afternoon of July 15, six miles east of the Cani Island, sighted moving rapidly in the direction of Malta. At 20:00, Axum launched three electric torpedoes, but failed to hit the ship because of the bad weather and rough seas. In mid-August 1942, Axum was assigned with many other submarines to intercept a British convoy, part of Operation Pedestal. Altogether, fifteen Italian submarines and two German U-Boots were deployed in the western Mediterranean with the orders to attack any enemy ship greater than a destroyer. On August 11, 1942, the submarine, commanded by captain Renato Ferrini, left Cagliari heading to an area 25 miles northwest of Cape Blanc, where he arrived the following day. At 6:00 on August 12, Axum left his assigned area, and at 14:00 Commander Ferrini, believing that the convoy would be going a lot closer to the coast, keeping their escorts to the north, ordered full ahead towards Cape Blanc while under water. At 18:21 a silhouette of the convoy was observed. At 18:40 Axum observed fumes on the right which were produced by the anti-aircraft guns engaging two airplanes. Axum continued her approach, and at 19:27, she observed through a periscope that the convoy about eight kilometers to her left. At 19:37 a new observation showed that the distance had dropped to 4,000 meters, and convoy was moving at 13 knots. Another periscope observation was done at 19:48, and a cruiser was selected as a target, and at 19:55, from an estimated distance of 1,300 meters from the first row of the convoy and 1,800 meters from the target cruiser, Axum launched a salvo of all four torpedoes: first was sent straight, second, 5° to the right, third 5° to the left, and finally last one, straight. Immediately Axum disengaged. 63 seconds after the launch, an explosion was heard, after 27 more seconds, two more, one after another. Captain Ferrini thought he had hit a ship in the first row and another one in the second row, but in reality three ships were hit. The first torpedo struck modern light cruiser , flagship of Admiral Harold Burrough (Commander of Force X), moving at 14 knots. The explosion opened a 30-foot-wide hole, knocking out electricals, flooding the boiler rooms and knocking out pumps, and starting fires on board. Fifty-two crew members lost their lives. The ship started listing to port (i.e. to the left), but the