Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines


HMS Tervani

TypeArmed trawler
CountryBritish British
Built1930Tons409

Date of attack7 Feb 1943Time2212
2200 (e)
FateSunk by submarine Platino (T.V. Vittorio Patrelli Campagnano)
Position of attack37° 16'N, 6° 26'E
Complement (no casualties, 2 survivors)
Convoy
Notes At 2147 hours, four vessels were sighted approaching at a distance of 5,000 metres. Shortly after, they could be made out as two large merchantmen escorted by two vessels making only about 6 knots. Platino closed at reduced speed as the phosphorescence of the sea could betray her presence.

At 2212 hours, four torpedoes were fired from the bow tubes (533mm, G7e type) at a range of 2,500 metres, aimed at the larger vessel described as a 10,000-ton freighter. Three minutes later, a hit was observed (giving a running range of 2,520 metres) and the vessel disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The target was the British armed trawler HMT Tervani (409 tons) and she was hit and sunk. Tervani was towing the French water tanker Mory Mazout II (762 GRT, built 1908), escorted by the armed trawlers HMT Achroite (FY.914) and HMT Arnold Bennett (FY.1939). There were only two survivors. The two trawlers chased the submarine and left Mory Mazout II unattended. She was found derelict by the destroyer HMS Bicester escorting convoy M.K.S.8 and she detached the corvette HMCS Kitchener to stand by. Eventually the water tanker was towed to Philippeville by the tug HMS Jaunty.

See full details on this warship in our Allied Warships section.

Position of attack

Ships hit by Italian submarines