In August 1943, during the last stages of the battle for Sicily, Admiral Luigi Sansonetti contacted Admiral Carlo Bergamini to submit him a plan of attack against the Allied fleet anchored in Palermo and Bona. In fact the planned attack was mostly intended to overcome the friction that were being created between the Italian and German forces, showing that the Regia Marina could still take the initiative. The ships (light cruisers of the 7th and 8th Naval Divisions) would sail from Genoa, making a stop in La Maddalena (Sardinia) to deceive the enemy about their true intentions, and then shelling the ports of Palermo and Bona. When Bergamini received these orders, he expressed his opposition to the operation against Bona, because, in his view, chances of a successful outcome would be low. He thereafter proposed at least to reverse the tasks assigned to the two divisions to be deployed, using the faster 7th Division against Bona and the 8th against Palermo. Bergamini also explained his doubts to Admiral Giuseppe Sparzani, and therefore on that evening he was contacted by Sansonetti, who told him of the temporary suspension of all operations. On 4 August it was decided that the operation would only target the port of Palermo, where, according to aerial reconnaissance, there was a considerable concentration of enemy shipping.