Operation Stoneage

Operation Stoneage
Part of The Battle of the Mediterranean of the Second World War
View from HMS Manxman during Operation Stoneage, November 1942
Date 16–20 November 1942 Location Mediterranean Sea, Malta 35°53′42″N 14°31′14″E / 35.89500°N 14.52056°E / 35.89500; 14.52056 Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Italy  Germany
Strength
3 light cruisers 10 destroyers 4 cargo ships	Air & naval forces
Casualties and losses
156 men light cruiser seriously damaged 5 aircraft lost

Operation Stoneage or Operation Stone Age (16–20 November 1942) was an Allied convoy operation to the Mediterranean island of Malta in the Second World War. To disguise the destination of the ships, some took on their cargo at Port Sudan in the Red Sea. The four ships of Convoy MW 13 sailed from Alexandria on 16 November, escorted by cruisers, destroyers and round-the-clock air cover from captured airfields in Egypt and Cyrenaica (eastern Libya).

A complementary convoy from Gibraltar was cancelled when the British and Allied First Army, landed in Morocco and Algeria in Operation Torch (8–16 November) and made less progress along the Algerian coast than expected. MW 13 sailed about 40 nmi (46 mi; 74 km) from the African coast as far west as Benghazi, then turned north for Malta. The Axis retreat along the Libyan coast was monitored by the Bletchley Park code-breakers of the German Enigma coding machine, which revealed the inability of Panzerarmee Afrika to counter-attack the Allies.

At dusk on 18 November, an attack by Axis torpedo-bombers hit the 6 in (150 mm) cruiser HMS Arethusa forward of the bridge and killed 156 members of the crew. Arethusa made a slow voyage back to Alexandria, being towed backwards at first and then continuing backwards on one engine. MW 13 arrived at Malta at 1:30 a.m. on 20 November, breaking the Axis Siege of Malta (11 June 1940 – 20 November 1942).