Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Armed trawler
Country	British
Built	1929	Tons	356

Date of attack	5 Oct 1940	Time	0417 0326 (e)
Fate	Sunk by submarine Nani (C.C. Gioacchino Polizzi)
Position of attack	36° 02'N, 7° 10'W
Complement	40 (3 dead and 37 survivors)
Convoy
Notes	At 0413 hours, in very poor visibility, a dark shadow was sighted at 1,000 metres. Nani closed to 400 metres but realised that she was in an awkward position for a bow attack. She turned to port and at 0416 hours, the vessel opened fire on the submarine, letting off two rounds within 30 seconds, one at 400 metres and the other at 600 metres but without scoring a hit. Within a minute, Nani fired a torpedo (450mm, W 200) from a stern tube at 600 metres and, 36 seconds later, it hit the target which began to sink. The submarine moved to the limit of visibility, returning to observe lifeboats picking up survivors before moving away. C.C. Polizzi believed he had sunk a 7,000-ton tanker. The victim was in fact the armed trawler HMT Kingston Sapphire (356 tons). Of the crew of forty, three were killed, four officers and twenty-five ratings were picked up by the Spanish fishing vessel *Nettuno* and landed at Huelva. They were released on 30th October.