HMS 'Eagle' and 'Gloucester' off Calabria, 9 July 1940, 1940s (oil painting)

Creator: Lieutenant-Commander Rowland John Robb Langmaid This painting shows the first major action between the British and Mediterranean Fleet and Italian navy. This occurred off the coast of Calabria on 9 July 1940 when Admiral Cunningham took his fleet to sea to cover a British convoy from Malta to Gibraltar. He received information while under way that a convoy of ships was heading from Italy to Libya and so he turned to engage the enemy. However a strong force was protecting the Italian convoy, consisting of two battleships, a dozen or more cruisers and a multitude of destroyers. On 8 July 1940 the Regia Aeronautica first attacked the British fleet from the air, though they only managed to damage the cruiser HMS 'Gloucester', despite launching several waves of attacks. The next day the two forces converged and the 7th British Cruiser Squadron under Vice-Admiral J. C. Tovey made the famous signal, 'Enemy battle fleet in sight'. HMS 'Warspite' exchanged salvoes with the Italian battleship 'Giulio Cesare' causing such damage that the Italian Admiral Riccardi retreated away from the British forces. Despite the efforts of the aircraft of 'HMS Eagle', which sank a destroyer, Cunningham was not able to consolidate his tactical success due to the lack of speed in his capital ships. His old battleships were too slow to catch the escaping Italians. However the lessons from this action were clear, the aggressive ethos of the Royal Navy could make up for the technological and numerical superiority of the Italian navy.