to spot them. Iachino took in the distant covering force and opened fire at about , well out of range of the British guns. Vian immediately laid smoke and moved to the attack while Breconshire moved away, escorted by the destroyers and . Lacking radar and mindful of their defeat in the night action at the Battle of Cape Matapan, the Italians wished to avoid night combat. The Italians fired for only 15 minutes before disengaging and returning westward to cover convoy M42. suffered the loss of one midshipman and some damage due to a near-miss either from an shell, possibly fired by the Italian cruiser or, as stated by British official reports, by shell splinters fired by Andrea Doria and Giulio Cesare, that knocked down wireless aerials and holed the hull, superstructure and ship's boats. According to Italian sources, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) destroyer was also damaged by near-misses from the . British reports tell of other warships punctured by splinters. Aftermath Minefield off Tripoli After dark, Vian to return with Stokes to Alexandria, leaving Agnew to bring Breconshire to Malta, joined by Force B, one cruiser (the other was under repair) and two destroyers. Breconshire and her escorts arrived in Malta at 15:00 on 18 December. At midday, the Italian force also split up and three ships headed for Tripoli, accompanied by the close cover force, while the German supply ship Ankara, headed for Benghazi. The distant cover force remained on station in the Gulf of Sidra until evening, before heading back to base. The British had now realised that the Italians had a convoy in the area; Vian searched for it without success as he returned to Alexandria. In the afternoon, the position of the Tripoli group was established; a cruiser and two destroyers of Force B and two cruisers and two destroyers of Force K (Captain O'Conor, on the cruiser ) sortied at 18:00 to intercept. The force ran into a minefield off Tripoli, in the early hours of 19 December. The minefield took the British by surprise as the water-depth was , which they had thought was too deep for mines. Neptune struck four mines and sank, the destroyer struck a mine and was scuttled the following day. The cruisers Aurora and were badly damaged but were able to return to Malta. About 830 Allied seamen, many of them New Zealanders from Neptune, lost