World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Grand Harbour (Maltese: Il-Port il-Kbir) was located to the southeast of the city of Valletta, Malta and the Scebarras Peninsula. It had been a major harbor since the Phoenician times, possibly earlier. The British Royal Navy's modern facilities at Grand Harbour were established with a dockyard in 1848 and a second in 1871. By 1900, four drydocks existed at the harbor. During WW2, due to Malta's strategic location between Italy and Libya, it was subjected to heavy bombing by the Axis, causing heavy damage to both the harbor facilities as well as nearby civilian areas. In 1943, the harbor was a main base in support of the Allied invasion of Sicily, Italy. The military use of the dockyards at Grand Harbour ceased in 1958, but they continued to serve civilian vessels to this date under the operation of firms Malta Drydocks and Malta Shipbuilding Company, Limited.

Grand Harbour Interactive Map

Photographs