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Operation Vigorous was a Second World War Allied operation to deliver a supply convoy (MW-11) that sailed from Haifa and Port Said on 12 June 1942 to Malta. The convoy encountered heavy Axis air and sea opposition and returned to Alexandria on 16 June. ==Background== (詳細はFrench surrender and Italy's declaration of war, the Mediterranean had been an Allied "lake". The French Fleet and the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet dominated the only potential and credible adversary, Italy's ''Regia Marina''. The French surrender and its consequences changed that. The French Fleet became a potentially potent threat in Axis hands and so was, in part, destroyed, adding to French antipathy toward the British. French bases in North Africa ceased to offer protection to Allied, i.e., British, shipping. The ''Regia Marina'' possessed potent modern warships, particularly battleships and heavy cruisers, and Italian and Libyan territory provided centrally located bases that could cut British supply routes. The fall of Greece in 1941 extended the reach of Axis aircraft and submarines, which were consequently able to intercept Allied shipping from Alexandria and Suez. German and Italian armies from Libyan territory also threatened Egypt and the strategically important Suez Canal by land. A catastrophe in Egypt might in turn lead to destabilisation of Britain's control of Middle Eastern oil supplies, or even worse, to the Axis gaining control of them. This scenario depended upon Axis forces in North Africa receiving adequate supplies from Italy. Malta threatened this Axis supply route, but itself needed regular resupply and reinforcement, in order to be both an effective threat and to resist Axis invasion. By mid-June 1942, Malta's supply situation had deteriorated. The German ''Luftwaffe'' had joined the Italian ''Regia Aeronautica'' to isolate and starve the island and it had become untenable as an offensive base. Axis armies had advanced into Egypt and Crete thereby acquiring their own advance bases and denying the British safety over much of the eastern Mediterranean. Fresh aircraft were regularly flown into Malta, but food and fuel were diminishing. In response, the British invested large amounts of effort to ensure resupply. Two convoys, codenamed ''Harpoon'' and ''Vigorous'', were gathered, sailing simultaneously to split the Axis opposition. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Vigorous」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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