Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Cargo ship
Country	American
Built	1939	GRT	5,011

Date of attack	25 Dec 1942	Time	1040 1030 (e)
Fate	Sunk by submarine Enrico Tazzoli (C.C. Carlo Fecia di Cossato)
Position of attack	2° 03'S, 35° 38'W
Complement	72 (7 dead and 65 survivors)
Convoy
Notes	At 0925 hours, a smoke was sighted over the horizon at 25,000 metres. It was gaining rapidly on the submarine and she submerged. At 1040 hours, two bow torpedoes were fired. Although, Fecia Di Cossato recorded that both hit, whereas survivors acknowledged only one hit. The torpedo had been sighted making a sound like a motorboat and porpoising.The ship had attempted to avoid by turning hard to port, but it appeared to veer and strike it amidship. This was the American *Dona Aurora* (5,011 GRT, built 1939). She had been on a voyage from Capetown to Baltimore with a general cargo of manganese ore, cow and sheep hides, wool, coffee and dye stuff. Seven were killed. Enrico Tazzoli picked up three survivors, including a ship's boy. Fifty-three survivors were picked up by the British *Testbank* on 27th December and another nine by the seaplane tender USS Humboldt.