Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Cargo ship
Country	Greek
Built	1909	GRT	4,008

Date of attack	6 Sep 1940	Time	1540 or 1200Z (UK) (e)
Fate	Sunk by submarine Guglielmotti (C.C. Carlo Tucci)
Position of attack	15° 50'N, 41° 50'E
Complement	27 (no casualties, 27 survivors)
Convoy	ex-BN 4
Notes	At 1200Z hours, Guglielmotti fired torpedoes at the Greek freighter *Atlas* (4,008 GRT, built 1909). She was a straggler from convoy BN.4 and was bound from Abadan (Iran) to the Piraeus. Because of her slow speed, she could not maintain station in the convoy. HMS Kingston had sent an armed guard on board and she was told to proceed independently. Two torpedo tracks were observed, followed by two more and the last hit the vessel, which took a list to starboard. The explosion was rather small, which seems to indicate it was a 450mm torpedo. Her Captain and crew and the British guards took to the lifeboats (twenty-seven survivors, no casualties). Apparently a fifth torpedo (described as smaller than the 21" torpedoes, so was probably of 450mm type) was fired and was observed by the survivors in the lifeboats to be a surface runner. It missed, but the Greek vessel finally sank. The Greek survivors reached Kamaran Island at 0800Z hours on 8th September, the British arrived a few hours later. The attack is not well documented on the Italian side as the submarine's patrol report has not survived.