In another operation, during the early hours of 15 June 1942, nine Beauforts of 217 Squadron, which had just flown in from England, took off from RAF Luqa, Malta to intercept ships of the "Regia Marina", which had sailed from Taranto. Few of the Beaufort crews had experience in night-flying: four aircraft failed to find the rendezvous and set out independently. One, flown by Flying Officer Arthur Aldridge discovered the Italian Fleet some to the east of Malta. Like Loviett's attack on "Lūtzow", his Beaufort was mistaken for a friendly aircraft by Italian lookouts. Aldridge torpedoed and crippled the heavy cruiser , whose anti-aircraft fire started only after the Beaufort had escaped. The main formation of Beauforts then came in to attack, having been guided in by the gunfire. In the confusion and the smokescreen that had been laid by the Italian warships, 217 Squadron claimed several torpedo hits for the loss of one Beaufort, which belly-landed at Luqa. In spite of the claims, none of the other ships had been hit. "Trento" was sunk later by two torpedoes fired by the submarine , which had witnessed the aerial attack.