean on 14th September to relieve Torbay. She began by landing two army officers near Port Surtari in Crete to round up troops in hiding and then patrolled for two days off Suda Bay. She then went on to the Gulf of Athens and left the troops to be taken off by Osiris (Lieutenant RS Brookes DSC RN), who made a special trip from Alexandria for the purpose. The operation, however, failed and it was clear that the Germans had got wind of it and Osiris returned to Alexandria empty handed. Tetrarch meanwhile, on 26th, sighted a convoy off Gaidaro Island but being in a bad position to attack, she worked ahead during the night and next morning fired two torpedoes at a range or 1500 yards hitting and sinking Citta di Bastia of 2499 tons. She was counter attacked but shook off the enemy, and two hours later reached a new firing position and fired two more torpedoes at the rear of the convoy, but the range was 6500 yards and she missed. Later in the day she sank a caique full of Italian troops by gunfire. On 28th she fired another pair or torpedoes at a large ship in convoy in a night attack south of Gaidaro Island. She was forced to dive by the escort and actually fired by asdic sinking the commandeered Greek ship Yalova of 3755 tons at a range of 2500 yards.

September 1941 was unquestionably one of the high points of the British submarine campaign In the Mediterranean. Admiral Weichold, the German Navy's representative in Rome, reported that 'the most dangerous Allied weapon is the submarine'. He stated that between mid-July and the end of August, there had been thirty-six submarine attacks of which nineteen were successful. Eight ships had actually been sunk just outside Axis harbours. He also pointed out that the sunken ships could not be replaced, and there would be a crisis in the not too distant future. Admiral Raeder agreed with him. Also in September, Hitler's headquarters noted that 'Enemy submarines definitely have the upper hand'. Almost simultaneously, the British C-in-C Mediterranean was signalling to the Admiralty that 'every submarine that can be spared is worth its weight in gold'.

GEOGRAPHICALLY THE STRATEGIC SITUATION in the Mediterranean at the beginning of October remained the same. The British Mediterranean Fleet was still pinned in the eastern end on the coasts of Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Cyprus, and in the west the British held only Malta and Gibraltar. Militarily the strategic situation showed an improvement. Throughout the summer reinforcements and supplies had been arriving in the Middle East from Britain round the Cape, and by the Takoradi air route, as well as direct from India and the Antipodes. Many of these had to be diverted to build up a front in Syria and Iraq against a possible German break-through from the Caucasus. There was, however, enough to plan an offensive in the western desert for November to relieve Tobruk and retake Cyrenaica. The attack on the enemy supply routes across the Mediterranean was therefore now of paramount importance. Malta had been re-supplied, especially with Hurricane fighters, and there were now thirty-two Allied operational submarines available²³ none of which at present needed to be diverted to run in supplies to the island. On 1st October, thirteen of these were at sea on patrol. O21, Upholder, Utmost and Urge were in the Tyrrhenian Sea: Proteus, Upright. Ursula and Unbeaten in the Ionian Sea: Perseus and Thrasher off the North African coast; Tetrarch and Talisman in the Aegean and Triumph in the Adriatic. Some of these submarines were already on their way back to base but, in the early days of October, ten attacks were made. O21 (Luitenant ter zee 1e KI JF van Dulm) had left Gibraltar on 21st September to patrol off the south east coast of Sardinia. She met some anti-submarine patrols and on 8th October torpedoed a ship in the 'Sink at Sight' zone, which proved to be the Vichy French Oued Yquem of 1370 tons. On 1st October, Talisman (Lieutenant Commander M Willmott RN) in the Zea Channel in the Aegean fired three torpedoes at a merchant vessel escorted by a destroyer and an aircraft at a range of 2500 yards. She missed and was subjected to a heavy counter attack of 37 depth charges. Two days later she fired two torpedoes at a beached merchant ship on the west side of St Giorgio Island hitting with one, but the other had a gyro failure. On 4th October, Talisman torpedoed and sank the French liner Theophile Gautier of 8194 tons south east of the Doro Channel. She fired four torpedoes at 1000 yards, and the escort of three destroyers counter attacked her with another 37 depth charges over a period of half an hour. Finally on 7th October she attacked a convoy of two ships escorted by two destroyers off Suda Bay. The range was 2500 yards and although she claimed a hit at the time, all three torpedoes missed²⁴. On 1st October as well, Proteus (Lieutenant Commander PS Francis RN) off Zante fired three torpedoes at 2800 yards at a merchant ship in a glossy calm and missed. Proteus suffered serious defects in her telemotor system on this patrol and had to return to Alexandria prematurely. Then on 2nd October off Benghazi, Perseus (Lieutenant Commander ECF Nicolay RN) fired two followed by three more torpedoes at two ships at ranges of 2500 and 3500 yards, hitting and sinking the German Castellon of 2086 tons. She was counter attacked by the two Italian destroyers of the escort with forty depth charges. Next day while it was still dark, she attacked a large ship escorted by two destroyers bound for Italy. She fired two torpedoes at the long range of 5000 yards and no hits resulted. On 2nd October, Utmost (Lieutenant Commander RD Cayley DSO RN) made a night attack on a three ship convoy off Marittimo. She was only able to fire the first torpedo of a salvo of three as an escort saw her and fired an illuminant forcing her to dive. Nevertheless she hit and sank Ballila of 2470 tons. On 2nd October, Urge (Lieutenant Commander EP Tomkinson RN), on the west side of Calabria, fired four torpedoes at an Italian U-boat at a range of 1300 yards but one torpedo had a gyro failure and circled, and the others missed. Urge bombarded the coastal railway line before returning to Malta. On 3rd October, Ursula (Lieutenant AR Hezlet RN) missed a large merchant vessel in ballast escorted by a destroyer with three torpedoes at long range in a heavy swell south of Messina.

