Italian submarine fates
Ships hit by Italian submarines
Djurdjura
| Type | Cargo ship | |||
| Country |  Free French | |||
| Built | 1922 | GRT | 3,460 | |
| Date of attack | 13 Jun 1941 | Time | 0536-0538 0335 (e) | |
| Fate | Sunk by submarine Benedetto Brin (C.C. Luigi Longanesi Cattani) | |||
| Position of attack | 38° 40'N, 24° 00'W | |||
| Complement | ||||
| Convoy | SL 76 | |||
| Notes | At 0440 hours, in in 38°34' N, 23°56' W, Benedetto Brin sighted the convoy in three columns. Earlier, she had received a signal from BETASOM ordering her with Veniero and Velella to proceed to 40°20' N, 25°00' W. This was convoy SL. 76 bound from Freetown to Liverpool. The submarine maneuvered for an attack with the intention to fire stern torpedoes at two steamers in the central column and bow torpedoes at steamers on the port column. C.C. Longanesi Cattani miscalculated and was forced to change his plans. At 0515 hours, two torpedoes were fired from the bow tubes at a steamer in the port column, but there was a premature explosion leading Longanesi Cattani to believe that the two torpedoes had collided (!). Very shortly after, two more torpedoes were launched from the bow tubes, aimed at another steamer on the port column. One torpedo misfired but the other appeared to hit the target after 23 seconds but the 4,000-ton vessel did not appear to sink and fired off rockets to give the alarm. The target was the British steamer Ulla (1,575 GRT, built 1930). She had not been hit but had observed the torpedo missing under her keel. She was the fifth vessel in the seventh column between Djurdjura (fifth vessel in fifth column) and Eirini Kyriakides (fifth vessel in ninth column), which were both sunk shortly after. Sheridan, who was the fifth vessel in the eighth column, sighted the submarine at 0340 hours but her gun misfired. | |||