Operation Stone Age

Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of Second World War

Date	20 November 1942
Location	Mediterranean sea, Malta
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Kingdom of Italy

Nazi Germany

Strength

3 light cruisers
10 destroyers
4 cargo ships

Various air & naval forces

Casualties and losses

1 light cruiser damaged

Unknown

During the Second World War, Operation Stone Age or Stoneage was the passage of MW13, the convoy of four merchant ships that reached Malta from Egypt on 20 November 1942 from Alexandria. Its arrival is considered to have broken the siege of that island. However, a coordinated convoy from Gibraltar was cancelled as Axis forces still held Tunisia and would have been too great a threat.

British possession of Malta had been sustained through 1942, despite heavy naval losses and in November 1942 the rewards were realised. The Pedestal convoy survivors, including the tanker SS Ohio, delivered sufficient stores and military materiel to reinvigorate British submarine and aircraft activity from the island's bases. In the month following, Erwin Rommel's armies were denied 300,000 short tons (270,000 t) of supplies, contributing to the dire lack of fuel that so limited their movement at Alam Halfa and El Alamein.

This impact upon land forces brought consequential benefits. As Axis forces withdrew westward, they gave up air bases from which they had threatened convoys and allowed Allied aircraft to move in and offer protection.

Critical packets of supplies were brought in by fast minelayers and submarines (tagged Magic Carpet runs). Some of the Pedestal commodities were expected to be exhausted by mid-November, so more and substantial deliveries were needed to sustain the island.

Convoy MW13 consisted of four merchant ships and escort (15th Cruiser Squadron and 14th Destroyer Flotilla) that departed from Port Said on 16 November. Two of the ships, Bantam and Denbighshire, had loaded cargo at Port Sudan before continuing to Port Suez. The four merchant ships gathered at Port Suez where the convoy commodore boarded Denbighshire and added protective sandbags around the bridges' gun positions. The four ships passed through the Suez Canal on 15–16 November and, pausing only to load more ammunition at Port Said, they and their escort promptly departed into the Mediterranean sometime after 4pm.

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Wikipedia