For the greater part of a second month running there were no casualties among the British and Allied submarines while on patrol in the Mediterranean. Rorqual, however, followed at the end of the month by Tetrarch, left the station to refit in the United Kingdom. Tetrarch (Lieutenant Commander GH Greenway RN) left Malta for Gibraltar on 26th October but never arrived. She communicated by asdic with P34 in the secret channel under the Sicilian mine barrage, and exchanged bearings and distances, but that was the last that was heard of her. She was ordered to patrol off Cavoli Island on 29th where we now know that the Italians had laid mines in late 1940. It is probable that she fell victim to this minefield or possibly a mine in the Sicilian barrage. She was lost with all hands, including her successful Commanding Officer, another seven officers (some on passage) and 54 men. Three new submarines, Thorn, P31, and the Polish Sokol²⁵ arrived as reinforcements as well as Porpoise from the Home Station after a refit. Porpoise tried out a new type of container for carrying aviation spirit in her mine casing²⁶ and also brought a small quantity of stores and some passengers from Gibraltar to Malta. Thorn (Lieutenant Commander RG Norfolk RN), in her passage encountered an enemy convoy west of Sicily, and in the fading light on 8th October fired four torpedoes at the long range of 6000 yards, but without result. She aimed two torpedoes at the merchant ship being escorted, and two at the destroyer escorting. The Admiralty, when they received Thorn's patrol report, made one of their very rare comments on the way submarines were operated, and said that it would have been better to have fired all four torpedoes in a single salvo at one target instead of dividing it. Rorqual left the station with a flourish. Before sailing, she had embarked fifty mines at Port Said and laid them in the Gulf of Athens on 8th October close to St Giorgio. This field sank the Italian torpedo boats Altair and Aldebaran on 20th/21st October. At Malta she embarked fifty more mines and, on her passage to Gibraltar, laid them off Cavoli and Cape Ferrato in Sardinia.

Patrols off Benghazi were not easy. The land was low and navigation was difficult; the water was shallow and the anti-submarine measures were strong. Thrasher (Lieutenant HS Mackenzie RN) was the next submarine in this area, and on 28th fired a torpedo at a large schooner full of cased petrol at a range of 550 yards. She missed but surfaced and sank the target, which was Esferia of 385 tons, by gunfire. Thorn (Lieutenant Commander RG Norfolk RN) and Trusty (Lieutenant Commander WDA King DSO DSC RN) left Malta in the middle of the month to intercept traffic to Africa by the west coast of Greece, and took up positions off Argostoli and Cephalonia. A large convoy was predicted by radio intelligence and expected to leave Taranto for Benghazi at this time, and on 20th these two submarines were joined by Truant (Lieutenant Commander HAV Haggard DSC RN), on her way to the Adriatic, to form a patrol line to intercept. Nothing however was seen, and Thorn went on to Alexandria and Truant to the Adriatic. On 25th, Trusty fired six torpedoes at a range of 5000 yards at two large merchant ships in convoy without success, although hits were thought to have been obtained at the time. On 30th she sighted another convoy that had come from the Corinth Canal. She set off that night in pursuit on the surface but after moonset she was unable to make contact again.

