Force H Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War . It was formed in 1940 to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean that had been removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany . It occupied an odd place within the naval chain of command . Normal British practice was to have various naval stations and fleets around the world whose commanders reported to the First Sea Lord . Force H was based at Gibraltar , and there was already a flag officer at the base , Flag Officer Commanding , North Atlantic . However , the commanding officer of Force H did not report to this officer ; he reported directly to the First Sea Lord . Operation Catapult . One of the first operations that Force H took part in was connected with the reason for its formation . French naval power still existed in the Mediterranean , and the British Government viewed it as a threat to British interests . It was feared that the Vichy government of Pétain would hand the ships over to Germany , despite a vow that that would never happen . Such an incidence would almost certainly decisively tip the balance against Britain in the Mediterranean . Consequently , Force H was ordered to execute Operation Catapult . The most powerful of the remaining French forces was in port at Mers - el - Kébir in Algeria . It consisted of the French fast battleships and , two of the most modern and powerful units in the French fleet and two older battleships , along with escorting vessels . Force H steamed to off the Algerian coast , and an envoy was sent to the French commander . Various terms were offered , including internment of the fleet in a neutral country , joining the British forces and scuttling the fleet at its berths . However , the commander of the French forces reported only the scuttling option to his superiors . He was thus ordered to fight . The reasons for the omission have been debated by many . It is often thought that the anti - British bias of the French commander was to blame . The result of action was that the remains of the French fleet escaped to Toulon , a French base on the Mediterranean coast of metropolitan France . They did so at heavy cost . The old French battleship blew up under British gunfire , killing over 1 , 000 French sailors . The old battleship was also heavily damaged and " Strasbourg " and " Dunkerque " were also hit , though " Strasbourg " escaped with four destroyers . Convoy operations . After this unpleasant operation , Force H settled down to its more normal operations . These involved general naval tasks in the western basin of the Mediterranean . Prominent amongst these tasks was fighting convoys through to Malta . The early convoys came through with relatively light losses . That changed in 1941 , when the Germans sent the " Luftwaffe " s X . " Fliegerkorps " to Sicily . Its bombers took a dreadful toll of both warships and merchantmen . In November 1940 , screening convoys to Malta , Force H made an important contribution to Operation MB8 , and the resulting success of Operation Judgement . " Sink the " Bismarck " ! " . The most famous incident involving Force H in 1941 did not occur in the Mediterranean , but in the Atlantic Ocean . The battleship had sailed in company with the heavy cruiser from Germany to commerce raid in the Atlantic . She went round far to the north of the UK , passing through the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland . There , she was intercepted by a powerful British force made up of the new battleship and the old battlecruiser . The engagement was a disaster for the Royal Navy , with " Prince of Wales " being damaged and " Hood " blowing up . Only three out of the crew of 1 , 400 aboard " Hood " survived . Every Royal Navy unit available was then given the task of destroying the " Bismarck " . Force H set sail from Gibraltar to intercept the Bismarck with the aircraft carrier , battlecruiser and light cruiser . Despite the loss of " Hood " , " Bismarck " did not come out of the Denmark Strait engagement completely unscathed . A shell from " Prince of Wales " had ruptured the ship ' s fuel tanks , causing her to lose oil . The commerce raiding cruise was thus cut short , and the ship headed for the French port of Brest . " Bismarck " was temporarily lost to the Royal Navy after she evaded the radar of the shadowing cruisers and . She was found again , but the only way of stopping her was if something slowed the ship down . To try to do this , " Ark Royal " launched a strike with her Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers . However , the aircrews were wrongly informed of the location of " Sheffield " and attacked her instead , thinking her to be " Bismarck " . The torpedoes that the Swordfish had dropped carried a new type of magnetic detonator which proved too unreliable . A second strike was flown carrying the older , and totally reliable , contact detonator . " Bismarck " was found and a torpedo wrecked her steering gear . Unable to evade the British ships closing in , the German battleship was destroyed by a force including and . Britain at rock bottom . The end of 1941 saw the nadir of British naval fortunes in the Mediterranean . The Mediterranean Fleet lost the services of its aircraft carrier to bomb damage , had one battleship sunk off Crete by U - 331 , and its two remaining battleships put out of action by Italian human torpedoes . Force H in its turn suffered as well : " Ark Royal " was sunk by in November 1941 . It was only the lack of action by the Italians that prevented a complete disaster for British fortunes . 1942 opened on a low note . The most urgent task during the first part of the year was supplying Malta . The island had been under heavy attack for many months , and supply convoys had to be very heavily escorted to stand any chance of getting through . Enough succeeded that Malta was kept from starving , but it was very close . The most heavily escorted convoy in the whole of the Second World War was the key to this . In August , Operation Pedestal was mounted which lead to enough supplies being sent to the island to keep it going . Amphibious assaults and the end of Force H . Force H was not actually extant for a portion of 1942 . It was stripped bare in May to provide ships for the assault on Vichy French forces at Diego Suarez in Madagascar during Operation Ironclad . This operation succeeded , but many argue that it was a waste of British naval resources at a critical time in the war . November saw the turning point of the conflict . Operation Torch saw British and American forces landed in Morocco and Algeria under the British First Army . Force H was reinforced to cover these landings . The two main threats were the Italian fleet and French forces . In the end , only French forces fought , and the most significant battles took place at Casablanca where only American naval units were supporting operations . The end of the campaign in North Africa saw an interdiction effort on a vast scale . The aim was to cut Tunisia completely off from Axis support . It succeeded and 250 , 000 men surrendered to 18th Army Group ; an equal number to those who surrendered at Stalingrad . Force H again provided heavy cover for this operation . Two further sets of landings were covered by Force H against interference from the Italian fleet . Operation Husky in July 1943 saw the invasion and conquest of Sicily , and Operation Avalanche saw an attack on the Italian mainland at Salerno . Following the Allied landings on Italy itself , the Italian government surrendered . The Italian fleet mostly escaped German capture and much of it formed the Italian Co - Belligerent Navy . However , two German Fritz X radio - controlled missiles did hit and sink the battleship , killing the Commander - in - Chief of the Italian Royal Navy ( " Regia Marina " ) , Admiral Carlo Bergamini . Force H met the Italian fleet near Sardinia and escorted it to Malta . Admiral Cunningham sent a very traditional signal to the Admiralty in London : With the surrender of the Italian fleet , the need for heavy units in the Mediterranean disappeared . The battleships and aircraft carriers of Force H dispersed to the Home Fleet and Eastern Fleet and the command was disbanded . Naval operations in the Mediterranean from now on would be conducted by lighter units . Modern Force H . Today the only Royal Navy ships attached to Gibraltar and the Western Mediterranean is the Gibraltar Squadron .