Giulio Cesare and Warspite duel at Calabria

The opposing fleets were broadly balanced, and the action narrowed into an exchange between Giulio Cesare and Warspite at extreme range. Italian visual fire control opened the engagement first and put a straddle around Warspite within three minutes. A small British turn spoiled that solution, while inconsistent Italian shells overflew the battleship and damaged destroyers behind her with splinters. Warspite then placed a shell through Giulio Cesare's aft funnel, where the detonation drew smoke into the boiler rooms and forced four boilers offline. The resulting fall from 27 to 18 knots turned the damaged ship into a constraint on Admiral Campioni's withdrawal and helped decide the action.