 The Italian battlefleet continued away from the convoy, lost the British shadowing aircraft at and the relief aircraft was intercepted by German fighters.The 1st and 10th Submarine flotillas tried to reach a position to intercept but British signals were taking about four hours to arrive; some boats surfaced to listen to signals traffic and use the information.sailed north at was bombed at losing the chance to attack and HMS "P 222" to the west was also forced to dive at Another reconnaissance aircraft from Malta found the fleet at and the five 38 Squadron Wellington torpedo-bombers attacked at The attack was thwarted by smoke screens and the evasive manoeuvres of the fleet, except for a torpedo hit on which caused superficial damage.