HMS Auckland lost to dive-bombers on an escort mission

Auckland's loss shows how exposed a small escort could be under determined air attack. She and the Royal Australian Navy's Grimsby-class sloop HMAS Parramatta were escorting an oiler towards Tobruk. Dive-bombers struck Auckland several times, overcoming a ship whose armament had been designed in part for convoy air defence. The crew abandoned ship before Auckland sank, and Parramatta recovered survivors. The attack tested the class's anti-aircraft purpose under combat conditions and cost the Royal Navy one of its three Egrets.