On 23 June 1940 HMS Khartoum (Cdr. Donald Thorn Dowler, RN) was heavily damaged by fire and beached in the Red Sea off Perim in position 12º38'N, 43º24'E.

It is often stated that Khartoum was damaged by gunfire from the Italian submarine Toricelli but this was not the case. The fire aboard Khartoum broke out 5 and a half hours after the sinking of the Toricelli. Toricelli was sunk at 0624 local time by RN destroyers HMS Kingston, HMS Kandahar and Khartoum as well as the sloop HMS Shoreham. The fire aboard Khartoum started at 1150. A torpedo air flask exploded propelling the warhead through the deck house of number 3 4.7" mount. A ruptured oil tank for the mount started the fire which led eventually to the loss of the ship. Her loss seems more due to inexperienced damage control. The Admiralty inquest ruled out damage from enemy action and sabotage but captured members of the Toricelli's crew were housed aboard. (Primary source are Admiralty records used in the book, "The Kelly's" by Christopher Langtree on page 106.)