Operation MB.8
Part of theBattle of the Mediterranean of theSecond World War
20 mm Oerlikon cannon anti aircraft gunners on board a merchant ship on a Malta bound convoy
Date 4–11 November 1940 Location Western part of theMediterranean Sea 35°N18°E / 35°N 18°E /35; 18 Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Italy
Commanders and leaders
Andrew Cunningham Lumley Lyster	Inigo Campioni
Units involved
Mediterranean Fleet Force H	Regia Marina Regia Aeronautica
Strength
2aircraft carriers 5battleships 10cruisers 30destroyers

Operation MB8 was a BritishRoyal Navy operation in theMediterranean Sea from 4 to 11 November 1940. It was made up of six forces comprising twoaircraft carriers, fivebattleships, 10cruisers and 30destroyers, including much ofForce H from Gibraltar, protecting four supplyconvoys. It consisted of Operation Coat,Operation Crack,Convoy MW 3,Convoy ME 3,Convoy AN 6 and the main element Operation Judgement (theBattle of Taranto).^[1]

Operation Coat was a reinforcement convoy from Britain toMalta, carrying troops andanti-aircraft guns. The convoy was made up of thebattleshipHMS Barham,heavy cruisersHMS Berwick andGlasgow and three escortingdestroyers. It was covered by theaircraft carrierHMS Ark Royal,light cruiserHMS Sheffield and three more destroyers, all from Force H, out to mid-Mediterranean; three Force H destroyers would remain, the rest turning back 165 nmi (190 mi; 306 km) fromSicily.^[2]

Convoy MW 3 was made up of three empty merchantmen from Malta with an Australian destroyer and themonitorHMS Terror bound for the base atSuda Bay in Crete thence to Alexandria.^[3] The convoy was escorted by theanti-aircraft cruiserHMS Coventry, accompanied by three destroyers.^[2] The 11.5 kn (13.2 mph; 21.3 km/h) convoy left Alexandria on 4 November and reached Malta on 10 November.^[4]

Convoy ME 3 comprised four merchantmen sailing in ballast from Malta to Alexandria, under escort of the battleshipHMS Ramillies,Coventry, and two destroyers.^[2] The convoy sailed from Malta on 10 November and arrived in Alexandria on 13 November.^[4]

Convoy AN 6 consisted of four slowtankers bound forGreece fromEgypt, in support of the British expedition there, escorted by a slowtrawler.^[2] Shaping a similar course were reinforcements forCrete, embarked in the light cruisersHMS Ajax andHMAS Sydney asForce B, whileForce C, the light cruiserHMS Orion (Vice AdmiralHenry Pridham-Wippell) transported RAF supplies to Greece and inspected Suda Bay. All three would rejoin to formForce X for an 11/12 November raid on theOtranto Strait.^[2]

Operation Crack was an attack onCagliari by aircraft fromArk Royal,en route to Malta, branching off from Operation Coat.^[2]

Operation Judgement, under the command of AdmiralAndrew Cunningham, was executed by aircraft from the carrierHMS Illustrious, escorted by the battleshipsRamillies,Warspite,Valiant andMalaya. They met the heavy cruiserYork, the light cruiserGloucester and three destroyers, then escorting Convoy MW 3 and provided cover. A rendezvous with theBarham group from Operation Coat was to be made, withIllustrious,Gloucester,York andBerwick detaching to attack Taranto, coincident with the Force X raid. The Italians were aware of sorties from Alexandria and Gibraltar by 7 November and sent ninesubmarines to attack the Malta-bound Convoy MW 3 detected on 8 November. Bombers failed to pinpoint the Judgement force and when Force H was detected heading back toward Gibraltar on 9 November, the Italians assumed that Convoy MW 3 had turned around, too.^[5]

Italian confusion arose whenBarham,Berwick,Glasgow and their destroyers were detected 10 November offLemnos. The correct deduction, that they had detached from the Gibraltar-bound force, was not accompanied by a correct guess they would join with Cunningham. The same day,Ramillies,Coventry and two destroyers protecting Convoy ME 3 were detected and again, bombers failed to locate them.^[6] The complexity of Operation MB8, with its forces and convoys, deceived the Italians into thinking that only normal convoying was underway. While Italianreconnaissance was characteristically bad, in the end, the Italians had only failed to keep track ofIllustrious. That the Italians expected the British to behave in what was usual was the cause of the mistake.^[7]

• Battle of the Mediterranean
• Malta Convoys
• Force H

• Bragadin, M. (1957) [1948]. Fioravanzo, G. (ed.).The Italian Navy in World War II. Translated by Hoffman, G. (Eng. trans. ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute.OCLC 602717421.
• Dannreuther, Raymond (2005).Somerville's Force H: The Royal Navy's Gibraltar-based Fleet, June 1940 to March 1942. London: Aurum Press.ISBN 1-84513-020-0.
• Hague, Arnold (2000).The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. London: Chatham.ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
• O'Hara, Vincent P. (2009).Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940–1945. London: Conway.ISBN 978-1-84486-102-6.
• Playfair, I. S. O.; et al. (1959) [1954].Butler, J. R. M. (ed.).The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Early Successes Against Italy (to May 1941). History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. I (4th impr. ed.).HMSO.OCLC 494123451. Retrieved28 May 2018.
• Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Roskill, S. W. (1957) [1954].Butler, J. R. M. (ed.).The War at Sea 1939–1945: The Defensive. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. I (4th impr. ed.). London: HMSO.OCLC 881709135.Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved24 November 2017.
• Woodman, Richard (2003).Malta Convoys 1940–1943. London:John Murray.ISBN 978-0-7195-6408-6.

• Naval battles and operations of the European theatre of World War II
• Battle of the Mediterranean
• Malta Convoys
• Naval aviation operations and battles
• Conflicts in 1940
• 1940 in Italy
• November 1940

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