Italy declared war on France and Britain in June 1940, but within five and a half months Mussolini asked Hitler for help since Italy was rapidly collapsing after suffering serious defeats by the Royal Navy, and the British and Greek armies.

One of these defeats was the surprise British attack on the Italian fleet anchored in Taranto where three Italian battleships were seriously damaged on the night of 11-12 Nov 1940 by British Swordfish torpedo bombers.

Between 19-23 Mar 1941, the British passed a convoy (MC9) to Malta right in front of the Italian fleets, but they failed to intervene. The Italians, still licking their wounds after the Taranto fiasco, were attempting revenge and on the night of 26 Mar 1941, they partially redress the score when they launched a daring motorboat attack against British shipping in Suda Bay (Crete).
The Italians heavily damaged the heavy cruiser HMS York (8250 tons). Had the waters been deeper, the cruiser would have sunk but the British reacted quickly and they beached the ‘York’ with the intention of repairing it later.

The cruiser remained stationary while repairs were attempted. The British went as far as to fly a specialist team from England to return the ship back to operation. On April 22 two divers were working on the cruiser when Ju 88s from Fliegerkorps VIII bombed the cruiser and other ships on the bay (see photo of Ju 88 from KG 30 in the Mediterranean in 1941). The cruiser was further damaged (and the two divers killed), but since it was aground, it did not sink.
Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe launched several additional raids and by 22 May the cruiser was completely wrecked and considered a total loss by the Admiralty.

To this day, both the Germans and the Italians disagree on who gets the credit for the sinking.
What do you think?