Malta Dockyard

Malta Dockyard was an important naval base at Valetta in Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.

History
The dockyard, which was built in around 1800, benefited from its first dry dock in 1848. It was an important supply base during the Crimean War in 1854 and then during World War I and World War II. In January 1941 sixty German dive bombers made a massed attack on the dockyard in an attempt to destroy the damaged British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (87), but she received only one bomb hit. Incessant German and Italian bombing raids targeted Malta through March, opposed by only a handful of British fighters. Then in April 1942 the Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard reported that due to German air attacks on Malta's naval base "practically no workshops were in action other than those underground; all docks were damaged; electric power, light and telephones were largely out of action."

The dockyard was handed over to Baileys, a civilian firm of ship repairers and marine engineers, in 1959. After Baileys were dispossessed by the Maltese Government the dockyard was closed as a naval base and the Royal Navy withdrew completely in 1979. It was then managed by a workers' council between 1987 and 1996 repairing civilian ships.