Truant passed through the Straits of Otranto on 23rd October and sighted a convoy of three ships escorted by an armed merchant cruiser. She fired two torpedoes at 800 yards hitting and sinking Virginia S of 3885 tons. The armed merchant cruiser stood by the sinking ship and Truant hit her too with a single torpedo fired at a range of 2000 yards. The target was only damaged, however, and was able to get back to harbour. Next day a small, unescorted ship in ballast was sighted and a single torpedo was fired at 1000 yards but it ran wide. The economy in the use of torpedoes was deliberate, but it is debatable whether it was not a false one. However Truant surfaced and engaged with her gun and set the ship on fire before being forced to dive by an aircraft. The ship was Padema of 1598 tons and she burned for seven hours. Her charred hull was eventually towed in to port. On 26th, Truant reconnoitred Ancona and next day landed a party who blew up the railway on the main line between Brindisi and Milan and returned safely. She then crossed to the Yugoslavian coast but met no success there, and so returned and on 31st attacked a convoy in shallow water off Ortona. She fired four torpedoes at the convoy, which was spread from 1400 to 2000 yards range, and she obtained a hit on the tanker Meteor of 1635 tons. Two of the torpedoes from her external bow tubes probably stuck in the mud, and Truant herself grounded with only 25 feet over her periscope standards. She survived a counter attack by the escort and was able to withdraw after it got dark that evening. Meteor was later salved and towed to Trieste for repairs. Truant then returned to Alexandria and it is of interest that after this adventurous patrol she still had half of her outfit of torpedoes left.

Triumph (Commander WJW Woods RN) left Alexandria on 16th October for the Aegean. She landed a party near Cape Stavros in Crete on 21st, and then proceeded to the Doro Channel and sank two caiques flying the German flag by gunfire. Next day she fired three torpedoes at a range of 700 yards at a small Spanish steamer but missed. On 26th she attacked a convoy with five torpedoes at a range of 3500 yards hitting and sinking Monrosa of 6705 tons. She was then near missed by bombs from the air escort and heavily depth charged, but survived with only minor damage. Patrol was maintained between Naxos and St Giorgio until 29th. Another submarine from Alexandria, Talisman (Lieutenant Commander M Willmott RN), was used for a special operation. This was to land Commandos to make a reconnaissance in the Ras el Hilal area with the aim of attacking General Rommel's headquarters in November as soon as the army offensive was launched. Talisman made a periscope reconnaissance on 24th and landed a party under Captain Radcliffe that night. The party did not return, and she left for Alexandria on 20th.

Towards the end of the month two submarines from Malta fired torpedoes. P34 (Lieutenant PRH Harrison RN) missed an unescorted merchant ship on 26th with two torpedoes at a range of 4500 yards in the Lampedusa area, and Utmost (Lieutenant JD Martin RN) came upon the grounded wreck of Marigola, damaged by Urge the week before. She fired a single torpedo at a range of 3000 yards and missed in very shallow water. She then surfaced and fired fifty rounds from her 12-pdr gun at a range of 400 yards, to try and finish her off, setting her on fire.

In October, VA(S), Sir Max Horton, made a tour of the Mediterranean submarine flotillas arriving first in Gibraltar to visit the Eighth Flotilla, going on to Malta to see the Tenth, and ending up in Alexandria with the First Flotilla. He was able to see for himself the high morale of the submarines, and to take back much information for material improvements. He was able to discuss the employment of submarines with C-in-C Mediterranean and Vice Admiral (Malta). He stated that it was his intention that an operational 'tour' by the submarines in the Mediterranean should only last a year, but that the implementation of this policy depended on the building programme and the completion of refits. In October, too, there was a brief visit from the Polish General Sikorsky on his way to see his troops in Tobruk, and he decorated Boris Karnicki of Sokol with the Virtuti Militari.

