Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Cargo ship
Country	Panamanian
Built	1904	GRT	3,039

Date of attack	11 Jul 1940	Time	2343
Fate	Sunk by submarine Capitano Raffaele Tarantini (C.C. Alfredo Iaschi)
Position of attack	33° 28'N, 33° 06'E
Complement
Convoy
Notes	At 1845 hours, a vessel was observed at distance of 5,000 metres leaving Haifa and steering 270°. It was not possible to close submerged and C.C. Iaschi decided to wait for darkness to attack. At 1915 hours, Tarantini surfaced and closed. The vessel was observed to sail without navigation lights until she was 30 miles from Haifa, when they were turned on and she could be identified as Panamian. she was merchant vessel *Beme* (3,039 GRT, built 1904) steering 270° in ballast on passage from Haifa to Istanbul. At 2300 hours, a torpedo (450mm, W 200 type) was launched, it missed. Tarantini opened fire. The first shell grazed the aft deck, the second hit the engine room and the vessel was brought to a halt. The third round was not fired because of an error in transmission. In the meantime, the crew was observed to abandon ship and fire was checked. The submarine closed the lifeboats and took the freighter captain on board. He objected to the attack, claiming he was bringing cereals to Istanbul. He had brought his ship's papers with him, but did not respond to the remark that his vessel's route (270°) was not toward the Aegean. At 2343 hours, another torpedo (533mm, S.I.-H type) was fired and *Beme* sank.