Before dawn, British destroyer HMS Decoy, destroyer HMS Hereward, and gunboat HMS Ladybird landed 200 commandos and 24 Royal Marines on the Italian-held Dodecanese island of Castelorizo, off the coast of Turkey, capturing a small Italian garrison. Italian aircraft responded, damaging HMS Ladybird, but was able to retrieve the raiders and sail for the British Crown Colony of Cyprus. The codename for the raid was Operation Abstention.
