At 00.22 hours on 12 July 1942 the unescorted Cortona (Master Matthew McKirdie Brown), dispersed from convoy OS-33, was hit on the port side in the foreship by one torpedo from U-116 (von Schmidt) about 383 miles west of Madeira. Three minutes later, the ship was hit on the starboard side by one G7e torpedo from U-201, which then fired two coups de grâce at 00.33 and 00.41 hours. The first passed underneath the vessel, but the second hit amidships and caused her to sink on even keel after about one hour. The U-boats had seen each other during the chase, but U-116 reported the sinking as own success because a second detonation observed was interpreted as boiler explosion.

Three crew members were lost and one lifeboat in charge of the chief officer with 27 crew members and two gunners went missing. The master, 18 crew members and four gunners in a lifeboat were picked up after ten days by HMS Pathfinder (G 10) (Cdr E.A. Gibbs, DSO and Bar, RN) and landed at Londonderry on 26 July.