Operation Collar (convoy)
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Background
British plans
Operation Collar was devised to get the slow battleship HMS Ramillies, the cruiser HMS Berwick which had turbine problems and Newcastle which had boiler trouble from Alexandria to Gibraltar. The merchant ships Memnon, Clan Macaulay, Clan Ferguson and HMS Breconshire were also at Alexandria, ready to be convoyed to Malta, where the escorts would meet the merchant ship Cornwall which had been repaired and the four unloaded ships of Convoy MW 3. The eastern manoeuvres were called Operation MB 9, part of the operation was for aircraft carriers of the Mediterranean Fleet to attack airfields in the Dodecanese Islands and Tripoli in Italian Libya. At the west end of the Mediterranean three freighters, two for Malta and one for Alexandria were en route from Britain to Gibraltar, where two light cruisers, destroyers and corvettes were gathering to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet, which was busy protecting convoys from Port Said and Haifa to Cyprus and Piraeus, while the cruisers were transporting troops to the Aegean, under frequent attack by the Regia Aeronautica.
Force F
On 25 November, Force F (Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland) HMS Manchester and Southampton carrying 1,370 Royal Air Force technicians, escorted the merchant ships SS New Zealand Star, SS Clan Forbes and SS Clan Fraser. Force F was reinforced by the destroyer HMS Hotspur and later by the corvettes HMS Peony, Salvia, Gloxinia and Hyacinth, but the corvettes were found to be too slow to keep up with the convoy. The convoy was met off Gibraltar by Force B, the battlecruiser Renown, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the cruisers Despatch and Sheffield and the destroyers Faulknor, Firedrake, Forester, Fury, Encounter, Duncan, Wishart, Kelvin and Jaguar.
Mediterranean Fleet
Force D, the battleship Ramillies and the cruisers Berwick and Newcastle sailed from Alexandria. The cruiser Coventry with the destroyers Defender, Gallant, Greyhound, Griffin and Hereward sailed to rendezvous with the Collar convoy south of Sardinia. Force C covered the cruiser and destroyers with the battleships Barham and Malaya and the aircraft carrier Eagle which was to attack Tripoli on 26 November. The Mediterranean Fleet left Alexandria with the battleships Valiant, Warspite and the aircraft carrier Illustrious, the 7th Cruiser Squadron comprising Ajax, Orion and Sydney with destroyers to cover a raid on Suda Bay in Crete. Illustrious attacked Rhodes on 26 November. A Malta convoy sailed with Force E, the 3rd Cruiser Squadron, with Glasgow, Gloucester and York.
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Prelude
Force H
The convoy was covered at a distance to the north by Force H (Admiral James Somerville) comprising the battlecruiser HMS Renown, the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, the cruisers HMS Sheffield and Despatch and nine destroyers.
Italian fleet
When the departure of Force B from Gibraltar was reported and Force D was seen by an Italian aircraft on 25 November, the submarines Alagi, Aradam, Axum and Diasporo were sent to the south of Sardinia, Dessiè and Tembien to stations off Malta. On 25 November, Admiral Inigo Campioni sailed with the battleships Giulio Cesare and Vittorio Veneto, the 13th Destroyer Flotilla with Granatiere, Fuciliere, Bersagliere and Alpino, the 7th Destroyer Flotilla with Freccia, Saetta and Dardo, the 1st Cruiser Division with Pola, Fiume, Gorizia and the 9th Destroyer Flotilla of Alfieri, Carducci, Gioberti and Oriani sailed from Naples, the 3rd Cruiser Division with Trieste, Trento, Bolzano and the 12th Destroyer Flotilla with Lanciere, Ascari and Carabiniere departed Messina. The 10th Torpedo Boat Flotilla with Alcione, Vega, Saggitario and Sirio sailed from Trapani for the Sicilian Narrows.
Battle of Cape Spartivento/Cape Teulada
Campioni had orders to avoid a decisive encounter. The Italian destroyer Lanciere and the British cruiser HMS Berwick (65) were seriously damaged during the exchange of fire.
Convoy
After the battle, Force H continued towards Malta until late afternoon on 27 November when, just before Cape Bon, they returned to Gibraltar. At midnight on 28 November, the convoy passed Cape Bon and set course to rendezvous with the Mediterranean Fleet (Admiral Andrew Cunningham) from Alexandria. Clan Fraser and Clan Forbes arrived at Malta on 29 November and New Zealand Star, escorted by the destroyers HMS Defender and Hereward, continued to Alexandria. This small convoy was also covered by Manchester and Southampton.