A flying boat made the first contact between units of the British and Italian battle fleets on the 8th July. Major units of the British Mediterranean Fleet steamed towards the position. Swordfish aircraft launched from HMS Eagle hit one of the Italian cruisers. Contact was lost overnight and not regained until the afternoon of the 9th. Just after 1500hrs British 6-in gun cruisers made contact again but were out-ranged and came under heavy fire. HMS Warspite and HMS Malaya got within range [just] and opened fire on the enemy battleships. The Cesare was hit by Warspite at the extreme range of 26,000 yds. The Italians immediately broke off the action and retreated under a thick smoke screen. Although the British pursued they could not come up with their opponents but did come under heavy air attack from the Italian mainland. The C-in-C broke off the pursuit at 21.15hrs.

Action started about 150 miles east of Sicily and continued on a north westerly course until about 25 miles from the 'toe' of Italy. (Mediterranean Sea)