My Submarine Sank 17 Nazi and Italian Ships

[Jim]

One of our newest submarines operating in the Mediterranean accounted, according to the official statement, for seventeen enemy vessels in the course of two patrols in July. The following account of these exploits was given by the submarine commander.

Proudly pointing to a large "Jolly Roger," which is presented to each submarine entering Mediterranean service, and on which is stitched a white symbol denoting the type of vessel sunk after each patrol, the commander of the submarine said: We were patrolling the Aegean in the early morning when we sighted two troopships escorted by an Italian destroyer and a single aircraft. Owing to the calm sea I was not able to approach too closely, but fired torpedoes at long range at each ship and then dived quickly, The ships were heading westward, and the larger troopship which we thought to be the City of Tripoli was hit and, I believe, definitely sunk; We were then attacked with depth charges for about one hour, but nothing fell near us, though the distance is difficult to judge. The noise of depth charging carries under water for more than 100 miles, near explosions causing an unpleasant sound like broken glass raining down the sides of the submarine. Two days later we sighted a solitary caique which we sank by gunfire on coming to the surface. On the same afternoon a schooner laden with troops, apparently carrying reinforcements to the Greek islands; was also sunk. We fired about twenty rounds, perforating the sides of these ships, whereupon the Germans jumped into the sea; or crowded into small boats which they carried. The next day we dispatched a further caique in like manner.

Our next encounter was during a moonlight night, when we came to the surface to charge our batteries; and sighted a convoy composed of a schooner and three caiques on their way to Crete. One caique returned our fire with high anti-aircraft fire, but this was soon silenced as the caique burst into flames. We had to deal with each ship in turn and one caique managed to escape. The schooner blazed for hours, and the flames from the burning ships, which were carrying petrol and ammunition in addition to a number of troops, presently attracted the attention of some passing enemy aircraft. Although these aircraft made our continued presence difficult we went alongside one caique and were met by cries of "The captain is Greek! " shouted in English. But when my sub-lieutenant replied in German, they all broke into German, apparently thinking that we were a German submarine. They were then ordered to abandon ship, and pile into their small boat, which they unwillingly did after we had taken their swastika flag. We then destroyed the caique with an explosive charge and carried on with our patrol. Our final success came the following morning, when the Italian tanker Strombo, which had undergone temporary repairs at Istanbul, Was intercepted on her way to Italy. This completed our patrol and we then made for our base.

Reuter: September 1941