At 00.20 hours on 26 Jan 1944, U-716 fired a spread of three FAT torpedoes on convoy JW-56A, heard two hits and reported one ship with 7000 grt sunk and another of 7000 grt damaged.

In fact, only the Andrew G. Curtin (Master Jacob Olai Jacobsen) in station #61 was hit by one torpedo on the starboard side between the #2 and #3 holds. The watch below secured the engines as the ship settled by the head and listed to starboard. The deck cracked forward of the #3 hold and extended across the vessel. As the Liberty ship sank, the crack widened and the bow soon hogged about 25°. The complement of eight officers, 35 men and 28 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) abandoned ship in some confusion in one raft and four lifeboats aft of the crack. Two crew members drowned and one armed guard died in the explosion. The survivors observed the Andrew G. Curtin breaking in two before sinking. In less than 30 minutes, the HMS Inconstant (H 49) (LtCdr J.H. Eaden, DSC and Bar, RN) picked up the survivors and landed them later in Murmansk.