Battle of the Cigno Convoy The Battle of the Cigno Convoy was a naval engagement between two British Royal Navy destroyer s and two Italian " Regia Marina " torpedo boat s which took place southeast of Marettimo island , on the early hours of 16 April 1943 . The Italian units were escorting the transport ship " Belluno " , of . Background . The battle was part of the daily aerial , naval and submarine campaign mounted by the Allies against Axis forces , in the spring of 1943 , in order to achieve a complete naval and air supremacy around North Africa and Sicily . Their aim was to isolate and defeat the bulk of the German " Afrika Corps " and the " Regio Esercito " ( Italian Royal Army ) in Tunis by strangling their supply lines . The struggle was so fiercely contested that the maritime area between Italy and Africa was dubbed the " route of death " . By April , Axis merchant ship losses reached an average of 3 . 3 per day . The huge extension of minefield s planted by both sides made surface trips against Axis shipping more unlikely than during the Libyan campaign . The supply route for the " Regia Marina " ( Italian Royal Navy ) was also shorter but the Allied air supremacy and the attrition of the war made it almost impossible to assemble large convoys . This along with a shortage of fuel , forced the Italians to use small and fast destroyers or torpedo boats to escort their cargo ships heading to Africa . The convoys were only capable of making in practice , due to the loss of the main high - speed cargo ships by 1943 . The action . One of these small convoys - comprising two Italian " Spica " class torpedo boat s " Cigno " and " Cassiopea " escorting the transport " Belluno " - sailed from Trapani bound for Tunis on 15 April . A rearguard escorting force composed of the torpedo boats " Tifone " and " Climene " was scheduled to depart a couple of hours later from Palermo to reinforce the convoy . At 02 : 38 on the 16th , the forward escort spotted two British destroyers approaching - HMS " Pakenham " and . This was one of the few night engagements in the Mediterranean in which the British failed to take their opponents by surprise , owing to the full moon . The moonlight was decisive to the outcome of the battle . The first ship hit was " Cigno " , which was badly damaged but continued firing until sunk by torpedo at 03 : 00 with a loss of 103 seamen . " Cassiopea " launched a torpedo at " Paladin " while attacking " Pakenham " with gunfire . " Pakenham ' s " port side took several hits . Its engine room was seriously damaged , its pom - pom and searchlight put out of action , and a fire started in the aft section . Several of her crew were scalded by the explosion of a boiler . Nine men were killed , another died of his wounds two days later . " Paladin " was also damaged by shell splinters . During the clash , " Belluno " turned back to the northeast under the protection of the rear escorting force ; the British ceased fire and withdrew . The torpedo boat " Cassiopea " , almost disabled and in flames , was assisted by " Climene " , which towed her back to Trapani and later to Taranto for repairs . After trying to reach Malta with an auxiliary engine , " Pakenham " broke down off Sicily and then " Paladin " , unable to take her in tow , scuttled her sister ship with a torpedo at 06 : 30 at the position . The transport " Belluno " reached her destination safely some hours later .