Italian submarine fates
Ships hit by Italian submarines
HMCS Saguenay
| Type | Destroyer | |||
| Country |  Canadian | |||
| Built | 1931 | Tons | 1,337 | |
| Date of attack | 1 Dec 1940 | Time | 0449 0355 (e) | |
| Fate | Damaged by submarine Argo (T.V. Alberto Crepas) | |||
| Position of attack | 54° 05'N, 16° 55'W | |||
| Complement | ||||
| Convoy | HG.47 | |||
| Notes | Argo was proceeding on the surface when, at 0449 hours, the officer of the watch sighted a shadow which was at first taken for a submarine. She took an intercepting course and when it was realised that it was a destroyer, a single torpedo (533mm) was fired from a bow tube at distance of 600 metres and scored a hit after 40 seconds. The submarine turned and tried to finish her off with a stern shot (450mm), but missed. A second stern shot (533mm) followed and was claimed to have hit (it had not). This was the destroyer HMCS Saguenay. With HMS Highlander, she had been escorting convoy HG.47 but had temporarily lost contact with the convoy. She had sighted the submarine at 800 yards and fired two rounds which missed before the torpedo hit the forward part on the port side. Twenty-one were killed. At 0700 hours, HMS Highlander arrived on the scene to assist her and took off five officers and eighty-five ratings. The remaining crew (five officers and fifty-three ratings) managed to bring Saguenay to port stern first. The tugs Englishman, Salvonia [she was later diverted to assist the armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar] and Schelde, and the A/S trawlers HMT Foxtrot, HMT Stella Polaris and HMT Sphene were sailed to her assistance. She managed to reach Barrow in Furness towed by the tug Schelde at 1615 hours on 5th December. | |||
See full details on this warship in our Allied Warships section.