Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Cargo ship
Country	Dutch
Built	1937	GRT	5,483

Date of attack	11 Jun 1942	Time	0355
Fate	Sunk by submarine Leonardo da Vinci (C.C. Luigi Longanesi Cattani)
Position of attack	0° 01'S, 17° 45'W
Complement	44 (no casualties, 44 survivors)
Convoy
Notes	At 2024 hours on 10 June 1942, a motor ship was sighted zigzagging on a mean 170° course. At 2333 hours, two torpedoes were fired. As soon as the first torpedo left the tube, the ship was observed to alter course. Both torpedoes missed. This was the Dutch *Alioth* (5,483 GRT, built 1937) on passage from Liverpool to Table Bay and Middle East. At 0022 hours on 11th June, another pair of torpedoes was fired. It missed ahead. At 0149 hours, a fifth torpedo was fired from a bow tube. This time it hit the vessel aft but she was only damaged. She made an SOS which identified her. This was repeated by the Slangkop radio station (Capetown) and retransmitted but the Da Vinci radio operator noted that this transmission made an error of 11 degrees in the position. At 0212 hours, a sixth torpedo was fired from a stern tube. It missed. At 0355 hours, Da Vinci finished her off by gunfire. The whole crew of forty-four survived and reached Freetown under sail. The escort carrier HMS Archer sighted the lifeboat and towed it for the last 4-5 miles to Freetown.