The First Battle of Sirte was fought between the British Royal Navy and the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) during the Mediterranean campaign of the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, southeast of Malta, in the Gulf of Sirte. The battle itself was relatively uneventful, but has come to describe a week of clashes and naval operations which well illustrate the cut and thrust of naval warfare in the Mediterranean at the time.