Operation Hurry facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Operation Hurry
Part of Club Run of the Battle of the Mediterranean
HMS Argus in the late 1920s
Date 31 July – 4 August 1940 Location Action in Cagliari, Kingdom of Italy Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Kingdom of Italy
Commanders and leaders
James Somerville Andrew Cunningham	Unknown
Units involved
Force H	Regia Aeronautica

Operation Hurry was the first British operation in a series that have come to be known as Club Runs. The goal of the operation was to fly twelve Hawker Hurricanes from HMS Argus to Malta, guided by two Blackburn Skuas.

Background

On 11 June 1940, Italy began the Siege of Malta, the first step in their plan to gain control of the Mediterranean. Their plan was to bomb or starve Malta into submission, by attacking its ports, towns, cities, and Allied shipping supplying the island. After over a month of bombardment, the troops on Malta were beginning to run low on supplies -including aircraft- to help fight off the attackers, and some doubt was expressed whether Malta was worth the supplies it required, and some even planned on letting Malta work on the few supplies it had left. The decision was made, however, to reinforce substantially the island air defences.

Plan

The plan for Hurry was for the carrier Argus, with 12 Hurricanes on board, to sail within flying distance of Malta, and dispatch them, together with two Skuas to act as navigators. They would be met by two Short Sunderland flying boats from Malta as further guides. Argus was to be protected by battleships Valiant and Resolution, cruiser Arethusa and six destroyers. To hamper air resistance during the transportation, an air attack was planned on Cagliari (Operation Crush), alongside a radio deception (Operation Spark) which was meant to distract the Italians by reporting a suspicious boat off the coast of Menorca. The air attack would be carried out by Fairey Swordfish from carrier Ark Royal, which would be protected by battlecruiser Hood and four destroyers, while the decoy operation would be carried out by cruiser Enterprise. The operation as planned would require the full strength of Force H, and was commanded by V.Adm James Somerville, in Hood.

Action

On the morning of 31 July 1940, Force H left Gibraltar, heading for Malta.

On the way to make the attack, Force H was attacked by two waves of enemy aircraft. The attacks, which took place on 1 August at around 1800 hours, took place northwest of the coast of the Gulf of Bougie. The attacks were successfully repelled. At 2045 on 1 August Ark Royal and her escorts, plus Enterprise (designated Group I) split/departed from the main body towards Sardinia. At 2130 Enterprise split from Group I to carry out her mission SE of Minorca. Meanwhile Argus and her escorts (Group II) which continued toward Malta; command of Group II passed to the captain of Valiant.

On 2 August, at around 0230 hours, nine Swordfish torpedo bomber/reconnaissance aircraft armed with bombs, and three bombers with mines, took off from the Ark Royal, however, due to inclement weather, one plane crashed, losing its entire crew. This problem forced the pilots to wait until full daylight to take off, when the weather was better. The attack was fought off with considerable anti-aircraft fire, however, the pilots still managed to hit four of the hangars, and destroy or damage several aircraft. They also successfully laid three mines around the edge of the harbour. All but one aircraft returned from this mission, the sole loss being taken as prisoner after an emergency landing.

Later on 2 August, at 0445, the 12 Hurricanes for Malta took off from Argus, in two flights of six, each accompanied by a Skua. They were unable to make rendezvous with the Sunderlands, but successfully found their way to Malta, though one Hurricane crashed on landing.

Operation Spark was also reported as successful, though a follow-up mission for Enterprise, to intercept a Vichy French ship en route from Algeria, was cancelled.

Aftermath

Operation Hurry was the first of a long series of missions to reinforce the RAF on Malta; some 28 of these missions, known as Club Runs, delivered more than 700 aircraft to the beleaguered island over the next two years. After the operation, many of the vessels of Force H, including Hood, Valiant, Ark Royal and Resolution, left Force H to take part in the Battle of Dakar.