Force B

For other uses, see Force B (disambiguation).

Force B was the name of several British Royal Navy task forces during the Second World War.

Mediterranean

The first Force B was formed by the Mediterranean Fleet during Operation MB8, a multi-faceted operation involving several separate forces with different but co-ordinated aims. During this period Force B comprised the cruisers Ajax and Sydney, and were tasked with delivering reinforcements to Crete. The force sailed on 4 November with convoy AN 6 en route to Greece, departing that evening to Crete, then heading north to join Force A (cruiser Orion) at Pireaus. From there the combined force under the command of V Adm. Henry Pridham-Wippell moved east into the Straits of Otranto to act as a distraction to the Italian Fleet whilst the balance of the British forces attacked the port of Taranto (known as Operation Judgement). Whilst in the straits the cruisers intercepted an Italian convoy of four ships, destroying three of them.[1]

In March 1941, again under Pridham-Whippel, Ajax and three other cruisers (Orion, Gloucester and Perth) formed Force B in an operation to bring the Italian fleet to battle, resulting in the Battle of Cape Matapan.[2]

In June Force B was re-formed to assist Allied forces in the occupation of Syria; Ajax, Phoebe and four destroyers. During this period ships of the force were engaged by Vichy submarine Caiman, which was damaged in a two-hour hunt, and the destroyers Guepard and Valmy, which left the destroyer Janus badly damaged.[3]

In November Force B (comprising Ajax, Neptune and two destroyers, Kandahar and Jaguar, and under the command of R.Adm. Bernard Rawlings) was moved to Malta to reinforce the ships already based there (Force K) and to carry out offensive sweeps for Axis supply ships en route to Libya. However on 19 December, after taking part in conveying a supply ship into Malta (Operation MD8) which had led to the First Battle of Sirte, Force B was deployed to find the Italian convoy encountered in that engagement, but fell foul of a minefield off Tripoli, resulting in the loss of Neptune and Kandahar, and damage to two other ships. After this both Forces B and K were withdrawn from Malta.[4]

Indian Ocean

With the outbreak of war in the Pacific and the advance of the Japanese on Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, British naval forces in the Far east were forced to retreat, first to Java, then to Trincomalee, in Ceylon. In March 1942 Adm. James Somerville took command of a force of 29 warships, many approaching obsolescence. To remedy this deficiency he divided his ships into a fast and a slow division, named Force A and Force B, respectively.[5] This Force B comprised four WWI-vintage Revenge class battleships, the light carrier Hermes, the cruisers Caledon and Dragon, and destroyers Decoy, Fortune, Griffin, and Scout. These were joined by Dutch cruiser Jacob van Heemskerck and destroyer Isaac Sweers, and RAN destroyers Norman and Vampire.[6] This force came under the command of R Adm. Algernon Willis.

This force came under attack during the Japanese raid into the Indian Ocean and on 9 April Hermes and Vampire were sunk by aircraft from the Japanese carrier strike force. After this Force B was withdrawn to Kilindini, in British East Africa, where it was based until the RN could recoup its position in the theatre. Force B's only major action, apart from escort duty was to support Operation Ironclad, the invasion of Vichy-held Madagascar, in May 1942, during which Ramillies was attacked and damaged by Japanese midget submarines in Diego Suarez harbour.[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Roskill vol I, p301
  2. ↑ Roskill vol I, p428
  3. ↑ Roskill vol I, p516-7
  4. ↑ Roskill vol I, p535
  5. ↑ Roskill vol II p25
  6. ↑ Eastern Fleet order of battle at valka.cz
  7. ↑ Roskill vol II p191-2

References

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