Force K intercepted the convoy from Messina in the early hours of 9th November and, with the priceless advantage of radar, but nevertheless in a brilliant night action, destroyed all seven ships and the destroyer Fulmine, leaving the destroyer Libeccio disabled and two others damaged. This was done under the noses of the powerful escort of Trento and Trieste and four destroyers, who with no radar, were virtually blind. Furthermore it was done without damage or casualties in Force K. The interception was just north of the submarine patrol line, and Upholder watched the whole action. Later in the morning, she closed and sank Libeccio who was lying stopped, firing a single torpedo at 2000 yards. Later still Upholder sighted the two Trento-class cruisers and their escort, and fired her last three torpedoes at them at a range of 2500 yards. They were steaming at 25 knots, however, and one of the torpedoes had a gyro failure and the other two were seen and avoided. Upholder returned to Malta for more torpedoes and was relieved by Upright on the patrol line. The patrol line remained in place as signal intelligence informed us that two more convoys were on the way. The convoy from Brindisi to Benghazi was attacked by the RAF but got through to North Africa. Nevertheless a crisis in the provision of supplies to the Axis armies in Cyrenaica arose. Limited quantities of supplies continued to reach Libya in small ships sailing independently and others by submarine directly to the front line, but it was found necessary to transport cased petrol in cruisers, which was extremely dangerous. Two more convoys, however, did get through to Benghazi on 16th and 18th November in spite of air attacks and our advance information about them. The second of these was in fact attacked at long range by both Urge (Lieutenant Commander EP Tomkinson RN) and Upright (Lieutenant JS Wraith RN) on 17th, firing three and four torpedoes respectively at 5000 yards and both missing. The submarine patrol line was withdrawn on 18th when cryptography indicated that there was no more traffic for the moment. The only other attack of this period in the central Mediterranean was by Ursula (Lieutenant AR Hezlet RN) off Misurata, who fired three torpedoes at a range of 2000 yards at a coastal convoy of small ships and missed, being counter attacked with fourteen depth charges.

As is clear from the narrative, submarines and aircraft and surface forces all owe their great success at this time to cryptographers. The position of Malta athwart the Axis convoy routes to North Africa, and the considerable advance notice obtained of enemy movements, coupled with the fact that the departure ports were well to the north gave even the slow U-class submarines time to get into position. Nevertheless cryptography was of greater value to ships and aircraft with their higher speed and ability to intercept right across the Ionian Sea. It is interesting too that Force K, in a single interception using signal intelligence, sank seven ships and one escort whereas submarines in the same period made three contacts but were only able to sink one escort. Cryptography, however, yielded much more than intelligence of convoy movements. At this time it revealed the enemy anxieties, and that sailings would be to Benghazi in future rather then Tripoli, and that the route down the west coast of Greece and from the Aegean would be used. All this helped to decide where best to send submarines to patrol.

On 18th November, Operation 'Crusader', the Eighth Army's offensive to relieve Tobruk and retake Cyrenaica began. Two submarines of the First Flotilla, Torbay and Talisman, were used directly to assist the offensive. They embarked forty men of No 11 (Scottish) Commando under Lieutenant Colonel OC Keyes and landed them on the night of 17th/18th November near Appolonia to attack a house where it was thought that General Rommel had his headquarters. They reached their objective and attacked, but General Rommel was not there and in the hand-to-hand fight Colonel Keyes was killed. With the start of the offensive, the Axis need for supplies became more urgent. Eight ships were loaded and waiting in Italy and Greece ready to cross. It was decided by the Italian Navy that the best strategy was to divide the eight ships into four convoys, two would sail from Naples by Messina to Tripoli, and would be heavily escorted by five cruisers and seven escorts; while two convoys with only three destroyers as escorts would slip across to Benghazi from Taranto and Navarino respectively. At the time there were eight British and Allied submarines on patrol in the central Mediterranean. O21 was west of Naples on the convoy route to Sardinia, Utmost was south of Messina; Sokol was off Navarino and Unbeaten off Tripoli. P31, Upright, Thunderbolt and Trusty had just been spread, using signal intelligence, on a patrol line across the southern Ionian Sea. The Italian convoys all sailed together on 20th November being followed next day by the cruiser Cadorna from Brindisi with a cargo of petrol in drums for Benghazi. One ship from the eastern group broke down and had to return to base. RAF reconnaissance aircraft sighted the Naples convoys while still in the Tyrrhenian Sea and Utmost (Lieutenant Commander RD Cayley DSO RN), north of Messina, sighted a convoy bound for Taranto but was too far off to attack. That night she decided not to recharge her battery, which had plenty left in it, but to lie stopped on the surface listening with her asdic, as it was a very dark night. This tactic paid off. Hydrophone Effect was heard just before midnight and shortly afterwards she sighted three cruisers and three destroyers of the covering forces. She fired four torpedoes at a range of 1500 yards and hit Duca D'Abruzzi in the forward boiler room. The flash of the explosion illuminated the whole scene and Utmost had to dive hurriedly. A counter attack did not develop for some time, but the cruiser although severely damaged, was able to reach Messina. The two convoys from Naples had by now joined together but they had been reported by Utmost and RAF Wellingtons from Malta, and heavy air attacks were made from the island. A Fleet Air Arm torpedo hit the cruiser Trieste, but she also got back to Messina. This was too much for the Italian high command, and they ordered the convoy to abandon its mission and to make for Taranto. Sokol (Kapitan B Karnicki) was invited to enter Navarino Bay and attack one of the other convoys that were sheltering there. She was told that there were no net defences She complied on 19th and almost at once got tangled in indicator nets. She shook them off with difficulty and one periscope was damaged. On 21st she fired three torpedoes at two destroyers at anchor 4200 yards away (set to run shallow over the nets) and damaged the destroyer Avieri. That night she fired another three torpedoes at a convoy at very long range. She claimed a hit at the time but it is doubtful whether her torpedoes ever reached the target. On 22nd, Upright (Lieutenant JS Wraith DSC RN) sighted Cadorna on her way south but she was too far off to attack. Of the eight supply ships in the four convoys, only three reached Benghazi as well as Cadorna with her cargo of petrol.

