Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines


Manaqui

TypeCargo ship
CountryBritish British
Built1921GRT2,802

Date of attack12 Mar 1942Time0138
FateSunk by submarine Morosini (C.C. Athos Fraternale)
Position of attack22° 45'N, 57° 40'W
Complement40 (40 dead, no survivors)
Convoy
Notes At 2222 hours, a smoke was sighted in 22°45' N, 57°40' W steering 250°. Morosini trailed her with the intention of attacking after dusk. The target appeared to be a 7,000-ton merchant vessel, 130 metres in length.

At 0138 hours, the submarine closed to a range of 1,200 metres and fired a pair of torpedoes (450mm, W 200 type) from her stern tubes. The first torpedo made a turn to port and missed completely but the second one squarely hit the target. The vessel sank in four and half minutes.

Initially, Morosini was attributed the loss of the British Stangarth (5,966 GRT, built 1942) but she had sailed from New York on 11th March and could not have reached the Caribbean a day later. Stangarth was later attributed to U-504 (KK Hans-Georg Friedrich Poske). Morosini's victim was probably the British Manaqui (2,802 GRT, built 1921) who disappeared without a trace at that time. She had sailed from Cardiff for Kingston Jamaica and had joined convoy OS.20. She left the convoy on latitude 36°00' N (probably near longitude 22°06' W) and her maximum speed of 9-9.5 knots. To be in the position of Morosini's attack she would have maintained an average speed of 8.7 knots which was reasonable. Thirty-four crew members and six gunners perished.

Position of attack

Ships hit by Italian submarines