Italian submarine fates
Ships hit by Italian submarines
Pizarro
| Type | Cargo ship | |||
| Country |  British | |||
| Built | 1923 | GRT | 1,367 | |
| Date of attack | 31 Jan 1941 | Time | 2228 2030 (e) | |
| Fate | Sunk by submarine Dandolo (C.C. Riccardo Boris) | |||
| Position of attack | 49° 04'N, 19° 31'W | |||
| Complement | 29 (23 dead and 6 survivors) | |||
| Convoy | ||||
| Notes | At 1918 hours, a 6,500-ton tanker was sighted in 49°23' N, 19°35' W. At 2155 hours, Dandolo had closed to 500 metres to fire two torpedoes (450mm) from the bow tubes. They broke surface and missed. This was the British Pizarro (1,367 GRT, built 1923), a straggler from convoy O.G.51 from Oban to Gibraltar, carrying 1,500 tons of general cargo and 400 tons of mail. At 2228 hours, two torpedoes (450mm) were fired from the stern tubes at a distance of 500 metres. This time both hit. Pizarro sank in 5 minutes with twenty-three of her crew. Three explosions had been felt on board Pizarro, but two were muffled and one was "terrific". There were six survivors who were picked up by the steamer MacBrae, another straggler from the same convoy. | |||