Battle of Cape Spartivento The Battle of Cape Spartivento , known as the Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy , was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War . It was fought between naval forces of the British Royal Navy and the Italian " Regia Marina " on 27 November 1940 . Origins . On the night of 11 – 12 November 1940 , the British incapacitated or destroyed half of the Italian battleships during the Battle of Taranto . Until then , the Italians had left their battlefleet in harbour , using it as a threat against British shipping , even if it never left port , as a fleet in being . The Italian Navy , however , didn ' t decline battle if given the opportunity . On the night of 17 November , an Italian force consisting of two battleship s ( and ) and a number of other units were about to intercept British cruisers and two aircraft carrier s , and , on their way to deliver aircraft to Malta ( Operation White ) . The British convoy was warned of their approach and immediately turned about and returned to Gibraltar , sending off their aircraft ( two Blackburn Skua s and 12 Hawker Hurricane s ) prematurely . One Skua and eight Hurricanes were lost at sea , as they ran out of fuel well before they could reach their destination . Seven airmen were lost . This Italian success in disrupting the aerial reinforcement of Malta seriously upset British plans for a further convoy to supply the island ( Operation Collar ) . The convoy was then rerun , with much more support , including ships from Gibraltar , Force H and Alexandria , Force D . The convoy from Gibraltar was spotted by the Italian intelligence service , and once again the Italian fleet sailed out to intercept it . The first Italian naval unit to make visual contact with the convoy was the torpedo boat " Sirio " on the night of 27 November . After launching two torpedoes from long range , which missed their target , " Sirio " sent a report of seven enemy warships heading to the east . Battle . The British , aware of the Italian fleet ' s movements , sent their forces north to intercept them before they could come anywhere near the cargo ships . At 09 : 45 on 27 November , an IMAM Ro . 43 reconnaissance floatplane from the heavy cruiser " Bolzano " discovered a British squadron steaming to the east , 17 nmi ( 32 km ) north of Chetaïbi . Shortly after , at 9 : 56 , Somerville received the report of his own aircraft from the carrier HMS " Ark Royal " about the presence of five cruisers and five destroyers . The British Admiral assumed that these were Italian units closing for battle . Force D had not yet arrived from Alexandria and the British were outgunned , but only fifteen minutes later , Force D was spotted and the tables turned . The two forces were fairly even ; although the Italian ships had better range and heavier fire , the British had an aircraft carrier , which had recently proven itself to be equal to a battleship at Taranto . However , the Italian commander had been given orders to avoid combat unless it was heavily in his favour , so a decisive battle was out of the question . Admiral Somerville deployed his forces into two main groups , with five cruiser s under Rear Admiral Lancelot Holland in front and two battleships and seven destroyer s in a second group to the south . Much further south , HMS " Ark Royal " was preparing to launch a force of Fairey Swordfish . The Italians were organised into three groups , two from six heavy cruisers and seven destroyers and a third of two battleships and another seven destroyers in the rear . At 12 : 07 , after a report received from s floatplane , it was clear a battle was about to start with evenly matched forces , so the Italian commander ordered the cruiser groups to re - form on the battleships and prepare to depart . However , by this point , the lead cruiser formation had already angled toward the British and was committed to combat . At 12 : 22 , the lead groups of both cruiser forces came into range and opened fire at 23 , 500 m . Rapid fire between the two forces continued as the distance between them dropped , but the Italians outgunned the British . The battleship helped even the odds , but she was too slow to maintain formation and dropped out of battle after a few salvoes at 12 : 26 . Four minutes later , Vice Admiral Angelo Iachino , commander of the Italian cruiser group , received order to disengage , although the battle was slightly in their favour . Iachino ordered an increase in speed to , laid smoke and started to withdraw . At this time , the Italian destroyer was hit by a broadside from and seriously damaged , although she was towed to port after the battle . The heavy cruiser was hit at 12 : 22 by a single 203 mm ( 8 in ) shell , which knocked out her " Y " turret , killed seven men , wounded nine others and ignited a fire that took an hour to subdue . A second hit at 12 : 35 destroyed the after breaker ( electrical switchboard ) room and cut power to the ship ' s aft section , including the remaining aft turret . For the next few minutes , the tables turned in favour of the British when the battlecruiser closed the distance on the Italian cruisers . This advantage was soon negated , however , when at 13 : 00 , " Vittorio Veneto " opened fire from 27 , 000 m . " Vittorio Veneto " fired 19 rounds in seven salvoes from long range and that was enough for the now outgunned British cruisers , which turned back at the fourth salvo . In fact , as giant water - spouts erupted around and , Holland ordered smoke , and his ships fled southeast to close with . Both forces withdrew , the battle lasting a total of 54 minutes and causing little damage to either side . After the battle Winston Churchill demanded Somerville ' s scalp , having questioned the admiral ' s offensive spirit ever since his objections to attacking the French at Mers - el - Kébir . However , a board of inquiry exonerated Somerville , who enjoyed the strong support of several fellow admirals . As for Campioni , although he had a mandate to be conservative , he had presided over the loss of Italy ' s best opportunity to deal the British a sharp setback in a fleet action . His days of command at sea were numbered . As Iachino remarked , " the use of these ships which constituted at that moment nearly all of our fleet ' s effective units after the blow at Taranto , was decided by Supermarina mainly for reasons of morale , and to demonstrate that our combative spirit remained intact . - Plancia di Commando