Famous disasters such as Operation Pedestal can dominate the story, although only 30 of 209 convoyed merchant-ship journeys failed to arrive from 1940 to 1942. That gives the British runs a success rate above 85.6 percent. The danger increased as the Regia Marina and Regia Aeronautica improved their cooperation and Italian anti-shipping aviation became more effective. Capable SM.79 crews remained scarce, the aircraft had competing missions, and major British convoys could receive unusually heavy protection.
Notable Point · 23:46-25:50
The success rate behind ordinary convoy runs
A tally of 209 ship journeys puts famous convoy disasters against an 85.6 percent British success rate from 1940 to 1942.