Operation Pedestal – was to resupply the starving British-held island of Malta
by escorting a single oil tanker and 13 fast cargo ships through Axis-controlled waters.
On 11 August, the first day of the convoy, when “freak ASDIC [sonar] conditions” enabled a German U-boat with an undistinguished commander to sink the carrier HMS Eagle with 16 Hurricane fighters and 136 men.
Syfret accelerated the westward retreat of the fleet, leaving the surviving merchant ships to continue their journey with a reduced escort of cruisers and destroyers and, crucially, no air cover.
Telegraph 9 May 2021
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/churchill-threw-thenavy-malta-1942-worth/
Pedestal on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0inR2jRW_P8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A6-oon8sGs
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