David Brown - The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean Volume I, September 1939-October 1940

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WHITEHALL HISTORIES: NAVAL STAFF HISTORIES

Series Editor: Capt. Christopher Page

ISSN: 1471-0757

THE ROYAL NAVY AND THE MEDITERRANEAN
VOLUME I: September 1939October 1940

NAVAL STAFF HISTORIES
Series Editor: Capt. Christopher Page
ISSN: 14710757

---

Naval Staff Histories were produced after the Second World War in order to provide as full an account of the various actions and operations as was possible at the time. In some cases the Histories were based on earlier Battle Summaries written much sooner after the event, and designed to provide more immediate assessments. The target audience for these Naval Staff Histories was largely serving officers; some of the volumes were originally classified, not to restrict their distribution but to allow the writers to be as candid as possible. These histories have been in the Public Record Office for some time, and some have already been published.

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The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean, Volume II: November 1940December 1941
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THE ROYAL NAVY
AND THE
MEDITERRANEAN

VOLUME I: September 1939October 1940

With an Introduction by
DAVID BROWN

Former Head of the Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence

First published in 2002 in Great Britain by
Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Transferred to Digital Printing 2011

Website: www.routledge.com

Crown Copyright 2002

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean. New ed.
Vol. 1: September 1939October 1940 (Whitehall histories.
Naval staff histories)
1. Great Britain. Royal Navy History 2. World War,
19391945 Campaigns Mediterranean Region
940.5421

ISBN 0-7146-5179-6 (cloth)
ISSN 1471-0757

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean / [G.A. Titterton]; with a preface by David Brown.

p. cm. (Whitehall histories. Naval Staff histories, ISSN 1471-0757)

Originally appeared as a classified document in 1952 prepared by G.A. Titterton for the Historical Section of the Admiralty.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-7146-5179-6

1. World War, 19391945 Campaigns Mediterranean Region. 2. World War, 19391945 Naval operations, British. I. Titterton, G.A. II. Great Britain. Admiralty. Historical Section. III. Series.

D771 .M38 2001

940.545941dc21

2001047640

Published on behalf of the Whitehall History Publishing Consortium. Applications to reproduce Crown copyright protected material in this publication should be submitted in writing to: HMSO, Copyright Unit, St Clements House, 216 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ. Fax: 01603 723000. E-mail:

Production co-ordination by Mike Moran

Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but
points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent.

During the production of this Naval Staff History, it was learned with great regret that David Brown, OBE FRHistS, the author of the new Introduction to this volume, died on 11 August 2001. He had dedicated his life to naval history and was Head of the Naval Historical Branch of the Ministry of Defence for more than a quarter of a century.

CONTENTS

Republication of the Naval Staff History of the Second World War The Mediterranean Volume I, September 1939 October 1940
	Foreword by Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh KCB ADC First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff

This Naval Staff History was first produced in 1952 as a classified account for internal use by government and defence officials, incorporating information from German and Italian sources to amend the previously-prepared Battle Summary Reports which were written very soon after the relevant individual events. It provides a candid, dispassionate and sometimes critical view of some of the crucial moments of the Second World War, but one which, overall, reflects great credit on our ships and men of the time and their commanders.

The Mediterranean was a vital theatre in the Second World War, and this republished volume deals with the role of the Royal Navy during the early part of the conflict in that region. Rarely has a Commander-in-Chief been faced with so rapidly-changing a strategic situation as was Admiral Cunningham during this period. At the start there was a comfortable feeling that, with French naval support, command of the Mediterranean was assured, particularly as Italy was at first nonbelligerent. But as we now know, after an early phase of uneasy calm, circumstances changed markedly in the middle of 1940 with the fall of France and the entry of Italy into the war on Germany's side. This history shows that Cunningham's judgements in reacting to each changing circumstance were prudent and sensible.

In addition to the measures taken against the Italians, the history covers the sensitive matter of our actions against the French Navy. Few episodes of the war have generated so much controversy as these latter engagements, undertaken at a time when Britain stood weak and alone, recovering from serious setbacks on land in France. But by such actions, and particularly after Taranto in November 1940, British command of the sea was established, command of the sea without which the timely supply of Wavell's forces in Egypt, the interdiction of Italian convoys to support their army in Libya, and the support of our Greek allies would not have been possible. The strategic situation was to change again when the Germans entered the theatre later in the war and when British sea control was once more seriously disputed, but this will be covered in another volume.

Unusually, nearly fifty per cent of the text in this edition is in the form of appendices of useful information which, in conjunction with the narrative and the sixteen plans, will be of value to the casual reader and dedicated naval historian alike. I see its re-publication as a small but worthy tribute to those who participated in these historic events.

Ministry of Defence
March 2001

This Admiralty Staff History, written by Commander G. A. Titterton RN, appeared in 1952. It was intended to provide a relatively small professional readership with a background to the more detailed accounts contained in a series of Battle Summaries which covered, in the case of the Mediterranean, specific areas of activity such as shore bombardments, convoys and amphibious operations. The work did, however, include more details of plans and deliberations than were then in the public domain and, because the sources would remain confidential for many years, it was classified. The intention was that three volumes would cover the whole of the war in the Mediterranean, but two years later the first volumes of two Official Histories in the Cabinet Office Second World War series appeared: Captain Stephen Roskill's

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