Although the fleets were still some 60 miles apart, Cunningham now had reason for hope, as the returning pilots were quick to relate their leader’s success and other possible hits. Vittorio Veneto had last been seen dead in the water and burning. A final strike for the day, consisting of six Albacores and two Swordfish, was launched from Formidable at 1735. At 1823 the pilots sighted the Italian formation but remained out of range, circling the enemy fleet, waiting for the cover of darkness to attack.

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For more than an hour Iachino scanned the skies, waiting for the vultures to deliver the coup de grâce to his ship. At 1925 the British aircraft began their attack. The Italians had already created a smoke screen, and the cruisers and destroyers switch-ed on their searchlights to blind the attacking pilots. Demonstrating skilled seamanship, the Italians changed course twice in the dark and smoke without mishap.

Suddenly a torpedo hit the heavy cruiser Pola and she lay dead in the water, with her electrical system out and her boiler rooms flooded. At 2015 Iachino ordered Cattaneo to turn back with his division and decide whether to scuttle or tow the stricken ship while the rest of the Italian fleet, including the damaged Vittorio Veneto, headed for Taranto and safety. Iachino mistakenly believed a British force sighted 70 miles to the south was the light cruiser squadron he had fought earlier in the day. It was, in fact, Cunningham’s battleships, led by Pridham-Wippell’s light cruisers and destroyers. This force had joined Cunningham’s after its escape from Vittorio Veneto. The entire British force was now less than 40 miles to Iachino’s south.

Darkness gave the crews of the Italian heavy cruisers a false sense of security. But the darkness hid little from Pridham-Wippell, sailing westward aboard Ajax. A blip appeared on the cruiser’s radar screen at 2030. Believing this lone blip to be the derelict Vittorio Veneto succumbing to earlier torpedo attacks, Pridham-Wippell advised Cunningham of the sighting.

Cunningham’s force reached the area at 2200, and Valiant’s radar indeed confirmed the blip as a stopped ship, some 700 feet long, about six miles off Valiant’s port bow. Excitement spread among the men of the fleet, thinking this must be Vittorio Veneto. At action stations, the fleet changed course to close on its target. At 2220, Valiant reported the target was 4 1/2 miles away. Then other blips began to appear. Almost simultaneously, the destroyer Stuart reported two large enemy ships, a smaller one in front and followed by three smaller ships, bearing 250 degrees. This was the entire 1st Cruiser Division coming to the rescue of Pola, responding to her request for a tow. The British battleships, ready for action, needed only the new bearing for the enemy ships. Pola, mistaking the approaching British battleships for Fiume and Zara, fired a recognition flare.

The Italian rescue ships had formed a column, led by one destroyer and followed by the heavy cruisers Zara and Fiume, which were then followed by the three remaining destroyers. Half the crew of Fiume was busy rigging their ship for tow after seeing Pola’s starshell, when, to their surprise, a searchlight lit up their ship. It was from the British destroyer Greyhound, assisting the accurate gunnery of Cunningham’s battleships.

Then 24 15-inch guns lit up the night sky as their 2,000-pound, armor-piercing projectiles slammed into Fiume at only 3,000 yards. A second broadside followed 30 seconds later. Fiume immediately became one large ball of orange flame. Her after turret took a direct hit and was blown overboard. Meanwhile, Valiant fired five 15-inch broadsides at the lead cruiser, Zara. Barham fired six additional 15-inch broadsides into the doomed Zara. In a matter of minutes, two of Italy’s newest cruisers had become scrap iron, both listing heavily and uncontrollably on fire.

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