Malta Protectorate the late 18th century, while Malta was still under the Knights, the Prince of Lampedusa had let the island to Salvatore Gatt, a Maltese entrepreneur, who settled on the island with a few Maltese workers. The British considered taking over Lampedusa as a naval base instead of Malta, but the idea was dropped as the island did not have deep harbours and was not well developed. Despite this, the authorities in Malta and the British government still attempted to take over the island as they believed that it could be used to supply Malta with food in case Sicily fell
AHQ Malta force had been built up from "Faith," "Hope", and "Charity," the three famous Sea Gladiators of the Hal Far Fighter Flight. Initially during the early stage of the Siege of Malta (World War II), Malta was not much of an offensive threat early in the North African Campaign. However it was considered an essential Allied stronghold as exemplified by Operation Pedestal and the other, often very costly, efforts to resupply the island. On 20 April 1942, the USS Wasp delivered 47 Spitfires to Malta and the German Luftwaffe promptly destroyed 30 of them on the same day. Nonetheless, as these