system successfully contained the explosion. Vittorio Veneto took on a 3.5 degree list to port and was down by by the stern. Some counter flooding of a compartment on the starboard side abreast of the forward-most turret reduced the list by a degree, and she was able to steam under her own power back to port. She returned to Taranto for repairs, which lasted until early 1942. On 14 June, Vittorio Veneto participated in the interception of the Operation Vigorous convoy to Malta from Alexandria. Vittorio Veneto, Littorio, four cruisers and twelve destroyers were sent to attack the convoy. The British quickly located the approaching Italian fleet and launched several air strikes early on 15 June with Wellington and Bristol Beaufort bombers in an attempt to prevent them from reaching the convoy. The aircraft scored no hits on the battleships, but they did disable the cruiser , which was later sunk by a British submarine. Later that morning another air attack, this time B-24 Liberators from the USAAF, occurred. The high-level bombers scored one hit on Littorio and several near misses around her and Vittorio Veneto, but neither ship was seriously damaged. Another British strike with Beauforts arrived shortly thereafter, but Italian and German fighters had since arrived and they shot down two Beauforts and damaged five others. By the afternoon, Iachino had concluded that he would not reach the convoy before dark, and so he broke off the operation; by then, however, the threat from the Italian battleships had led to the failure of the British operation, as the convoy had been ordered back to Alexandria, and did not reach Malta. On the return voyage, another British air attack succeeded in torpedoing Littorio. Fate On 12 November, Vittorio Veneto was moved to Naples from Taranto in response to the Allied invasion of North Africa. While en route, the British submarine unsuccessfully attacked Vittorio Veneto. An American air raid on the harbor on 4 December prompted the Italians to withdraw the fleet to La Spezia, where it remained for the rest of Italy's active participation in the war. On 5 June 1943, Vittorio Veneto was badly damaged by an American air raid on La Spezia; she was hit by two large bombs toward the bow, though only one detonated. That bomb passed through the ship and exploded under the hull, causing serious structural damage. The damage forced her to be