her sister transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet on 14 May, although the destroyer received a brief refit before departing. Mediterranean service En route to Alexandria, the ship suffered steering problems and had to divert to Gibraltar for repairs, finally arriving on 29 May to joint the 14th DF. On 27–30 June Mohawk was part of the escort force for convoys coming from the Dardanelles and Greece to Port Said, Egypt. Italy declared war on 10 June and the fleet sortied that night and sailed to within of the Italian coast, losing an elderly cruiser to an Italian submarine before returning to Alexandria on the 14th. Mohawk played a minor role in the Battle of Calabria on 8 July, escorting the battleship . Mohawk and Nubian, together with the destroyers and , were ordered to Gibraltar on 22 August where they were to temporarily join Force H to escort reinforcements for the Mediterranean Fleet as part of Operation Hats. Nubian had engine problems that forced her to put into Malta for repairs while Hostile struck an Italian mine en route the following day off Cap Bon that broke her back. Mohawk took off the survivors while Hero scuttled Hostile with torpedoes. The three ships arrived in Gibraltar on the 29th; the following day, the destroyers proceeded to sea and rendezvoused with the fleet on 2 September. Mohawk and Nubian were escorting the heavy cruiser during a bombardment of Bardia, Italian Libya, on 17 September when she was torpedoed by an Italian torpedo bomber. Nubian towed her back to Alexandria while Mohawk escorted them until they arrived on the 19th. Three days later, the 14th DF, including Mohawk, bombarded the airfield at Sidi Barrani and nearby targets; the ship returned on 25 September, attacking truck concentrations. While the bulk of the Mediterranean Fleet covered the aircraft carrier as her aircraft attack the Italian Fleet in Taranto on the night of 11/12 November, Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell took three light cruisers, escorted by Mohawk and Nubian turned north to attack Italian shipping in the southern Adriatic Sea. They encountered a small convoy of four ships, escorted by the auxiliary cruiser and the torpedo boat . Mohawk was the first to open fire, claiming a hit on Ramb III and then one on the torpedo boat, although both ships were able to break contact. The cruisers sank all of the merchantmen before reuniting with the