11th December 1940
7:00am 11th December 1940 - Received a single ship contact report while transiting through grid AM49 on our way northward for grid AM52. The ship was located a little under 22km NW of our position and travelling South at slow speed. An easy intercept to say the least, the only detail to consider was how to sink the ship if it turned out to be an enemy merchant.Since we only have 46 8.8 shells aboard, the chances are there wouldn't be enough to finish off a target and it would complicate matters to then race to a good firing point and launch a torpedo at an evading target.
I decided to attack using the aft torpedo tube, we had one aft external reserve and if a convoy situation required us to break off just to bring the reserve into a boat, we could end up losing contact, or be caught in a vulnerable situation by a pursuing Destroyer.
I decided to attack using the aft torpedo tube, we had one aft external reserve and if a convoy situation required us to break off just to bring the reserve into a boat, we could end up losing contact, or be caught in a vulnerable situation by a pursuing Destroyer.
A G7a was fired toward what I presumed was the location of the merchants engine room, which detonated right on target. The merchant, identified as a British Coastal Freighter immediately began to slow down and list to its starboard side as clouds of smoke spilled from its deck and bridge.The stern slipped under the water in about 2 minutes then a large explosion was heard. I assume seawater had reached the boiler and caused it to explode. Extensive fires were seen coming from the bridge and cargo section. Shortly before the ship slipped under the waves, a whole series of large explosions tore sections of the ship apart. The merchant was on its way to the bottom 10 minutes after the torpedo struck.
11th December 1940 @ 8:49am
SS Adroity (Coastal Freighter), 1875 tons. Cargo: Timber. Crew: 23. Crew lost: 0
SS Adroity (Coastal Freighter), 1875 tons. Cargo: Timber. Crew: 23. Crew lost: 0
