by the Italian battleship, and was ordered to withdraw from the battle line and join the convoy. At 18:34, Vian decided to send his destroyers in to launch torpedo attacks from about , the closest the Italians would allow the British to approach. None of the torpedoes found their targets, but as turned she was hit hard by a round which penetrated her boiler room, ignited a fire and temporarily brought her to a halt. The battle began with a wind blowing to the North-west, with the wind continuing to increase during the day; a factor which favoured the gunnery of the larger Italian ships throughout the battle, but the direction of the wind aided the laying of smokescreens by Vian's ships. was also struck by shell splinters from the battleship's main guns that pierced a bulkhead, causing some flooding but no casualties. At 18:55, Littorio had been hit by a 4.7 in (120 mm) shell, with negligible damage. Her floatplane caught fire from the blast from a salvo of her after turret at the same time. This led to the claim by the British that one of the torpedoes struck home. At dusk, before 19:00, the Italians gave up and turned for home. Without radar, they would have been at a significant disadvantage in a night action, as in the Battle of Cape Matapan. The Italians outgunned their British counterparts but they appeared unwilling to close for a decisive blow, perhaps wary of the torpedo threat from the numerically superior British destroyer force. Aftermath Analysis Almost all authors have assessed the battle as a British victory, credited to the escort of light cruisers and destroyers which prevented the Italians from damaging the convoy by repulsing an Italian squadron composed of a battleship and two heavy cruisers during massed Axis air attacks. Some authors, while generally acknowledging the British success, write of the battle as a partial Italian achievement in delaying and turning the convoy aside. Nearly all sources acknowledge that the Italian fleet inflicted significant damage and several casualties on the British squadron while suffering minimal damage and no casualties in return. Axis aircraft caught the British convoy at sea, chased the surviving steamers to the harbour and more than 80 per cent of the supplies were lost. The British convoy operation was a strategic failure. Order of battle Admiral Angelo Iachino 1 battleship: 6 destroyers: , , ,