Normal British practice was to have naval stations and fleets around the world, whose commanders reported to the First Sea Lord via a flag officer.

In anticipation of the outbreak of World War 2 on 3 September 1939 the German Kriegsmarine had already deployed the two heavy cruisers Admiral Graf Spee and Deutschland as commerce raiders in the North and South Atlantic.

Force H was stationed in Cape of Good Hope and was composed of the British heavy cruisers Sussex and Shropshire.

By December 1939 Deutschland had returned to German port and the Admiral Graf Spee was found by Force G, damaged in the Battle of the River Plate and subsequently scuttled at Montevideo.

The German battleship Bismarck had sailed in company with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to attack commercial shipping.

The engagement was a disaster for the Royal Navy; Prince of Wales was damaged and Hood's magazine exploded, breaking the ship in half.

Force H set sail from Gibraltar to intercept Bismarck with the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Renown and the light cruiser Sheffield.

Bismarck had not come out of the Denmark Strait engagement completely unscathed: a shell from Prince of Wales had ruptured the ship's fuel tanks, causing her to lose oil.

Bismarck was temporarily lost to the Royal Navy after she evaded the radar of the shadowing cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk.

Unable to evade the British ships closing in, the German battleship was scuttled following incapacitating battle damage dealt by a force including King George V and Rodney.

The island had been under heavy attack for many months and supply convoys had to be escorted by many ships and aircraft to stand any chance of getting through.

It was stripped bare in May to provide ships for the assault on Vichy French forces at Diego Suarez in Madagascar during Operation Ironclad.

In the end, only French forces fought, and the most significant battles took place at Casablanca where only American naval units supported the operations.

However, two German Fritz X radio-controlled missiles did hit and sink the battleship Roma, killing the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), Admiral Carlo Bergamini.

The battleships and aircraft carriers of Force H dispersed to the Home and Eastern Fleets and the command was disbanded.