When merchant losses pushed supplies onto warships

Did Force K's attacks force the Axis to use warships as supply transports?

Partly. Merchant shortages and the need to move cargo encouraged the practice, which helped set up the Italian cruiser losses at Cape Bon.

Force K's success contributed to supplies being carried aboard warships, although merchant scarcity and the effort to force cargo through also mattered. That expedient exposed Italian cruisers to Malta-based destroyers at the Battle of Cape Bon. Commerce destruction could therefore produce a second-order loss of naval combat power. The connection is qualified rather than presented as the sole cause of the practice.