Italian submarine fates
Ships hit by Italian submarines
Macon
| Type | Cargo ship | |||
| Country |  British | |||
| Built | 1919 | GRT | 5,141 | |
| Date of attack | 25 Jul 1941 | Time | 0328-0430 | |
| Fate | Sunk by submarine Barbarigo (C.C. Francesco Murzi) | |||
| Position of attack | 32° 18'N, 26° 20'W | |||
| Complement | 50 (4 dead and 46 survivors) | |||
| Convoy | ex-O.B.290 | |||
| Notes | At 1230 hours on 24th July, in 33°50' N, 24°55' W, a smoke was sighted on the horizon and Barbarigo altered course to intercept. The vessel was steering on a southerly course. The attack was carried out at 0112 hours on the 25th. A torpedo (450mm, type W 200) was fired at 1,000 metres, but missed due to an error in calculating the angle. The target was the British Macon (5,141 GRT, built. 1919). After spending the past five months repairing her boilers, she had sailed from Ponto Delgada (Azores) for Freetown, carrying 3,800 tons of general cargo. Back in February 1941, she had been part of convoy O.B. 290, but had been diverted to the Azores due to her boiler problems. Barbarigo maneuvered to get a better position. At 0239 hours, a second torpedo (533mm, W 280 type) was fired from 700 metres and hit under the funnel. The vessel began to settle. Between 0328 and 0430 hours, Barbarigo fired 49 100mm rounds in the helpless vessel and she finally sank the next day. Of the fifty men on board, twenty-one survivors were picked up by the sloop HMS Londonderry and landed at Freetown, another twenty-seven survivors were picked up by Clan Macpherson and landed at Capetown. Two were killed or missing and two later died of exposure. | |||