Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Tanker
Country	Norwegian
Built	1928	GRT	8,029

Date of attack	12 Jun 1940	Time	2218 2300 (e)
Fate	Sunk by submarine Naiade (T.V. Luigi Baroni)
Position of attack	31° 42'N, 28° 50'E
Complement	43 (4 dead and 39 survivors)
Convoy
Notes	At 2145 hours, a large tanker was sighted at a range of 4,000 metres, steering 130° at 13 knots. Naiade closed on the surface. At 2157 hours, a torpedo (533mm) was fired from a bow tube at a distance of 1,200 metres. It hit and damaged the tanker. This was the Norwegian tanker *Orkanger* (8,029 GRT, built 1928) carrying 10,500 tons of fuel oil from Port Said to Malta. The Italian declaration of war had forced her to turn back and she had been ordered to Alexandria. Shortly after, the submarine reverted course and fired a stern torpedo (450mm) but it had an erratic course and missed. She reverted course again. At 2218 hours, a third torpedo (450mm) was fired from a bow tube at 500 metres. It hit and the tanker sank. Survivors confirmed that two torpedoes had hit the engine room about ten minutes apart. Four crew members were killed. Thirty-nine survivors (twenty-nine crew members and ten passengers, including Lt. Cdr. Crabbe, two stokers and nine military personnel) were picked up by the Spanish *Tom* who brought them back to Alexandria.