[1][2] When the Italians encountered the Allied destroyers at about 07:30, Sydney and Havock were 40 mi (35 nmi; 64 km) to the north on a sweep for submarines.

In the chase that followed, Bartolomeo Colleoni was hit several times by Sydney and a shell tore through her unarmored hull; the boilers and guns were disabled at 09:23, leaving her dead in the water.

[3] The crew of Bartolomeo Colleoni fought on but were unable to manoeuvre or use the main armament; despite the fire from her 100 mm (3.9 in) guns, she was sunk by three torpedoes launched from Ilex and Hyperion at 09:59.

Later, Sydney disengaged because she was short of ammunition, Bande Nere returned to Benghazi, shadowed by the battleship HMS Warspite and a screen of destroyers.

[4] Despite their speed advantage, the Italian cruisers failed to outrun Sydney because they had to steer south-southwest, instead of the most obvious route of escape to the south, to avoid being trapped between their opponents and the Cretan coast.