The Axis losses in November were nothing less than disastrous. They had tried to send 79,208 tons of supplies and fuel to North Africa and only 29.843 tons had arrived. The losses amounted to 62% and thirteen cargo ships and three destroyers were sunk, as well as two cruisers seriously damaged. The Italian Navy had transported all of the meagre 2471 tons of fuel that did get across in warships and submarines. Nine ships of 44,539 tons were sunk by surface ships, three of 5691 tons by aircraft, one of 5996 tons by submarine, and another of 2826 tons by other causes. From a campaign of attrition the operations now began to look more like a blockade.

The reason for the somewhat disappointing showing of submarines in these operations was not for want of trying. Aided by cryptography plenty of submarines were deployed on the enemy routes, but the plain fact is that Force K and aircraft of the RAF and Fleet Air Arm got there first. On 18th November, at the start of the Eighth Army offensive, C-in-C Mediterranean laid down where submarines were to patrol. The First Flotilla at Alexandria was to keep a submarine off Benghazi, one off Misurata, one in the Adriatic and two in the Aegean, while Porpoise was to be used for minelaying. The Tenth Flotilla from Malta was to keep one submarine south of Messina and a patrol line in the Ionian Sea to intercept convoys for Benghazi. At the time there were ten submarines in each flotilla and so it was not possible to keep all these positions filled. Nevertheless submarines were used elsewhere than on the routes to North Africa and obtained results that kept their total average sinkings nearer normal. Both Thunderbolt and Thrasher have been mentioned in operations in the central Mediterranean, but Thunderbolt spent some of her patrol in the Aegean and Thrasher in the Adriatic. Thunderbolt sank a schooner by gunfire north west of Cape Malea on 25th while Thrasher after sinking Attillio Defenu off Brindisi on 25th fired a single torpedo at a stopped ship but she went ahead as the torpedo was fired and it missed. Thorn (Lieutenant Commander RO Norfolk RN) left Alexandria on 10th November and passing through the Kaso Strait, landed stores and a party on a small island of the Paros group on 15th. She sighted a convoy off Gaidoro but it was out of range, and then made a night attack on a lighted ship. She fired two torpedoes from right astern and fortunately missed as it was a Turkish Red Crescent relief ship. On 20th she had to give up an attack on a small convoy, and later picked up 21 escapers from the Pares Islands. Triumph (Lieutenant JS Huddart RN) also patrolled in the Aegean and on 24th, after landing an agent near Cape Plaka in Crete, fired two torpedoes into Candia Harbour at a range of 4000 yards hitting and sinking the salvage tug Hercules of 630 tons. In the afternoon she bombarded Heraklion airfield and shore batteries replied.

As we have already noted, the sea transport situation was seen by both the Italian and German high commands as a matter of extreme concern. Mussolini again asked Hitler for a return of the Luftwaffe to neutralise Malta. The Italian Navy redoubled its efforts to get fuel and other supplies across by submarine. During December they used twelve boats, which made nineteen trips between then mostly to Bardia and some to Derna, Benghazi and Tripoli. They transported a total of 1758 tons. The German Navy had already taken steps to assist. During the autumn the Italians had accepted a German offer to send some twenty U-boats into the Mediterranean. They began to arrive during September and on 14th November, U81 and U205 torpedoed and sank the aircraft carrier Ark Royal east of Gibraltar. Ten days later U331 torpedoed and sank the battleship Barham in the eastern Mediterranean. The arrival of these U-boats was a serious business but the Netherlands submarine O21 (Luitenant ter zee 1e Kl JP van Dulm), which had been on patrol west of Naples and was on her way back to Gibraltar, was able to redress the balance to some extent. She sighted U95 in bright moonlight just after midnight on 28th November. The U-boat made the challenge as other U-boats were about, and O21 replied with a torpedo at a range of 2000 yards, which missed. A second torpedo fired by O21 hit U95 and sank her. O21 picked up U95's Captain and eleven of her crew.

