Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Destroyer
Country	British
Built	1939	Tons	1,720

Date of attack	23 Jun 1940	Time	1150 (e)
Fate	Damaged? by submarine Evangelista Torricelli (C.C. Salvatore Pelosi)
Position of attack	12° 34'N, 43° 15'E
Complement	(1 dead, no survivors)
Convoy
Notes	HM destroyers Kandahar, Kingston, Khartoum and the sloop Shoreham hunted the submarine. HMS Kingston sighted a submarine near Dimeila. Torricelli dived and attempted to escape but was depth-charged and forced to the surface. She opened fire at two "gunboats" from a range of 6,000 metres but range closed rapidly to 400 metres and her rudder was disabled and Pelosi was wounded and ordered the submarine to be abandoned. The action had lasted 36 minutes, eight were killed and fifty-three survivors were picked up (including seven officers, Pelosi was awarded the Medaglia d'Oro). The sloop Shoreham was damaged by gunfire and HMS Khartoum may have been hit by splinters but this was denied by her crew. A few hours later, Khartoum arrived at Perim and at 1150/23 June was the victim of the explosion of a torpedo air vessel and sank at 1245 hours (one killed and three seriously wounded). Although a board of enquiry concluded that her loss was accidental, doubt will remain.