THE CONVOY MUST GO THROUGH [Main Title]

Operation Substance, supply convoy from Gibraltar to Malta escorted by Force H and elements from the Home Fleet. Cameraship is HMS Renown. There is also material showing ammunitioning on HMS Warspite in Alexandria, and the arrival of captured U-boat crewmen at a British port.

I. Operation Substance. Escort force at sea. HMS Nelson and Ark Royal steam in company with Renown. A Sunderland flying boat circles and flashes a signal. The convoy comes under air attack - flak speckles the sky, a stick of three bombs explodes in the distance, flak fragments fall near Renown - the raiders themselves are barely discernible. A Fulmar ditches. LS of Nelson with cruiser HMS Edinburgh in the background. Fulmars fly off and land on Ark Royal. A Tribal Class destroyer passes. MS amidships on the port side of HMS Fearless - the destroyer is stationary and has lowered a boat. LS of HMS Hermoine. LS of Fearless - a column of smoke rises aft and she is listing - a Tribal is in attendance. XLS of smoke pall rising over the convoy from the burning Fearless. MS off the port bow of Nelson - two UP mountings carried on B turret are very evident. Onboard Renown AA crews prepare for action. LS over the convoy as a raider flies low past Arethusa. Renown passes a ditched SM 79 - HMAS Nestor in the background. Various shots of Nelson as she steams in company with the cameraship. LA.CU of White Ensign.

II. Ammunitioning on HMS Warspite in Alexandria. 15-inch shells are swung inboard from a lighter and rolled along the deck to where they can be lowered down to the magazines - HMS Eagle and HMS Valiant appear briefly in the background. LA of two men sitting on barrel of one of the 15-inch guns and LA of X and Y turrets. More shells are manhandled across the deck - in the background can be seen Warspite's twin 4-inch AA and very briefly, HMS Barham.

III. Italian POWs in a tented camp in the desert. The Italians are just sitting or lying about.

IV. Destroyer of the Mediterranean Fleet. LA.CU study of the standard Quadruple 2-pounder Mk VII mounting as it trains and elevates.

V. HMS Warspite. LA from focsle to foremast and pan down to A and B turrets. Ammunitioning is still going on.

VI. Entitled "U-Boat prisoners", the sequence shows them being disembarked and assembled on the quayside before being marched off under armed guard. The two destroyers alongside are Modified W Class escorts.

35mm