Operation Hurry

Operation Hurry (31 July – 4 August 1940) 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 Hurricane Mk Is from HMS Argus to Malta, guided by two Blackburn Skuas.

Operation Hurry
Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean

HMS Argus in the late 1920s
Date31 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
Units involved
Force H Regia Aeronautica

Background

On 11 June 1940, Italy began the Siege of Malta, the first step in an Italian plan to gain control of the Mediterranean. The Italians planned to bomb or starve Malta into submission, by attacking its ports, towns, cities and Allied shipping supplying the island.[1] After over a month of bombardment, the troops on Malta were beginning to run low on supplies and equipment, including aircraft, to help fight off the attackers. Doubt was expressed whether Malta was worth the supplies it required and some even planned on letting Malta work on the few supplies that were left.[2] The decision was made to reinforce substantially the island air defences.[3]

Plan
Map of the Tyrrhenian Sea, showing Sardinia and Malta

The plan for Hurry was for the aircraft carrier Argus, with twelve Hawker Hurricane Mk Is on board, to sail within flying distance of Malta and dispatch the Hurricanes, with two two-man Blackburn Skuas to assist with navigation. They would be met by two Short Sunderland flying boats from Malta to guide them in. Argus was to be protected by the battleships HMS Valiant and Resolution, the cruiser HMS Arethusa and six destroyers. Operation Crush, an attack by Fairey Swordfish bombers and minelayers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal protected by battlecruiser HMS Hood and four destroyers, was planned on the Italian airfield at Cagliari in Sardinia. Operation Spark, a wireless deception carried out by the cruiser HMS Enterprise, was to distract the Italians by reporting a suspicious boat off the coast of Menorca. All of Force H (Vice-Admiral James Somerville, in Hood) would be needed for the operations.[4]

Action

Operation Crush

On the morning of 31 July 1940, Force H left Gibraltar, heading for Malta.[4][5] On 1 August, on the way to make the attack, Force H was attacked by two waves of Italian aircraft at 6:00 p.m. north-west of the coast of the Gulf of Bougie, off the Algerian coast, to no effect. At 8:45 p.m. Ark Royal and her escorts, plus Enterprise (Group I) detached from Force H towards Sardinia. At 8:30 p.m. Enterprise departed from Group I to carry out her mission south-east of Minorca. Group II, Argus and its escorts, continued toward Malta; command of Group II passed to the captain of Valiant.[4]

On 2 August, at around 2:30 a.m., nine Swordfish torpedo bomber/reconnaissance aircraft armed with bombs and three carrying mines, took off from Ark Royal. Due to inclement weather, one Swordfish crashed with the loss of its crew. The other pilots had to wait until full daylight to take off, when the weather had improved. The attack met with considerable anti-aircraft fire but the pilots still managed to hit four of the hangars, destroying or damaging several aircraft. The minelaying Swordfish laid three mines around the edge of the harbour. All but one aircraft returned from this mission, its crew being taken as prisoner after an emergency landing.[4]

Operation Hurry

Later on 2 August, at 4:45 a.m., the twelve 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 Sunderland flying boats but found their way to Malta, one of the Hurricanes crashing on landing.

Operation Spark

Operation Spark was also reported a success, though a follow-up mission for Enterprise, to intercept a Vichy French ship en route from Algeria, was cancelled.[6]

Aftermath

Operation Hurry was the first operation to reinforce the RAF on Malta; some 28 of these missions, known as Club Runs, delivered more than 700 aircraft to the island over the next two years. After Hurry, 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.[7]

Footnotes
  1. Holland 2003, p. 417.
  2. Shankland & Hunter 1961, p. 92.
  3. Ireland 2003, p. 29.
  4. Titterton 2002, p. 52.
  5. Jones 2012.
  6. Titterton 2002, pp. 52–53.
  7. Smith 2008, p. 122.

References
  • Holland, James (2003). Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege, 1940–1943. New York: Miramax Books. ISBN 978-1-4013-5186-1.
  • Ireland, Bernard (2003). War in the Mediterranean. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-84415-047-2.
  • Jones, Ben (2012). The Fleet Air Arm in the Second World War. Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4724-0422-0.
  • Shankland, Peter; Hunter, Anthony (1961). Malta Convoy. London: Collins. OCLC 963442966.
  • Smith, Peter Charles (2008). The Great Ships: British Battleships in World War II. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3514-8.
  • Titterton, G. A. (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: September 1939 – October 1940. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-7146-5179-8.

Further reading
  • Woodman, Richard (2003) [2000]. Malta Convoys 1940–1943 (pbk. repr. ed.). London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-6408-6.
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