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n contents move to sidebar hide top 1 hunt for the admiral graf spee 2 operation catapult 3 convoy operations 4 sink the bismarck 5 britain at rock bottom 6 amphibious assaults and the end of force h 7 battles and operations of force h 8 major combatant ships in force h 9 see also 10 citations 11 references 12 external links toggle the table of contents force h 10 languages беларуская català deutsch suomi français italiano 日本語 português русский українська edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia world war 2 british naval squadron this article needs more citations please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources unsourced material may be challenged and removed find sources force h news newspapers books scholar jstor december 2008 learn how and when to remove this message force h force h off gibraltar in 1940 by rowland langmaid active 1940 1943 country united kingdom branch royal navy engagements battle of the mediterranean attack on mers el kébir battle of cape spartivento last battle of bismarck commanders notable commanders vice admiral sir james somerville july 1940 march 1942 edward syfret march 1942 1943 military unit 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 within the naval chain of command normal british practice was to have naval stations and fleets around the world whose commanders reported to the first sea lord via a flag officer force h was based at gibraltar but there was already a flag officer at the base flag officer commanding north atlantic the commanding officer of force h did not report to this flag officer but directly to the first sea lord admiral of the fleet sir dudley pound hunt for the admiral graf spee edit in anticipation of the outbreak of world war 2 on 3 september 1939 the german kriegsmarine had already deployed the two heavy cruisers admiral graf spee and deutschland as commerce raiders in the north and south atlantic when these ships started operating against british and french ships in october 1939 the british and french navy responded by forming eight hunting groups named force f g h i and force k l m and n these forces were composed of cruisers fast battlecruisers and aircraft carriers force h was stationed in cape of good hope and was composed of the british heavy cruisers sussex and shropshire by december 1939 deutschland had returned to german port and the admiral graf spee was found by force g damaged in the battle of the river plate and subsequently scuttled at montevideo with the threat of german raiders gone the hunting groups were disbanded and force h ceased to exist 1 operation catapult edit main article attack on mers el kébir the surrender of france created a void in the western mediterranean on 27 june vice admiral james somerville was appointed as commander of force h stationed in gibraltar it was an independent command directly responsible to the admiralty in london the first operation that force h took part in was connected with the reason for its formation french naval power still existed in the mediterranean and the british government viewed it as a threat to british interests it was feared that the vichy government of philippe pétain would hand the ships over to germany despite a vow that that would never happen this would almost certainly tip the balance decisively against britain in the mediterranean consequently force h was ordered to execute operation catapult 2 the most powerful of the remaining french forces was in port at mers el kébir in algeria it consisted of the french battleships strasbourg dunkerque bretagne and provence and six destroyers force h steamed to off the algerian coast and an envoy was sent to the french commander various terms were offered including internment of the fleet in a neutral country joining the british forces or scuttling the fleet at its berths 3 however the commander of the french forces reported only the scuttling option to his superiors and was consequently ordered to fight the british the reasons for the omission have been debated by many it is often thought that the anti british bias of the french commander was to blame citation needed the result of the action was that dunkerque and provence were damaged and put out of action bretagne was destroyed with heavy loss of life but strasbourg and four destroyers could escape to toulon a french base on the mediterranean coast of metropolitan france 4 convoy operations edit main article malta convoys after this unpleasant operation force h settled down to its more normal operations these involved general naval tasks in the western basin of the mediterranean prominent amongst these tasks was fighting convoys through to malta the early convoys came through with relatively light losses that changed in 1941 when the germans sent the luftwaffe s x fliegerkorps to sicily its bombers took a high toll of both warships and merchantmen also from 1942 the improved combat efficiency of the regia aeronautica and especially of its sm 79 torpedo bombers and of the regia marina s submarines posed a far greater threat to these convoys than the 1940 italian opposition in november 1940 screening convoys to malta force h made an important contribution to operation mb8 and the resulting success of operation judgement the attack on taranto harbour 5 sink the bismarck edit main articles battle of the denmark strait and last battle of the battleship bismarck the most famous incident involving force h in 1941 did not occur in the mediterranean but in the atlantic ocean the german battleship bismarck had sailed in company with the heavy cruiser prinz eugen to attack commercial shipping she went far to the north of the uk passing southwest through the denmark strait between iceland and greenland there she was intercepted by a british force made up of the battleship prince of wales and the battlecruiser hood the engagement was a disaster for the royal navy prince of wales was damaged and hood s magazine exploded breaking the ship in half only three out of 1 418 crew aboard were rescued from the sinking every royal navy unit available was then given the task of destroying bismarck hms renown and hms ark royal operating at sea in force h photo taken from hms sheffield force h set sail from gibraltar to intercept bismarck with the aircraft carrier ark royal the battlecruiser renown and the light cruiser sheffield bismarck had not come out of the denmark strait engagement completely unscathed a shell from prince of wales had ruptured the ship s fuel tanks causing her to lose oil the commerce raiding cruise was thus cut short and the ship headed for the port of brest in occupied france bismarck was temporarily lost to the royal navy after she evaded the radar of the shadowing cruisers suffolk and norfolk she was found again but the only way of stopping her was if something slowed the ship down to try to do this ark royal launched a strike with her fairey swordfish torpedo bombers however the aircrews were wrongly informed of the location of sheffield and attacked her instead mistaking her for bismarck the torpedoes that the swordfish had dropped carried a new type of magnetic detonator which