Force K

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The Force K (German: Einsatzverband K) was a British task force during the Second World War . It was formed in 1941 and operated out of Malta . Their main task was to stop supplies for the Italian and German armed forces in North Africa. It was a reaction to the Sunflower Operation and was set up on October 21, 1941 on the instructions of Winston Churchill , as the Allied submarines and air forces could not significantly affect the German supplies.

When it was founded, the Force K consisted of the two light cruisers Aurora and Penelope and the L-class destroyers Lance and Lively . After initial successes in November 1941 she received the month additional amplification by the light cruiser at the end Ajax and Neptune and two destroyers of the K-class , Kandahar and Jaguar .

Calls

On November 8, 1941 Force K successfully attacked a German-Italian convoy from Naples to Tripoli off the Calabrian coast and sank seven cargo ships and the Italian destroyer escort Fulmine . The destroyers Libeccio , Euro and Grecale were damaged. The next day the Libeccio was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Upholder and sank despite attempts to tow it. With one mission almost half of the enemy's supply capacity was destroyed and the port of Tripoli was declared "practically blocked" by the Italians.

On November 24, Force K intercepted an Axis convoy 100 miles west of Crete . Despite the presence of the Italian torpedo boats Lupo and Cassiopea , the German cargo ships Maritza and Procida were sunk.

After Force K had been reinforced on November 29 by two more light cruisers and two destroyers, it was able to intercept and sink further Italian merchant ships with supplies off the Libyan coast on December 1. At times, 60 percent of German supplies were lost during this phase of the war.

The end of the Force K

In December, however, the fortunes of war turned. When trying to intercept another supply convoy, the ships of Force K ran on December 19, 1941 off Tripoli in a newly laid Italian minefield . The Neptune and Kandahar sank, the Aurora suffered and the Penelope suffered minor damage. The damaged ships were repaired in Malta, with the Penelope sustaining new damage due to continued air raids during the repair. Since at the same time the German air force was reinforced in January 1942 and gained air sovereignty, Force K was dissolved in January 1942.

literature

  • Eric Groves: Sea Battles in Close-Up . Vol II World War 2 . "Successor to the volume by Martin Stephen", published 1988. Ian Allen, London 1993. 224 pp. ISBN 0-7110-2118-X .
  • Stephen Roskill: The War at Sea 1939-1945 . Vol I 1954.
  • Peter C. Smith & Edwin Walker: The Battles of the Malta Striking Forces . Ian Allen, London 1974. 224 pp. ISBN 0-7110-0528-1 .