The total successes in the whole Mediterranean by submarines during November were the destroyer Libeccio, U95 and four ships of 8415 tons sunk and the cruiser Duca D'Abruzzi and a ship of 4958 tons damaged. This result was achieved in twenty-one attacks firing 64 torpedoes and was in line with previous results during the summer of 1941. There were no losses of British or Allied submarines during the month and, In fact, no new submarines joined either. Total strength stood at twenty-three British, two Netherlands, one Polish and five Greek submarines.

ON 1ST DECEMBER THERE WERE no less than fifteen Allied submarines on patrol throughout the Mediterranean. In the western basin, Clyde and O24 had been sent from Gibraltar to patrol off Oran to intercept a ship reported to be taking a cargo of rubber to Europe. The ship, however, was not sighted: Clyde returned to Gibraltar and O24 went on to patrol off Naples. From Malta, P31 was in the middle of the Ionian Sea. P34 was on the south east coast of Calabria. Unique was south of Messina and Upholder south of Taranto. From Alexandria, Truant was passing along the north coast of Crete on her way to Argostoli. Thrasher was between Cape Ste Maria di Leuca and Cephalonia, Trusty was off Argostoli. Proteus and Talisman were patrolling the Kithera Channels and Triumph and Thunderbolt were off Navarin while Porpoise was approaching the same area to relieve Thunderbolt. The enemy convoy routes to Cyrenaica were therefore strongly patrolled. On 5th, P34 (Lieutenant PRH Harrison DSC RN) sighted a convoy and fired three torpedoes at a range of 5000 yards, probably damaging a ship and was counter attacked with 31 depth charges. On 5th also, Talisman (Lieutenant Commander M Willmott RN) sighted an Italian U-boat in rough weather at night. She fired seven torpedoes at point blank range (1000 yards) from the quarter and all missed. Thee days later she fired three more torpedoes at a range of 400 yards at night at what she thought was another U-boat but it turned out to be a destroyer which she also missed, the torpedoes probably running under. When returning to base on 14th December, Talisman did encounter the Italian submarine Galatea on the surface at night. Both submarines fired torpedoes and tried to ram and Talisman opened fire with her gun but both submarines emerged unscathed. On 3rd, Trusty (Lieutenant Commander WDA King DSO DSC RN) met a destroyer and fired three torpedoes at 600 yards, but the torpedoes probably ran under and she missed too. Next day she fired another three torpedoes at a range of 1000 yards at another destroyer that was escorting a convoy. One torpedo had a gyro failure and nearly hit Trusty herself, and she was subjected to a heavy counter attack into the bargain. One of her torpedoes, however, did hit and sink the merchant ship Eridano of 3585 tons in the convoy. On 7th off Suda Bay, Truant (Lieutenant Commander HAV Haggard DSC RN) attacked a ship of the Ramb-class with three torpedoes at a range of 1500 yards hitting and stopping her with one of them. Truant was unable to finish the job because of the presence of the escort and a seaplane. She then returned to Suda Bay on a report of transports and warships gathering there. On 11th she sighted a tanker escorted by a torpedo boat and an aircraft. She fired four torpedoes at a range of 3500 yards hitting both of them. The torpedo boat Alcione was sunk and Truant saw the tanker low in the water and on fire. Italian records, however, do not confirm the sinking of this tanker and it is probable that she was only damaged. Two days earlier, Porpoise (Lieutenant Commander EF Pizey DSO RN) off Navarin fired four torpedoes at a range of 1600 yards at Sebastiano Venier of 6310 tons escorted by a torpedo boat and hit her. She was, however, beached and did not sink. An attempt two days later to complete her destruction failed when both torpedoes of a salvo of two broke surface and ran crooked. However on 15th Torbay (Lieutenant Commander ACC Miers DSO RN) arrived and fired two torpedoes at 1500 yards and, although one of them ran crooked, the other hit and completed the ship's destruction. Perseus (Lieutenant Commander ECF Nicolay DSO RN), which had been refitting at Malta since October, was north of Zante on 6th December. She struck a mine and was lost. One of her crew made a remarkable escape from 170 feet using the Davis Apparatus and swam ten miles to land, where he was cared for by the Greeks and subsequently rescued. Her Commanding Officer, four other officers and 53 men of her ships company were drowned.

The Italian misfortunes were not at an end even now²⁸. They had decided that their two modern battleships, Vittorio Veneto and Littorio, should move their base from Naples back to Taranto where they could intervene more effectively in supporting convoys to North Africa. As they emerged from the southern end of the Straits of Messina, zigzagging at 20 knots and escorted by four destroyers, they were intercepted by Urge and Unique. Urge (Lieutenant Commander EP Tomkinson DSO* RN) fired a full salvo of four torpedoes from submerged at 3000 yards and hit Vittorio Veneto under the foremost turret. Unique (Lieutenant AF Collett DSC RN) also sighted the force but it passed her out of range. Vittorio Veneto reached Taranto under her own power but was out of action for three months.

