Battle of Cape Bon

13 December 1941, Off Cape Bon, Tunisia

Allied victory; both Italian cruisers sunk

With Rommel desperately short of fuel, two Italian light cruisers were sent to run petrol to Tripoli in drums stacked on their decks. Four destroyers under Commander Graham Stokes, three British and one Dutch, were on their way from Gibraltar to Alexandria, and were sent to intercept. The Italians had turned back after being sighted by an aircraft. In the dark, close inshore under Cape Bon, Stokes's destroyers came up behind them, hidden against the land, and fired torpedoes at under a mile. Alberico da Barbiano blazed up and Alberto di Giussano broke in two; both sank within minutes. About 900 Italian sailors were killed, among them Admiral Antonino Toscano. The torpedo boat Cigno escaped. The Allied destroyers were not touched.