Force K
During the afternoon, an Italian battleship convoy was spotted and every seaworthy ship at Malta was ordered out to bring in "Breconshire". Only one cruiser and two destroyers were operational but they met the oncoming force before dawn on 17 December and the ships made a circle round "Breconshire"; the "Luftwaffe" and "Regia Aeronautica" attacked through the afternoon with bombs and torpedoes. As night was falling, three Italian battleships two cruisers and ten destroyers appeared and "Breconshire" and two escorts were diverted to the south-west as the rest of the British ships turned towards the Italian fleet. With the escorts between the Italians and "Breconshire", the ship was handed over to Force K as it arrived and set a smoke screen. The opposing ships diverged in the dark and Force K turned for Malta with "Breconshire"; the rest of the ships returned to Alexandria and the Italian freighters reached Libya. Force K and "Breconshire" spent 18 December under air attack, until Malta Hurricanes arrived in the afternoon and at around the ships arrived in Malta.