Operation MD7 (ii)

'MD7' (ii) was a British naval gunfire bombardment of the port of Benghazi on the coast of the Italian colony of Libya by warships of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet (10/11 April 1941).

The ships in question were five destroyers of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, and in the undertaking one Italian transport vessel was damaged but not sunk alongside the western arm of the harbour’s northern breakwater. The British destroyers were dive-bombed on a continuous basis from the time of the bombardment’s end to 01.30 as they returned to Malta.