page_title: Operation Avalanche naval order of battle
section_title: Task Force 88: Support Carrier Force
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Avalanche naval order of battle / Order of battle / Task Force 80: Western Naval Task Force / Task Force 88: Support Carrier Force
caption_attribution_description: English: The Royal Navy during the Second World War Fairey Barracudas landing on HMS FORMIDABLE after attacking the TIRPITZ and other enemy ships off Norway. Men can be seen looking down on the flight deck in the foreground.
context_page_description: Operation Avalanche was the codename for the combined US and British landings on the southwest coast of Italy on 9 September 1943 as part of the Allied effort in the Mediterranean Theater during World War II. The forces landed consisted of the US Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark. The Fifth Army was made up of the British X Corps, which landed south of the town of Salerno, and the US VI Corps, which landed at the town of Paestum.
  The landings were carried out by combined forces of the US Navy and Royal Navy, detailed below.
  Naval losses: 2 destroyers, 1 minesweeper, 1 tug, 1 hospital ship
context_section_description: Rear Admiral Sir Philip L. Vian, RN
    1 light carrier: HMS Unicorn
    4 escort carriers: HMS Battler, HMS Attacker, HMS Hunter, HMS Stalker
    3 light cruisers: HMS Euryalus, HMS Scylla, HMS Charybdis
    9 destroyers: 7 British, 2 Polish
  Covering Forces
  2 fleet carriers (Rear Admiral C. Moody, RN)
  HMS Illustrious
  28 Grumman Martlet fighters
  10 Supermarine Seafire fighters
  12 Fairey Barracuda torpedo bombers
  HMS Formidable
  28 Grumman Martlet fighters
    5 Supermarine Seafire fighters
  12 Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers
  Force "H" (Vice Admiral Sir A.V. Willis, RN)
    4 battleships: HMS Nelson, HMS Rodney, HMS Warspite, HMS Valiant
  Screen
  20 destroyers: 16 British, 1 Polish, 2 Dutch, 1 French
  Auxiliaries
    3 hospital ships: HMHS Newfoundland (sunk by air attack 13 September), HMHS Leinster, HMHS Somersetshire
caption: Fairey Barracudas landing on HMS Formidable
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