 On 19 December, at about the time of the First Battle of Sirte, ships from both forces ran into a minefield while pursuing an Italian convoy, "Neptune" being sunk and "Aurora" damaged.The destroyer also struck a mine while attempting to assist "Neptune" and was scuttled the next day by the destroyer .Following this and with a resurgence of the aerial bombardment of Malta, the remaining surface ships were withdrawn, except for "Penelope", which was too damaged to leave.