Lettered forces and convoy covering groups

Royal Navy lettered forces were temporary operational groupings whose meaning depended on the mission and theatre. Their labels did not describe permanent fleet formations. Forces L, M, Q, R, X, Y, and Z served as hunting or covering groups tied to operations from Dakar and the West Indies to PQ 13, JW 51B, Harpoon, Mers el-Kebir, and Singapore. The later British Pacific Fleet used numbered task forces, with some tension between American numbering and British usage.