 "Supermarina" the navy high command, planned a counter-operation against both convoys and nine submarines were sent to patrol off the Algerian coast, five between Lampedusa and Malta and five east of Malta in the Ionian Sea.Two Italian MAS-boats and six E-boats lay in ambush between Crete and Cyrenaica and the 7th Cruiser Division ( [Vice-Admiral] Alberto Da Zara) with and in Palermo and the destroyers , "Oriani", "Malocello", "Premuda" and "Vivaldi" in Cagliari waited for Harpoon, along with MAS-boats and a large number of aircraft to operate in the western basin of the Mediterranean.The main Italian battlefleet was reserved for the eastbound convoy from Alexandria.