Operation MB8 Operation MB8 was a British Royal Navy operation in the Mediterranean Sea during 4 – 11 November 1940 . It was made up of six forces — totalling two aircraft carrier s , five battleship s , 10 cruiser s , and 30 destroyer s , including much of Force H — protecting four distinct supply convoys . It consisted of several phases : Operation Coat , Operation Crack , Convoy MW 3 , Convoy ME 3 , Convoy AN 6 , and the main element , " Operation Judgement " . Operation Coat was a reinforcement convoy from Britain to Malta , carrying troops and anti - aircraft guns . The convoy was made up of the battleship , heavy cruiser s and , and three escorting destroyer s . It was covered by the aircraft carrier , light cruiser , and three more destroyers , all from Force H , out to mid - Mediterranean ; three Force H destroyers would remain , the rest turning back from Sicily . Convoy MW 3 was made up of five merchantmen bound for Malta from Alexandria , plus two more providing supplies to the base at Suda Bay . The convoy was escorted by the anti - aircraft cruiser , accompanied by three destroyers . Convoy ME 3 comprised four merchantmen sailing in ballast from Malta to Alexandria , under escort of the battleship , " Coventry " , and two destroyers . Convoy AN 6 consisted of four slow tankers bound for Greece from Egypt , in support of the British expedition there , escorted by a slow trawler . Shaping a similar course were reinforcements for Crete , embarked in light cruisers and as Force B , while light cruiser ( Vice Admiral H . D . Pridham - Wippell ' s Force C ) transported RAF supplies to Greece and inspected Suda Bay . All three would rejoin to form Force X for an 11 / 12 November raid on the Otranto Strait . Operation Crack was an attack on Cagliari by aircraft from " Ark Royal " , " en route " to Malta , branching off from Operation Coat . Operation Judgement — under the overall command of Admiral A . B . Cunningham — was executed by aircraft from the carrier , escorted by battleships " Ramilies " , , , and . They met the heavy cruisers and and three destroyers , then escorting Convoy MW 3 , and provided cover . Then the " Barham " group from Operation Coat was to be met , with " Illustrious " , " Gloucester " , " York " , and " Berwick " detaching to attack Taranto , coincident with the Force X raid . The Italians were aware of sorties from Alexandria and Gibraltar by 7 November , and sent nine submarine s to attack a Malta convoy ( MW 3 ) detected on 8 November . Bombers ( unsurprisingly ) failed even to pinpoint the Judgement force , and when Force H was detected headed back toward Gibraltar on 9 November , the Italians presumed MW 3 had turned around , too . Italian confusion arose when " Barham " , " Berwick " , " Glasgow " , and their destroyers were detected 10 November off Lemnos . The correct deduction — they had detached from the Gibraltar - bound force — was not accompanied by a correct guess they would join with Cunningham . The same day , " Ramillies " , " Coventry " , and two destroyers protecting ME 3 were detected , and again , bombers failed even to locate them . The very complexity of Operation MB8 , with its various forces and convoys , succeeded in deceiving the Italians into thinking only normal convoying was underway . ( Its success stands in stark contrast to complex Japanese failures at Coral Sea and Midway . ) While Italian reconnaissance was characteristically bad , in the end , the Italians had only failed to keep track of " Illustrious " . That the Italians expected the British to behave in what was , at the time , their usual way was the root of the mistake .