JANUARY 1942
Early January - Royal Navy HMS Triumph sailed from Alexandria on 26th December for a cloak-and-dagger landing near Athens before patrolling in the Aegean. She reported the landing on the 30th, but failed to rendezvous back there on the 9th and was presumed mined off the island of Milo, southeast of the Greek mainland.
5th January - Three Axis submarines fell victim to their Royal Navy counterparts in different patrol areas in January. The first was Italian submarine Saint-Bon north of Sicily to Lt-Cdr Wanklyn’s HMS Upholder which torpedoed and sunk her Italian adversary.
12th January - The second Axis submarine loss was German “U-374” off the east coast of Sicily to HMS Unbeaten (Lt-Cdr E. A. Woodward) which again intercepted German U-Boat on the surface , torpeded and sank her.
17th January - During the month, Malta was resupplied by three small convoys coming from the east. In the second, four fast transports left Alexandria covered by Adm Vian’s Mediterranean Fleet cruiser force. On the 17th one of the close escorting destroyers, Royal Navy destroyer HMS Gurkha, was torpedoed north of Sidi Barrani by German submarine U-133 and scuttled. Next day the surviving ships were met by light cruiser HMS Penelope of Force K from Malta, and got there on the 19th. During this period the Italian Navy had escorted two substantial convoys to North Africa in time for Rommel’s next offensive. Malta continued to be heavily bombed for many months by the German and Italian Air Forces.
30th January - The third Axis loss was Italian submarine Medusa torpedoed and sunk by Royal Navy submarine HMS Thorn in the Gulf of Venice, in the far north of the Adriatic.
North Africa - By the 6th the British advance had reached the German and Italian lines at El Agheila. Just two weeks later on the 21st, Rommel started his second campaign. The first of two phases took him as far as Gazala just to the west of Tobruk. El Agheila soon fell and Benghazi was occupied before the month was out. On 1st February Eighth Army withdrew to Gazala and within a week Rommel had come up. There he stayed until May 1942.
Monthly Loss Summary
1 British or Allied merchant ship of 7,000 tons
FEBRUARY 1942
12th February - Heavy air attacks continued on Malta. Royal Navy destroyer HMS Maori based on the island and at anchor in Grand Harbour, was bombed and sunk by German aircraft.
Malta - Three escorted merchantmen covered by cruisers and destroyers left Alexandria on the 12th for Malta. One was disabled and the other two sunk by Axis aircraft. Only one reached to Valetta Harbour in Malta. There was little relief for the island.
13th February - Two Royal Navy submarines were lost. The first was HMS Tempest which torpedoed a German supply ship off the Gulf of Taranto but was depth-charged by the escorts including Italian torpedo boat “Circe”, brought to the surface and soon sank.
16th February - A Royal Navy third submarine was saved by the gallantry of her crew. HMS Thresher was also counter-attacked by the escorts of an Italian convoy, off northern Crete. Two unexploded bombs lodged between the casing and hull, and with the likelihood of drowning should she be forced to submerge, two of the boat’s crew managed to remove them. Lt Peter Roberts RN and Petty Officer Thomas Gould were awarded the Victoria Cross.
23rd February - Ten days later Royal Navy submarine HMS P-38 attacked a heavily defended Axis convoy off Tripoli and was also lost to the escorts’ counter-attack which again included Italian torpedo boat “Circe”.
Monthly Loss Summary
4 British or Allied merchant ships of 19,000 tons