The battle occurred when an Alliedsquadron entered the Adriatic Sea looking for Italian naval targets. Although they did not know it at the time the squadron's real purpose was to help draw enemy attention from a major action against the main Italian fleet base at Taranto. The Allied squadron was commanded by Vice Admiral Henry Pridham-Whippel in the light cruiser, and included the light cruisers and and the destroyers and. On 12 November, an Italian Navy convoy of four merchant ships—Antonio Locatelli, Premuda, Capo Vado and Catalani—were on their way back from Valona, Albania to Brindisi, Italy while escorted by the World War I-era torpedo boatFabrizi, commanded by T.V.c. Giovanni Barbini and the auxiliary cruiser commanded by C.F. Francesco De Angelis. The ships were travelling darkened without navigational lights.
Battle
The Allied ships proceeded north during the night of 11 November, and upon reaching a notional line between Bari and Durazzo by 01:00 without incident, they turned to run southward. Twenty minutes later, the raiders encountered six darkened enemy ships, including what they thought were two destroyers and four merchantmen. The enemy vessels passed across their front and were making for the Italian mainland. HMS Mohawk opened fire at 01:27, and action became general. In a confused night time action, HMAS Sydney attacked the leading freighter at a range of, setting it on fire. Over the next 23 minutes, the other three merchantmen were either sunk or damaged and left burning. Fabrizi was hit and heavily damaged, and limped toward Valona with 11 dead and 17 wounded. Ramb III after an initial discharge of 19 salvoes from her guns broke off the action unscathed. The merchantmen were all sunk in the action. The Allies suffered no damage or casualties, although a torpedo narrowly missed Sydneys stern at 01:40. The Italians suffered 36 dead and 42 wounded.
Aftermath
The Italians retaliated by sending aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica to locate the British naval squadron; however, the CANTflying boats which eventually located the naval squadron were shot down. The Regia Marina sent motor torpedo boats located north of Valona, Cruiser Squadron 7, consisting of light cruisers,,, the 15th Destroyer Division from Brindisi, Cruiser Squadron 8, consisting of light cruisers and, with the 7th and 8th Destroyer Divisions from Taranto sailed to intercept the British naval squadron in the Otranto Straits, but they failed to make contact. The day after the battle, two Italian torpedo boats—Curtatone and Solferino—rescued a total of 140 sailors.
