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War & Post War Activities
in the Mediterranean

OVER 300 VICTIMS

Times of Malta
13th December 1945 Page 5
OVER 300 VITIMS
"LITTLE SHIPS" SCORE IN MEDITERRANEAN
(From Our Naval Correspondent)>

Coastal Forces of the Mediterranean Fleet - young officers and men who fought in the small Motor Torpedo Boats, Motor Gunboats and Motor Launches - destroyed or captured no fewer than 308 enemy ships and 23 aircraft between Janauary 1943 and the end of the war.
This total of losses inflicted on the enemy is made up as follows:
SUNK OR DESTROYED BY TORPEDO OR GUNFIRE 180 VESSELS (INCLUDING 25 MERCHANT VESSELS, 12 WARSHIPS) AND 16 AIRCRAFT:
PROBABLY SUNK OR DESTROYED:28 VESSELS AND THREE AIRCRAFT:
DAMAGED: 64 VESSELS AND FOUR AIRCRAFT:
CAPTURED 36 VESSELS.
PLAYING THEIR PART
Most of the work of Coastal Forces being of an offensive nature, finished when the war ended: Captain of Coastal Forces, Mediterranean, in his final report, refers to the minesweeping Motor Launches which are continuing to play their part in the great mine clearance programme. They are being used extensively for clearance sweeps in shallow waters and ahead of the Fleet Sweepers and up-to-date Motor Launches alone have swept between them 600 mines. A few Motor Launches are also retained for general duties.
Many stories have been written of the gallant action fought by Coastal Forces in the days when they ventured far from their base to harass the enemy in his shipping lanes and of the swift night encounters with E-Boats. Coastal Forces were called upon to carry out tasks of all descriptions - they were engaged in harbour control, convoy, invasions surveying and, in the early days when things were not going well, evacuation.
WHEN EMPIRE STOOD ALONE:
The operations began with the Battle of Crete when the British Empire alone was fighting the enemy. Coastal Forces in the Mediterranean were then represented by a few small last-war boats, and all but two were lost at Crete. For the next six months there were only these two boats and a handful of Motor Launches opoerating. Up till late in 1942 they had a hard life due to enemy air superiority and there were many losses and casualties.
H.M.S.MOSQUITO at Alexandria was the first Coastal Forces Base and in the early days there were small advanced maintenance units at Cyprus and Tobruk. When Tobruk fell Motor Torpedo Boats played a valiant part in getting personnel away.
After the Battle of El Alamein by which time the number of vessels was steadily increasing, Coastal Forces advanced with the Eigth Army all along the African coast , as far as Benghazi, to Malta (where a base was set up from which to attack Sicily and Southern Italy) and Bone which was used for operations against< Tunisia.
As the Armies advanced in Italy Coastal Forces bases sprung up in Sicily, at Maddalena in Sardinia, Bastia in Corsica, the island of Ischia off Naples, and then in ports on the West and East coasts of Italy and to Viz and Zara on the Yugoslavian coast.
6,000 OFFICERS AND MEN ENGAGED:
The Northern Adriatic, the Gulf of Genoa and the Aegean Sea offered ideal operational groound for the fast little ships and the enemy's sea traffic was constantly attacked in large numbers and successful actions, particularly as Radar improved.
A fitting conclusion to four years of Coastal Forces warfare came on the eve of the end of the German collapse when on May 2, nearly 30 German ships of various sorts surrendered at Tagliamento near Trieste, to a handful of Royal Navy Motor Torpedo Boats and Motor Launches

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