The battle of the Calabria on July 9, 1940, between the ships of the Royal Navy and British Royal Australian Navy against the Regia Marina Italian, held in the waters of the Ionian Sea, south-east of Punta Stilo, saw the highest concentration of armaments ship throughout the conflict in the Mediterranean Sea.

It was a consensual encounter but accidental because both higher commanders decided to do battle after their primary mission was terminated or, in the case of the British, had been postponed. The war was, in fact, the result of two operations, escorting convoys.

The Italian convoy was composed of five ships that transported July 6 from Naples and were designed to Benghazi; the main load was 70 tanks, required by Marshal Rodolfo Graziani to begin the offensive against British troops.

The Royal Navy was at sea to escort a convoy to Benghazi in Libya with the following forces (not all listed destroyers took part in the battle, but they all traveled with the fleet):

At 0:40 of July 8, Supermarine informed the Italian fleet, according to the interception radio of 20:00 on the day before, a British fleet was located about 60 miles north of el Tin Res and a second group at about 45 miles west of the first, both aiming at Malta.

The message of 0:40 was read by Admiral Inigo Champions, the team captain, at 01:50. Samples then decided to change the orders to its ships, diverting the convoy to Benghazi by a route of 147, 180° on track, with a possible change of destination to Tripoli. At the same time, the group would predispose Pula for a reunion with the group Cesare at 05.30.

At dawn, two reconnaissance aircraft launched from cruisers Division IV would have to explore an area between 90 and 140 miles from the flagship, with a radius of 100 miles from this. The Italian team had to defeat a number of destroyers, and the limits of autonomy had to be broken for the Sicilian ports for refueling. The two fleets crossed in a north-north-west all morning, gradually converging.

At noon, when the two fleets were about 90 miles away, Admiral Andrew Cunningham decided to leave the Royal Sovereign, with its slower maximum speed of 23 knots, and the aircraft carrier Eagle in late position.

Meanwhile, at 11:45 am and then repeated at 15:45, 15 biplane Fairey Swordfish were launched by Eagle against the Italian battle fleet without success.

The cruisers Admiral John Tovey lined up like a fan about 10 miles ahead of the Warspite at 15.10, and one of these, the Neptune, took over the Italian units.

At 15:05, the Italian Cruiser Division VII came to about 70 ° pointing straight for the British team, reaching just over 20,000 feet from the enemy.

At 15:15, the four Italian cruisers opened fire on the cruisers of Force A, Admiral John Tovey, who soon after returned the fire.

At 15:20, the exchange ballistic ended, and fighters changed course to move into their tactical position on the team. At 15.30, the cruisers also began to take divergent routes away from their respective flagships. At about 15:23, the two Italian battleships and heavy cruisers changed course again, pointing decisively against the British.

At 15:52, Julius Caesar opened fire on the Warspite at a distance of about 26,000 meters. At the same time, the Count of Cavour would wait for Malaya, and eventually, the Royal Sovereign, in the meantime, fell behind because of its slowness. At 15:53, also Warspite opened fire. During this exchange, a salvo of long Cesare slightly damaged fighters Hereward and Decoy.

At 15:45, the Malaya joined the fire, but the distance was too high.

At 15:55, Trent opened fire on the Warspite while Bolzano was engaged in a clash with the cruisers Admiral John Tovey, who were rapidly converging on the roof of the battleships. In exchange, a bullet from 381 mm of the Warspite hit Giulio Cesare in the aft funnel and crossed the bridge, going to explode.

The bullet, triggered by the impact of the funnel, without penetrating the bridge exploded, limiting damages; the splinters caused the fire at a riservetta for a37 anti-aircraft gun, causing the explosion. The machinery spaces were filled with smoke, forcing the shutdown of four of the eight boilers.

The rate fell gradually to 18 knots, and the ship lost electricity for about 30 seconds, being reached by the Count of Cavour. In short, the smoke was evacuated, and boilers reactivated, bringing the ship into proper condition for fighting. In the meantime, at 16:04, the two groups had broken contact, reaching almost the same time on different routes. The Malaya fire continued for some minutes and then also converged on his flagship.

The two teams returned to their bases without significant damage. In the following hours, repeated attacks of the Italians were brought to the English ships rather than to the Italian ones because of incorrect identification of targets by pilots, but no bomb found its mark.

The Battle of Punta Stilo was the only case in World War II in which Italian battleships were in direct contact with ballistics similar to British units. Already in this contest is Palesarono severe tactical shortcomings of the Royal Navy: extreme waste of prejudice and inadequate tactical cooperation with the Royal Air Force.