Now augmented by reinforcements from the UK, the Mediterranean Fleet detached "Illustrious", four cruisers, and four destroyers to a point south-east of Taranto. The first wave of a dozen aircraft, all that the ship could launch at one time, flew off by 20:40 and the second wave of nine by 21:34. Six aircraft in each airstrike were armed with torpedoes and the remainder with bombs or flares or both to supplement the three-quarter moon. The Royal Air Force (RAF) had positioned a Short Sunderland flying boat off the harbour to search for any movement to or from the port and this was detected at 17:55 by acoustic locators and again at 20:40, alerting the defenders. The noise of the on-coming first airstrike was heard at 22:25 and the anti-aircraft guns defending the port opened fire shortly afterwards, as did those on the ships in the harbour. The torpedo-carrying aircraft of the first wave scored one hit on the battleship and two on the recently completed battleship while the two flare droppers bombed the oil storage depot with little effect. The four aircraft loaded with bombs set one hangar in the seaplane base on fire and hit the destroyer with one bomb that failed to detonate. The destroyer , or "Conte di Cavour", shot down the aircraft that put a torpedo into the latter ship, but the remaining aircraft returned to "Illustrious".