 The was sunk next day by the British submarine , while picking up survivors.The Italians were severely criticised by the German naval attaché and pressured to accept liaison officers at (headquarter of the ) and on its ships.Italian attempts to reduce the risk of interception by British forces, by sending individual ships, pairs and smaller convoys from several ports at once was futile, because the British were reading Italian naval codes; the next convoy was forced to return to port.