Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Cargo ship
Country	Swedish
Built	1935	GRT	2,734

Date of attack	10 Nov 1940	Time	0545++
Fate	Sunk by submarine Guglielmo Marconi (C.C. Giulio Chialamberto)
Position of attack	55° 41'N, 18° 24'W
Complement	25 (6 dead and 19 survivors)
Convoy	ex-HX.84
Notes	At 2105 hours on 9th November, Marconi was informed of a damaged freighter in Italian Grid 5570 requesting a tug. This was the Swedish steamer *Vingaland* (see entry of 1500 hours on 8th November). The submarine altered course to intercept. At 0330 hours on 10th November, she received a signal from Otaria reporting the sighting of an aircraft carrier with three destroyers and, once again, she changed course. At 0545 hours, Marconi sighted a light and closed. It proved to be the vessel mentioned in the first signal, steering North. A torpedo (533mm, S.I.-H type) was fired from 400 metres, but the sea was rough and it deviated to port. A second torpedo was fired from 300 metres which hit amidship and the vessel sank in ten minutes. This was the Swedish *Vingaland* (2,734 GRT, built 1935) from convoy HX.84 carrying steel to Glasgow. She had been damaged by a Focke Wulf 200 Kondor of I/K.G.40. Six were killed. Nineteen survivors were later rescued by the British *Danae II* (2,660 GRT, built 1936).