Italian auxiliary cruiser Ramb II significant presence of Royal Navy in the Red Sea. With the start of Operation Compass in North Africa and the defeat of the Italian troops at Sidi Barrani on 9-12 December 1940, it became clear that it would be impossible for Italian troops in Libya to reach Italian East Africa to break its isolation. The fuel supplies were dwindling and were projected to be exhausted by June 1941. In anticipation of the inevitable fall of the colony, a plan was developed to send as many ships as possible to Japan or occupied France and to destroy all other ships that
Italian irredentism in Malta quo ante" returning Malta to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, but British interests in the Mediterranean changed it abruptly. So Malta became a British Crown Colony in 1813 even if with diplomatic protests from southern Italian authorities, which was confirmed a year later through the Treaty of Paris. Cultural changes were few even after 1814. In 1842, all literate Maltese learned Italian while only 4.5% could read, write and/or speak English. However there was a huge increase in the number of maltese magazines and newspapers in Italian language during the 1800s and early 1900s, so as a consequence the