The
Second Battle of Sirte was a naval engagement in which the escorting warships of a
British convoy to
Malta frustrated a much more powerful
Regia Marina (Italian Navy) squadron. The British convoy was composed of four merchant ships escorted by four
light cruisers, one
anti-aircraft cruiser, and 17
destroyers. The Italian force comprised a
battleship, two
heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and eight destroyers. Despite the initial British success at warding off the Italian squadron, the battle delayed the convoy's planned arrival before dawn, which exposed it to intense air attacks that sank all four merchant ships and one of the escorting destroyers in the following days. The battle occurred on 22 March 1942, in the
Mediterranean, north of the
Gulf of Sidra and southeast of Malta, during the
Second World War.