proved too unreliable a second strike was flown carrying the older and more reliable contact detonator bismarck was found and a torpedo jammed her steering gear unable to evade the british ships closing in the german battleship was scuttled following incapacitating battle damage dealt by a force including king george v and rodney britain at rock bottom edit the end of 1941 saw the nadir of british naval fortunes in the mediterranean the mediterranean fleet lost the services of hms illustrious to bomb damage hms barham was sunk off crete by u 331 and its two remaining battleships were put out of action by an italian raid on alexandria force h in its turn suffered as well ark royal was sunk by u 81 in november 1941 it was only the lack of action by the italians that prevented a complete disaster for british fortunes the most urgent task during the first part of the year was supplying malta the island had been under heavy attack for many months and supply convoys had to be escorted by many ships and aircraft to stand any chance of getting through malta was kept from starving but it was very close operation pedestal the most escorted convoy in the second world war delivered enough supplies in august to keep malta going amphibious assaults and the end of force h edit force h was not actually extant for a portion of 1942 it was stripped bare in may to provide ships for the assault on vichy french forces at diego suarez in madagascar during operation ironclad november saw the turning point of the conflict operation torch saw british and american forces landed in morocco and algeria under the british first army force h was reinforced to cover these landings the two main threats were the italian fleet and french forces in the end only french forces fought and the most significant battles took place at casablanca where only american naval units supported the operations the end of the campaign in north africa saw an interdiction effort on a vast scale the aim was to cut tunisia completely off from axis support it succeeded and 250 000 men surrendered to the 18th army group a number equal to those who surrendered at stalingrad force h again provided heavy cover for this operation two further sets of landings were covered by force h against interference from the italian fleet operation husky in july 1943 saw the invasion and conquest of sicily and operation avalanche saw an attack on the italian mainland at salerno following the allied landings on italy itself the italian government surrendered the italian fleet mostly escaped german capture and much of it formed the italian co belligerent navy however two german fritz x radio controlled missiles did hit and sink the battleship roma killing the commander in chief of the italian royal navy regia marina admiral carlo bergamini with the surrender of the italian fleet the need for heavy units in the mediterranean disappeared the battleships and aircraft carriers of force h dispersed to the home and eastern fleets and the command was disbanded naval operations in the mediterranean from now on would be conducted by lighter units battles and operations of force h edit attack on mers el kébir the action at oran 3 july 1940 the battle of calabria 9 july 1940 the battle of taranto 11 12 november 1940 the battle of cape spartivento 27 november 1940 operation collar november 1940 operation excess january 1941 operation grog 9 february 1941 operation substance july 1941 operation halberd september 1941 operation ironclad as part of force 121 march to may 1942 operation harpoon june 1942 operation pedestal august 1942 operation husky july 1943 operation avalanche september 1943 major combatant ships in force h edit ark royal aircraft carrier june 1940 november 1941 eagle aircraft carrier february august 1942 hood battlecruiser june august 1940 renown battlecruiser august 1940 august 1941 october 1941 february 1943 resolution battleship june august 1940 valiant battleship june 1940 december 1941 june october 1943 malaya battleship december 1940 march 1941 nelson battleship june september 1941 august 1942 november 1943 rodney battleship may 1942 october 1943 king george v battleship may 1943 february 1944 enterprise cruiser june december 1940 arethusa cruiser june 1940 december 1941 sheffield cruiser august 1940 october 1941 coventry cruiser august 1940 september 1942 calcutta cruiser august 1940 june 1941 berwick cruiser november 1940 fiji cruiser april may 1941 hermione cruiser june 1941 march 1942 cairo cruiser january august 1942 charybdis cruiser april november 1942 argonaut cruiser october december 1942 see also edit battle of the mediterranean military history of gibraltar during world war ii malta convoys geoffrey bennett citations edit stephen 1988 pp 10 28 taylor 2012 pp 166 167 taylor 2012 pp 167 168 taylor 2012 pp 168 169 stephen 1988 pp 37 38 references edit stephen martin 1988 grove eric ed sea battles in close up world war 2 london ian allan ltd isbn 0 7110 1596 1 taylor bruce 2012 the end of glory war and peace in hms hood 1916 1941 annapolis maryland naval institute press isbn 9781591142355 external links edit transcription of force h war diary admirals org uk british admiralty document on mers el kébir action destruction of the french fleet at mers el kebir h m s hood v t e task forces of the royal navy lettered task forces force a force b force c force d force e force f force g force h force i force j force k force l force m force q force r force x force y force z numbered task forces force 1 force 2 force 61 force 62 force 63 force 67 force 70 task force 317 task force 318 task force 321 task force 323 task force 324 task force 330 task force 333 task force 345 task forces allocated by usn task force 57 task force 37 joint allied command task forces eastern task force western task force western task force operation torch central task force operation torch task force peter task force 111 other coalition task forces bristol group combined task force 150 combined task force 151 retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title force_h oldid 1337669735 categories gibraltar in world war ii military units and formations of the royal navy in world war ii military units and formations established in 1940 royal navy task forces 1940 establishments in the united kingdom 1943 disestablishments in the united kingdom military units and formations disestablished in 1943 hidden categories articles with short description short description is different from wikidata use british english from december 2013 all wikipedia articles written in british english use dmy dates from february 2023 articles needing additional references from december 2008 all articles needing additional references short description matches wikidata all articles with unsourced statements articles with unsourced statements from november 2021 this page was last edited on 10 february 2026 at 20 32 utc page was rendered with parsoid text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike 4 0 license additional terms may apply by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc a non profit organization privacy policy about wikipedia 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