The Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney and the British destroyers HMS Hasty, HMS Havock, HMS Hero, HMS Hyperion and HMS Ilex were on a sweep into the Aegean Sea. They were sent to intercept two reported Italian cruisers. In the action that followed, the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni is halted off Cape Spada, at the north west tip of Crete, by Sydney's gunfire. Later she was finished off with torpedoes from the destroyers. The Italian light cruiser Giovanni delle Bande Nere manages to escape.

19 Dec, 1941
While on their way to intercept an Italian convoy bound for Tripoli the British Force K (light cruisers HMS Neptune, HMS Aurora,  and the destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Lance, HMS Lively and HMS Havock) ran into a newly laid Italian minefield. HMS Neptune and HMS Kandahar sank, while HMS Aurora was badly damaged and HMS Penelope was lightly damaged. HMS Aurora was patched up at Malta before returning home for repairs at Liverpool from April to June 1942. HMS Penelope was repaired at Malta but was bombed on 26 March 1942 while still under repair. She left Malta on 8 April 1942 for full repairs at the New York Navy Yard in the USA. These repairs were completed in September 1942.