MEMBER EVENT: Operation Pedestal

P3-Operation Pedestal:
The Convoy That Saved Malta, August 1942

David Lilly shares details of Operation Pedestal, one of the largest concentrations of British naval power organized during World War II.

Operation Pedestal was an operation by the British to provide supplies to Malta in 1942 during World War II in order to attack Axis forces in North Africa. During the summer of 1942 the British Fleet Air Arm (FAA) was increasingly concerned with fighter direction in multi-carrier operations. Early in August its ships Eagle, Victorious, Indomitable, Furious, and Argus trained together, anticipating further operations in support of Malta. That month Eagle, Furious, and Indomitable joined Convoy WS 21S for Operation Pedestal, sending fourteen freighters and tankers to Malta.