On 7th December, General Rommel, after hearing that he could not hope for reinforcements for some time, and after further advances by the Eighth Army, decided to retire to the Gazala line, so giving up half of Cyrenaica. On 10th December he raised the siege of Tobruk, but left some of his army behind at Bardia and on the frontier at Halfaya. As a result, the Italian Navy redoubled its efforts to get supplies across, and had planned another convoy to be escorted and covered by the whole Italian Fleet. Simultaneously the British were planning to get more fuel to Malta as Forces B and K had run the stocks low. This was to be sent in Breconshire escorted by cruisers and destroyers who would meet Force K half way and hand her over to them. There were insufficient destroyers to allow the British battleships to put to sea. On 15th December and during these fleet movements there were eleven Allied submarines at sea in the central Mediterranean. O24 was off Naples, Upright and Urge were still south of Messina. Unbeaten and Utmost were off Taranto while P31, P34, Upholder and Sokol formed a patrol line across the middle of the Ionian Sea. Torbay was off Navarin, Truant off Argostoli and Porpoise was on her way back to Alexandria. Using signal intelligence, the submarines were disposed almost entirely in the Ionian Sea, and there were none of them patrolling off the African coast at all. On 16th when nothing had been seen by dawn, new dispositions were ordered. P31 went to relieve Upright off Cape Colonne, P34 returned to Malta and a new patrol line was ordered south of Taranto consisting of Unbeaten, Sokol and Utmost with Upholder to the southwards. This redisposition was in progress when the Italians put to sea from Taranto. Next day P31 sighted an Italian U-boat but it dived before she could attack. Simultaneously on 16th the British force sailed from Alexandria. While the Italians were leaving Taranto, the submarine patrol line in the Ionian Sea was ordered to move north. The British submarines caught glimpses of the Italians as they came south, Unbeaten and P31 sighted a cruiser and destroyers but they seemed to turn back. Utmost fired a very long-range salvo (at 8000 yards) of four torpedoes at a cruiser in a night surface attack, but without result. Her wireless report, however, gave the first visual indication that the Italian fleet was on the move. Air reconnaissance soon revealed the opponents to each other, but whereas the British knew the Italian intentions correctly from cryptography, the Italians thought that the British were at sea solely to try to destroy the Axis convoy. The surface forces met late on 17th December in what became known as the 'First Battle of Sirte', and both succeeded in protecting their convoys. Breconshire got to Malta and one Italian ship arrived safely at Benghazi and three off Tripoli. Here the RAF laying mines delayed their entry, and an attempt by Force K to intercept them was disastrous. Force K ran into a minefield, Neptune and Kandahar were sunk, and Aurora and Penelope were damaged. The three Italian merchant ships then entered the port safely. P31 (Lieutenant JBdeB Kershaw RN) got into a firing position on 19th as the Italians returned to base, on a force of three cruisers, and launched four torpedoes at 1000 yards range. She was, however, put deep by the destroyer screen and missed. Unbeaten also sighted this force but was out of range. At mid-day Sokol (Kapitan B Karnicki) sighted a squadron of ships but was too far off to attack. Heavy seas and bad visibility hampered all these submarine operations.

The Allied submarine part in this action was disappointing and was not for want of trying. Using the available signal intelligence they were well disposed to intercept the enemy and at one point, all nine boats of the Tenth Flotilla were at sea together. Nevertheless this operation was hailed by the Italian Navy as a great success and the turning point in what they called the 'First Battle of the Convoys'. Certainly the blockade of North Africa was broken, and the supplies received allowed the Axis armies to withdraw in good order and stand at El Agheila. On the day the Italian convoy entered Tripoli and Force K was destroyed, another disaster befell the British in Alexandria itself. Here the Italian submarine Scire launched three 'human' torpedoes, which severely damaged the battleships Valiant and Queen Elizabeth and put them completely out of action.

