Allied Coastal Forces in Malta during World War II

Abstract

When war was declared on 3 September of 1939 a flotilla of twelve Motor Torpedo Boats had been operating from Malta since July 1937. However, in November 1939 the Admiralty ordered this flotilla of small fast attack craft to return to the UK where, at that time, their presence around the coasts of Britain was considered necessary. Allied Coastal Forces boats were to return to the Mediterranean in October 1940 with the establishment of an operating base in Alexandria. However, it was not until after the battle of Alamein in October 1942 that an advance force of Coastal Forces craft were moved to Malta to assist in a blockade of the major ports further west, such as Tripoli and Bizerta. On the arrival of the 10th Flotilla on 9 December 1942 the boats were temporarily berthed at the submarine base at Manoel Island. Within weeks, however, private housing and garage buildings at Ta' Xbiex were requisitioned and HMS Gregale was commissioned on this site as the Coastal Forces Base Malta in early 1943 and it subsequently became the Headquarters of Captain Coastal Forces Mediterranean.