Now escorted by the bulk of the Mediterranean Fleet, eight of her Swordfish, together with some from the carrier , attacked the Italian seaplane base at Rhodes on the morning of 3 September. A few days after the Italian invasion of Egypt, "Illustrious" flew off 15 Swordfish during the moonlit night of 16/17 September to attack the port of Benghazi. Aircraft from 819 Squadron laid six mines in the harbour entrance while those from 815 Squadron sank the destroyer and two freighters totalling . The destroyer later struck one of the mines and sank. During the return voyage to Alexandria, the made an unsuccessful attack on the British ships. While escorting a convoy to Malta on 29 September, the carrier's Fulmars broke up attacks by Italian high-level and torpedo bombers, shooting down one for the loss of one fighter. While returning from another convoy escort mission, the Swordfish of "Illustrious" and "Eagle" attacked the Italian airfield on the island of Leros on the evening of 13/14 October. Upon his arrival in the Mediterranean, Lyster proposed a carrier airstrike on the Italian fleet at its base in Taranto, as the Royal Navy had been planning since the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935, and Admiral Andrew Cunningham, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, approved the idea by 22 September 1940. The attack, with both available carriers, was originally planned for 21 October, the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, but a hangar fire aboard "Illustrious" on 18 October forced its postponement until 11 November when the next favourable phase of the moon occurred. The fire destroyed three Swordfish and heavily damaged two others, but they were replaced by aircraft from "Eagle", whose contaminated fuel tanks prevented her from participating in the attack. Repairs were completed before the end of the month, and she escorted a convoy to Greece, during which her Fulmars shot down one shadowing CANT Z.506B floatplane. She sailed from Alexandria on 6 November, escorted by the battleships , , and "Valiant", two light cruisers, and 13 destroyers, to provide air cover for another convoy to Malta. At this time her air group was reinforced by several of "Eagles"s Gloster Sea Gladiators supplementing the fighters of 806 Squadron as well as torpedo bombers from 813 and 824 Squadrons. The former aircraft were carried "...as a permanent deck park..." and they shot down a CANT Z.501 seaplane two days later.