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Allied Ships hit by U-boats


HMS Grafton (H 89)


NameHMS Grafton (H 89)
Type:Destroyer (G-class)
Tonnage1.350 tons
Completed1936 - John I. Thornycroft & Co, Southampton 
OwnerThe Admiralty 
Homeport 
Date of attack29 May, 1940Nationality:      British
 
FateSunk by U-62 (Hans-Bernhard Michalowski)
Position51.22N, 02.45E - Grid AN 8758
- See location on a map -
Complement? men (? dead and ? survivors).
Convoy 
RouteDunkirk - Ramsgate 
Cargo 
History  
Notes on loss In the night on 29 May 1940, U-62 proceeded surfaced near the Kwinte Buoy, northwest of Ostend, to attack the ships on the Route Y (Dunkirk - Kwinte Buoy - Ramsgate) during the Allied Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk. At about 02.30 hours, while the U-boat tried to get undetected into an attack position, one of the distant ships detonated in a tremendous explosion and abruptly lit up the night sky. Two torpedoes from the German Schnellboot S-30 (Zimmermann) had struck the ammunition magazine of the HMS Wakeful (H 88), which disappeared within 15 seconds taking nearly 700 men with her.
The British fleet minesweepers HMS Gossamer (J 63) and HMS Lydd, the British M/S-trawlers HMS Comfort (a former Scottish drifter of 60 tons) and HMS Nautilus (a motor drifter of 64 tons) and the HMS Grafton (H 89) (Cmdr Charles Robinson) began picking up the men swimming in the water and lowered lifeboats.

At 02.50 hours, the HMS Grafton (H 89) was hit by one torpedo from U-62 and caught fire. The Commander and many men on deck, just escaped from Dunkirk, were killed by the explosion.
The vessels closest to the torpedoed destroyer opened fire on a darkened ship that they believed to have been the attacker - sinking the HMS Comfort within minutes by concerted machine gun and cannon fire.
At dawn, the burning HMS Grafton (H 89) was scuttled by three shells from the HMS Ivanhoe (D 16).
Initially the BdU believed that U-62 had sunk the French steam merchant Douaisien (2954 tons) based on reports by the xB-Dienst, but this vessel sank after hitting a mine. Also the HMS Nautilus, which had picked up survivors from the torpedoed ships was lost off Dunkirk later that day. 


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