 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.The declaration of war by Italy on 10 June 1940 placed the Italian Royal Air Force () astride the traditional British sea route to Indian Ocean ports via the Mediterranean and the Italian Royal Navy () roughly trebled the numbers of battleships, cruisers and submarines available to the Axis against the Royal Navy.