ordered a turn to west south-west; the convoy should have doglegged to the south, which was close as was prudent to unmarked minefields. The convoy lost formation because Puccini missed the turn order and rammed Aspromonte; KT 1, which had no wireless, failed to follow Puccini and strayed to the north-west. Battle At 00:27, Force Q, sailing at , reached the convoy. De Recco was on a west south-west course, ahead of Aventino, Clio and Aspromonte. Puccini and Folgore were side by side, behind De Recco, heading south south-west; Camicia Nera was to the north of Puccini and Procione was minesweeping south of De Recco, all heading west south-west. Force Q approached with Aurora leading, followed by Sirius, Argonaut, Quiberon and Quentin; at 00:38, distant, the leading ships fired on KT 1 which exploded. Argonaut and Quiberon opened fire on Procione (or De Recco) as Cocchia ordered the escorts to attack. Force Q went around the hulk of KT 1 and Argonaut fired and launched a torpedo at KT 1, then at 00:39 Argonaut sailed to the north-east to what turned out to be a false contact. After a couple of minutes, Argonaut fired at Camicia Nera as it advanced to the attack, Aurora also firing at the destroyer, under the impression that it was a merchant ship. Camicia Nera turned and launched six torpedoes in two minutes from 00:43 at range then turned north, amidst shell splashes. Aspromonte was to the left of Aurora and Aventino away. Argonaut was also preparing to fire on Aventino as Sirius fired on Folgore and Clio. Folgore had attacked before receiving Cocchia's order and at 00:47 fired three torpedoes to port at Aurora, at a range underestimated at and turned away. Sirius caught a freighter in one of its searchlights and at 00:50 Folgore turned tightly to port and fired its last three torpedoes at the searchlight; the torpedoes missed but two hits were claimed by mistake. Folgore made to the south-west at but at 00:52 it was hit by nine shells from Argonaut causing severe flooding and a large fire. Folgore listed by 20° and capsized at 01:16. When the British attack began, Procione tangled its paravane and failed to sight Sirius until it had closed to on the starboard side and opened fire at 00:53. The shells killed the forward gun crew and the captain took evasive action then headed towards