HMS Galatea (71)
| Name | HMS Galatea (71) | ||
| Type: | Light cruiser (Arethusa) | ||
| Tonnage | 5.220 tons | ||
| Completed | 1935 - Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Greenock | ||
| Owner | The Admiralty | ||
| Homeport | |||
| Date of attack | 15 Dec, 1941 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-557 (Ottokar Arnold Paulshen) | ||
| Position | 31.17N, 29.13E - - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 614 officers and men (470 dead and 144 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Central Mediterranean - Alexandria | ||
| Cargo | |||
| History | On 1 Sep, 1940, HMS Galatea (71) was mined and slightly damaged off Cleaner Shoal Buoy near the Humber light vessel. | ||
| Notes on loss | On 15 Dec, 1941, HMS Galatea (71) (Capt E.W.B. Sim, RN) was sunk by U-557 with three torpedoes about 35 miles west of Alexandria, as the cruiser was returning to this harbour with the cruiser force of the Mediterranean Fleet after a hunt for an Italian convoy to Libya. The commander, 22 officers and 447 ratings were lost. 144 survivors were picked up by HMS Griffin (H 31) and HMS Hotspur (H 01). At 19.55 hours on 14 Dec, 1941, the Italian submarine Dagabur (Torri) had fired torpedoes at the same cruiser force in 34°01N/26°02E and heard two detonations after 1 minute 45 seconds. It is not clear whether HMS Galatea (71) had been damaged by the Italian submarine before she was sunk by the German U-boat. | ||
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