Early on the morning of 12 October, Italian destroyers and torpedo boats engaged a pair of British cruisers in the Battle of Cape Passero; one of the destroyers, , was badly damaged in the action. "Trento", "Trieste", and were ordered to relieve the Italian light forces at 08:00, though this was far too late to save "Artigliere", which was sunk about an hour later. While on the way back, British aircraft attacked the Italian cruisers without success. On 21 October, "Trento" was moved to Taranto, and she was present in the harbor on the night of 11–12 November, when the British raided the port. During the attack, a single bomb hit the ship, though it failed to explode. It nevertheless damaged the forward 100 mm mount on the port side.