Three of the British cruisers who participated in Operation Halberd
Operation Halberd was a British naval operation in the Mediterranean during World War II. The goal was to escort a convoy British merchant ships from Gibraltar to Malta. 85,000 tons of goods reached Malta. Progress of the operation
On September 24, 1941, nine merchant ships departed by command-by-night Harold Martin Burrough with an escort of five cruisers and eighteen torpedo boat hunters. Force H joined this convoy consisting of an aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, and three battleships (HMS Nelson, HMS Rodney and HMS Prince of Wales) to protect the ship from the Italian fleet.
On September 26, the Italian fleet tried to contact, but turned around when it became known that British merchant ships were heavily protected. The Prince of Wales and the Rodney tried to intercept the Italians, but failed. The Nelson was hit by a torpedo by an Italian bomber in her bow and was severely damaged by that. By the evening of September 27th, Force H reversed and drove again to Gibraltar. At that time, the Italians had lost 21 aircraft in combat with the Royal Navy Air Force and pilots of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm.
On September 28, one of the merchant ships, the HMS Imperial Star, was hit by a few torpedo and sinked. The rest of the convoy reached Malta on the same day and delivered 85,000 tonnes of stocks. Sources
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