At 18.55 hours on 11 April 1942 the unescorted Grenanger (Master Finn Rusti) was hit on the starboard side betweeen the #2 and #4 hatches by one of two torpedoes from U-130. The explosion stopped the engines and the flooding caused a heavy list to starboard. While the U-boat surfaced to use its deck gun, the crew abandoned ship in two lifeboats with the radio operator jumping overboard as the first shells struck. After 20 minutes of shelling without much effect, the U-boat fired a coup de grâce at 19.20 hours, but this was a dud so they continued to shell the ship. After firing 18 incendiary and 37 high explosive rounds the vessel caught fire, capsized and sank by the bow at 19.48 hours.

The motorboat took the lifeboat in tow and headed southwest towards the West Indies until the next day when both began to sail independently. In the afternoon the men in the motorboat were picked up by the British steam merchant Almenara (Master E. Shaw) but they had only little rescue equipment so they decided to sail on, supplied with a map, water, juice and cigarettes. Later they found the other lifeboat again and together set course for Sombrero Island, arrving on 18 April. The survivors continued in both boats towards St. Thomas and were spotted the next day by aircraft that directed USS Courier (AMc 72) to them. The boats were taken in tow for St. Thomas, arriving the same day.