were counter-flooded to reduce the list. In the meantime, engine room personnel were able to restart the starboard shafts and steering could be effected with the backup hand-steering gear. After she got back underway, she was able to slowly increase her speed to using only her starboard shafts. While the Italian fleet was withdrawing, Formidable launched another air strike of nine Swordfish in an attempt to slow Vittorio Veneto down. But instead of hitting the Italian battleship, they struck the cruiser Pola, leaving her dead in the water. Vittorio Veneto returned to port while two cruisers and several destroyers were detached to protect Pola; all three cruisers and two destroyers were sunk in a furious night action at very close range with the battleships , , and . Vittorio Veneto meanwhile reached Taranto on 29 March, where repairs lasted until July. She was not fully operational again until August. Later operations Vittorio Veneto and Littorio participated in an unsuccessful sortie to intercept British forces on 22–25 August. The British had intended to mine Livorno and launch an air raid on northern Sardinia, but Italian agents in Spain warned the Regia Marina of the British operation when it departed Gibraltar. The Italian fleet positioned itself too far to the south, however, and aerial reconnaissance failed to locate the British. A month later, Vittorio Veneto led the attack on the Allied convoy in Operation Halberd on 27 September 1941, in company with Littorio, five cruisers, and fourteen destroyers. The British had hoped to lure out the Italian fleet and attack it with a powerful convoy escort centered on the battleships , , and . It too ended without contact with the British fleet; neither side located the other, but Italian torpedo bombers hit Nelson. At 14:00, Iachino cancelled the operation and ordered the fleet to return to port. On 13 December, she participated in another operation to escort a convoy to North Africa, but the attempt was broken off after a British radio deception effort convinced the Italians that the British fleet was in the area. While returning to port the following day, Vittorio Veneto was torpedoed by the British submarine in the Straits of Messina. Urge fired a spread of three torpedoes, but only one hit on her port side. The torpedo tore a hole long and caused over of water to flood the ship, though the ship's Pugliese torpedo defense