HMS Westcott (D47) was a Royal Navy Admiralty W-class destroyer that served in the Second World War. In the Second World War Westcott served in an anti-submarine role and escorted numerous Atlantic and Malta convoys.
Westcott during World War II
The Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar aboard Westcott, 28 November 1945. Westcott had operated the device since 1941.
Operation Calendar was an Anglo–American operation in the Second World War to deliver 52 Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft to Malta in April 1942. Spitfires were necessary to challenge Axis air superiority over Malta because they had the performance that Hurricane fighters lacked. Aircraft carriers were necessary to get fighter aircraft to positions in the western Mediterranean from which they had the range to reach Malta but British aircraft carriers were busy elsewhere, under repair or too small to deliver enough Spitfires to be effective.
A Spitfire takes off from USS Wasp.
NASA Satellite photograph showing the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea
F-4 Wildcats and Spitfires on USS Wasp (CV-7) in April 1942