Force K was based in Freetown, Sierra Leone and consisted of the battlecruiser HMS Renown, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and destroyers Hardy, Hostile, Hereward and Hasty.

In December 1939, after the Battle of the River Plate, Force K was sent to the coast of Uruguay to prevent any sortie by Graf Spee, whose captain had taken the ship into Montevideo harbour.

Following this and with a resurgence of the Axis aerial bombardment of Malta, the remaining surface ships were withdrawn, except for Penelope, which was too badly damaged to leave.

Frequent air attacks while she remained in harbour earned Penelope the nickname "HMS Pepperpot"; the light cruiser sailed for Gibraltar on 8 April 1942, terminating the second Force K.[8] Operation Stoneage (16–20 November 1942), a convoy to re-victual Malta, was unloaded in record time.

[9] The supplies brought to Malta enabled the third Force K to be established on 27 November, with the cruisers HMS Cleopatra, Dido, Euryalus and four ships of the 14th Destroyer Flotilla.

[11] Another cruiser and destroyer force began to operate from Bône in Algeria, which, from 1 December, enabled the Navy to attack Axis convoys to Tunisia from both directions.