The above figures are of interest as they call attention to an important question of submarine strategy. In particular, whether the whole effort should not have been concentrated on the southbound laden traffic to North Africa, and not dissipated on empty northbound traffic, and on ships in other areas, notably the Aegean and the Adriatic. It seems doubtful, however whether a simple ban on attacking northbound ships would have meant that more laden southbound ships would have been encountered. It would only help if submarines were running out of torpedoes by expending them on northbound ships, and then meeting southbound ships which they would not be able to attack. This was certainly not the case. Few submarines returned from patrol having expended all their torpedoes³¹. Such a ban would simply have meant that fewer ships would have been sunk. Undoubtedly the concentration of submarines on the routes to North Africa rather than sending them to the Adriatic or Aegean would have meant that more ships running supplies to North Africa would have been sunk, but whether the overall total would have been greater, or even the same, is open to doubt. An advantage of sending some submarines to patrol in the Adriatic and Aegean was that it forced the traffic in those areas to be escorted, and this meant that anti-submarine protection of the convoys to North Africa was weakened. Traffic in the Adriatic and Aegean was not, in any case, of no value to Italy's war effort. It seemed obvious, for example, with the chronic shortage of fuel that the Italian tanker traffic from the Dardanelles was of exceptional importance. On the other hand the fuel shortages can now be seen as not caused by transport difficulties, but by the heavy expenditure in the Russian campaign and by the amount available at source, and how much the Germans were prepared to let the Italian Navy have. In fact all of what the Germans made available could be transported by rail. The Aegean traffic included supplies to the Luftwaffe in Crete and the German garrisons in the Greek Archipelago. The Adriatic traffic included supplies to the Italian army in Greece and Yugoslavia, and the Tyrrhenian Sea traffic supplies to the Regia Aeronautica in Sardinia. It can also be argued that the submarine campaign should not simply be directed against these military cargoes, but against Axis shipping in the Mediterranean as a whole, and that ships should be sunk wherever they could be found and whatever they were doing. The size of the Italian merchant marine available in the Mediterranean at the outbreak of war was 548 ships (over 500 tons) of 1,749,441 tons to which could be added 56 German ships in Italian ports of 203,512 tons. By the end of 1941, total losses amounted to 201 ships of 779,409 tons, which was far more than were being built. A considerable number of ships were under repair after being damaged in action. Nevertheless, although a progressive shortage of shipping for all purposes would be caused by this method it would, at a rate of sinking of 500,000 tons a year, take another two years to reduce the Italian merchant marine to impotence. There is no doubt that the policy of attacking cargoes obtains results more quickly than the policy of attacking shipping as a whole. It seems on balance that a greater concentration on the southbound routes to North Africa would have had a marginally greater effect, but probably not enough to change the course of the war in the Mediterranean.

Another point of strategy was that the concentration of the small submarines at Malta, although for good reasons, and the large submarines at Alexandria, meant that the eleven attacks on Italian heavy fleet units were, with one exception, made by U-class submarines with the weak four torpedo salvo rather than by the T-class, of which there were eight on the station, with their powerful ten torpedo salvoes. For example during the 'First Battle of Sirte', the large submarines were disposed to intercept merchant ships, and the small disposed to intercept fleet units. The result was that out of eleven attacks on these targets, only four obtained hits at all, and these only damaged and did not sink the enemy. The argument that the U-class were used in shallow water where the larger submarines were at a disadvantage is not valid. The T-class were employed to a large extent off Benghazi and in the Gulf of Sirte, which were shallow, and the U-class were often used in patrol lines in the Ionian Sea where it was deep. The argument, that all depended on endurance, is not valid either. Both the T-class from Alexandria and the U-class from Malta could operate in the Ionian Sea where most of the attacks on the Italian heavy units took place.

By the end of 1941, the strategic situation in the Mediterranean was, geographically, much improved. The recapture at Cyrenaica gave airfields that could cover the central Mediterranean. Convoys to Malta would now again be possible from the east. The planners were even discussing whether it would be possible to eject the Axis from North Africa altogether. From the naval point of view, however, the strategic situation was little short of disastrous. The arrival of the German U-boats and the exploits of the Italian human torpedoes had put the Mediterranean Fleet battle squadron totally out of action, and German mines laid by Italian cruisers had destroyed Force

K. It was only the shortage of fuel, which kept the powerful Italian battlefleet in harbour that saved the situation. Even Force H at Gibraltar had lost its aircraft carrier and was unlikely to get another for some time. Furthermore Japan's entry into the war meant that forces of all kinds were being taken from the Middle for the Far East. Two T-class submarines, as has already been told, were being sent. Now the Allied submarines in the Mediterranean with a strength of nineteen efficient operational units, with their bases and depot ships at Gibraltar, Malta and Alexandria intact became, with the Allied air forces, the most important units left to dispute the command of the sea with the Axis powers. The spectre of Fliegerkorps II, now arriving in Sicily in strength was, however, becoming apparent and the future looked grim³².