Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Cargo ship
Country	Spanish
Built	1921	GRT	5,301

Date of attack	24 Jan 1942	Time	0145 0058 (e)
Fate	Sunk by submarine Barbarigo (C.C. Enzo Grossi)
Position of attack	26° 46'N, 15° 28'W
Complement	36 (2 dead and 34 survivors)
Convoy
Notes	At 2300 hours on 23rd January, the officer of the watch G.M. Giuseppe Tendi (who later would command C.B. 16 and be murdered by his mutinous crew) spotted an illuminated ship on a 315° course. This course did not seem to coincide with a ship going to the Azores and Grossi decided to attack her. At 0120 hours, two torpedoes were fired from the stern tubes at a distance of 1,200 metres and he claimed that both hit, but the ship was only damaged. This was actually the Spanish *Navemar* (5,301 GRT, built 1921), which had made the news by carrying Jewish refugees to the United States while charging exorbitant prices. At 0134 hours, a third torpedo was fired but missed. Finally, at 0145 hours, a fourth torpedo sealed her fate and she sank 12 minutes later. Two were killed and thirty-four survivors were picked by the Spanish *Isla De Teneriffe*. The Spanish Ministry of Marine informed the British Naval Attaché that the submarine was almost certainly Italian. Grossi, who would have a career marred by controversy, claimed to have sunk an armed merchant cruiser.