On 15 September 1940 the battleship , the aircraft carrier , "Kent", the anti-aircraft cruisers and , and seven destroyers left Alexandria bound for Benghazi. During the night of 16/17 September 1940, aircraft from the "Illustrious" mined the harbour of Benghazi. They also attacked shipping in the harbour with torpedoes and bombs, sinking two destroyers and two merchant ships. "Kent" and two destroyers were detached to bombard Bardia while returning to Alexandria. During the night of 17/18 September 1940 the ship was hit in the stern by a torpedo from Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers from the 279th Independent Torpedo Squadron () led by Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia. She was towed back to base by the destroyers with great difficulty.