Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Cargo ship
Country	British
Built	1921	GRT	4,733

Date of attack	15 Apr 1941	Time	2355
Fate	Sunk by submarine Enrico Tazzoli (C.C. Carlo Fecia di Cossato)
Position of attack	37° 09'N, 18° 43'W
Complement	(no casualties, 41 survivors)
Convoy
Notes	At 2131 hours, a steamer was observed zigzagging at a distance of 15,000 metres. The submarine waited until dusk before closing. At 2315 hours, a torpedo (450mm, A 110 type) was fired from a distance of 1,000 metres. It missed due to a mistake in angling the torpedo. The target was the British *Aurillac* (ex-French, 4,248 GRT, built 1921). At 2316 hours, a second torpedo (533mm, W270 type) was fired, but missed again as *Aurillac* took evasive action. Enrico Tazzoli now opened fire on *Aurillac*, which replied with her stern gun. Fecia di Cossato lamented that his submarine's gunfire was not very accurate but after three hits, the steamer's gun was silenced. At 2355 hours, At 2355 hours, the submarine fired a single torpedo (533mm, W 270 type) which hit after 40 seconds and the freighter sank. There were forty-one survivors. Twenty-two reached Madeira in a lifeboat, the other nineteen were picked up by a Portuguese ship. One later died.