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control, started to slow rapidly.
    However the prime target from the bombers was the already-damaged HMS Courageous. Unable to evade, she was hit in rapid succession by four 500lb bombs. While these hits might have been shrugged off (or at least taken with no vital damage) by the fleet carriers, Courageous was a conversion of a WW1 ship, and had little armour protection against bombs. The first bomb hit her aft, directly on the elevator, blowing it right out of its well and onto the deck. The second and third punched through her thin deck; one exploding in the hangar, the second continuing on and exploding in her machinery spaces, the shock taking her generators offline. The final bomb hit on her catapult, wrecking it and sending splinters into the front of the hanger. A heavy plume of smoke rapidly covered the stricken carrier; although the RN was fanatical about fuel safely on the hangar deck, there was still enough combustible material to start quite a serious fire. The problem was that with no power (as well as the main generators being offline, the backup diesel had been wrecked by bomb splinters), it was impossible to deal with the fires and the flooding.
    Meanwhile the bombers had been making their escape. The fleet had continued to pound them with AA fire even as the bombs were falling, and another two fell victim. As they headed back to Italy, some of the Goshawks managed a final interception (many of the fighters were out of ammunition after their earlier attacks), shooting down a further seven bombers for the loss of one fighter.
    As the last of the bombers fled for safety over the horizon, the Courageous was obviously in a bad way, smoke covering her and her list steadily increasing. It was clear that the ship was finished, and Cunningham immediately ordered her to be abandoned to save as many of her crew as possible. Only 20 minutes after the bombing, the old ship finally turned over and sank. Fortunately the weather was calm, and the escorting destroyers managed to pick up most of the crew, but over 300 men had perished with their ship.
    The situation of the Liverpool was more complex; although she had been heavily hit, the modern cruiser was not likely to sink immediately, but neither was she capable of steaming at more than a few knots. The fuel fire had been put out after half an hour, and her flooding at least temporarily brought under control. It was a dilemma for Cunningham; if he left her with an escort, another attack like the one they had just endured would sink her, and quite possibly some of her escort as well; on the other hand he could ill afford to lose a modern cruiser. In the end, it was decided to try to escort her back to Alexandria. Her engineer estimated that with some makeshift repairs, and bearing in mind her damage, she could make 10 knots by the night. The deciding factor was the estimate that in fact it was unlikely that the Italian air force could in fact repeat that intensity of raid immediately. According to their intelligence, that really had been every torpedo plane available, and many of the level bombers. It was also pointed out that she would be in range of escorting fighters until the night, and if things worsened she could be abandoned at daylight.
    The fighters were flown onto the two fleet carriers; due to the earlier raid losses there was no problem accommodating Courageous's fighters as well, and the main body of the fleet headed on to the covering force, which it would reach the following morning. As it turned out, the Liverpool did make Alexandria safely - the sky was peacefully clear the following day, and her engineering crew eventually got her up to 13 knots. The main body had arrived back at Alexandria some time previously, whereupon Admiral Cunningham made the rare order to 'splice the mainbrace'.

Chapter 3 - East Africa
     
    21st October (Off the coast of East Africa)
    The British Convoy BN7 was attacked by Italian destroyers from Massawa. The escorts, including