Force H remained at Gibraltar until 30 September, when it escorted reinforcements for Admiral Andrew Cunningham's fleet to Alexandria. En route, diversionary attacks were planned on Italian air bases at Elmas and Cagliari to direct attention from both the reinforcement operation and a supply convoy sailing to Malta. The attacks were successfully carried out on 1 October, and the fleet reached Alexandria without significant attention from the Italian air force. From Alexandria, "Ark Royal" was detached and sent to West Africa to support British attempts to encourage Vichy French colonies to switch allegiance to the Free French. During negotiations, several Free French aircraft flew from "Ark Royal", but their aircrews were arrested at Dakar. Negotiations failed, and bombers from "Ark Royal" were directed against military installations during the unsuccessful British attempt to take Dakar by force. Following this, "Ark Royal" returned to Britain for refit, docking in Liverpool on 8 October after being escorted by , and . The refit—which lasted until 3 November—included repairs to her machinery and the installation of a new flight deck barrier. Following refit, "Ark Royal"—accompanied by , , and —sailed for Gibraltar, arriving on 6 November. They were deployed with the rest of Force H to escort convoys from Gibraltar to Alexandria and Malta, performing several runs before being assigned to Operation Collar, one of 35 convoys to support Malta between 1940 and 1942, on 25 November. An Italian fleet—led by the battleships and —was dispatched to intercept the convoy. The Italian fleet was detected by a reconnaissance aircraft from "Ark Royal" and the carrier launched Swordfish torpedo bombers while the capital ships of Force H turned to meet the enemy. During the engagement, the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Italian destroyer was damaged, although it is uncertain if torpedoes from the bombers or British gunfire were responsible. The British mistook "Lanciere" for a cruiser, while the Italian commanders received incorrect reports that the cruiser had been hit. British attacks failed to damage any other Italian ships or sink the disabled destroyer, and a retaliatory attack by the Italian air force saw "Ark Royal" as the subject of multiple bombing runs, none of which hit. The battle had no clear result, although the British convoy reached its destination unscathed. On 14 December 1940, "Ark Royal" and Force H were redeployed from Gibraltar to the Atlantic to search the Azores for commerce raiders. "Ark Royal" returned to the Mediterranean on 20 December, and escorted the battleship and merchant ships from Malta until 27 December.