14:07 (Berlin Time)
Monday, December 14, 1942
Kiel submarine base, German Baltic Coast
‘’Here is your new child, Kapitänleutnant von Wittgenstein: the U-801, a heavily modified and lengthened variant of our TYPE IXD2 submarine, which is itself a lengthened variant of our standard TYPE IXC/40. You did serve before on a TYPE IX submarine before I believe, correct?’’
Ulrich von Wittgenstein, standing with Admiral Dönitz and Otto Kretschmer on one of the quays of the submarine base in Kiel, looked gleefully at his new command, eyeing every difference he saw between it and a standard TYPE IXC.
‘’That’s correct, Herr Admiral: I served as a junior watch officer on a TYPE IX boat before being posted to the U-800. It looks splendid! I see that the hull and conning tower lines have been extensively cleaned up and smoothened in terms of hydrodynamics. The conning tower is also taller and longer and its open bridge is covered and has large windows, something that should make outside watches in heavy seas much less dangerous.’’
‘’Those are only the most visible differences between your U-801 and other TYPE IX boats, Kapitän von Wittgenstein. I personally selected the modifications to be made to the TYPE IXD2 that transformed it into a TYPE IXD3, the class designation of your U-801, and made sure that all the lessons learned from the sea patrols and innovative design features of the U-800 be incorporated into the U-801 as much as possible, while keeping the reconstruction process as short as possible. As a result, the TYPE IXD3 will now supersedes all other variants of the TYPE IX boat on the construction slips and will be our new standard long range attack submarine, that is until the new TYPE XXI class can finally start being produced. Your U-801 is 98 meter-long, a full 21 meters longer than a TYPE IXC and displaces nearly 800 tons more. Like the D2 variant, it has a very long range on the surface, being able to cover over 23,000 nautical miles at 12 knots when using its two small cruise diesel engines, and can attain a top speed, again on the surface, of nineteen knots on its main diesel engines. Those diesels are in turn connected to a telescopic schnorchel with two-stage air intake system similar to that of the U-800. Another main modifications was to the electric propulsion system: it has electric motors for submerged propulsion that are twice as powerful as the original motors of the D2, and the extra length and space that was previously reserved for cargo or sea mines on the D2 has been used instead to more than double the number of battery cells and also to improve habitability, which was already good in the D2 compared to other TYPE IXs or to TYPE VIIs. As a result of all this, you will be able to navigate extensively while under the surface by using your schnorchel, like the U-800, and will be able to attain submerged speeds on battery of up to twelve knots. You will be able also to cover 240 nautical miles at four knots on batteries. Your U-801 will still not equal the underwater performances of the U-800, by far, but it will be much better in that respect than any of our other submarines, or that of any Allied submarine. To further improve your boat, it was fitted with a paired radar antenna and radar warning receiver antenna mounted atop the schnorchel head, like on the U-800. About your radar and that of Kapitän Kretschmer, I did you two a special favor and took two of the captured centimetric radar units captured in the Falklands, which my engineers then adapted to your radar masts. A new centimetric radar detector system developed by Telefunken thanks to those captured American radars will be installed next week, before you both leave on a joint war patrol.’’
Ulrich grinned as he listened on to Dönitz, imagining what he could do with such a boat.
‘’What about deck guns or anti-aircraft guns? I don’t see any right now? Are they still to be installed, Herr Admiral?’’
‘’Oh, they are already in place.’’ Replied Dönitz, smiling with malice. ‘’They are just presently out of sight. When the time came to redesign the conning tower, in order to cut the underwater drag and improve submerged speed and endurance, I told my engineers to use that opportunity to put the deck gun and anti-aircraft mounts within the longer, taller conning tower. The standard 10.5 centimeter deck gun is actually lodged inside the forward section of the new conning tower, with its long, ‘U’ shaped firing embrasure being covered by a hydraulically actuated hydrodynamic cover. As for the anti-aircraft mounts, one quad 20mm Flakvierling mount is inside the upper aft section of the conning tower, covered by a sliding canopy, while one twin 20mm mount is similarly covered inside the mid section of the conning tower. The usual armored tower found on other TYPE IX boats has been enlarged and also heightened to a two-level tower, while a covered, free flooding bridge above the deck gun section will make navigation and watch on the surface much less dangerous and uncomfortable during heavy and cold seas. The last major modification was the incorporation of a variant of the torpedo carrousels found on the U-800. While you still have a total of only six torpedo tubes, you will be carrying a total of 32 torpedoes, enough to decimate a whole convoy…if you shoot straight.’’
Otto Kretschmer laughed at that last sentence and patted Ulrich’s shoulder.
‘’Don’t worry, Herr Admiral: I taught him everything I knew about torpedo firing. He will not waste any torpedo, I can assure you, especially if he uses the new T-3 model. With him at the commands of such a fine boat as the U-801 to back up my U-800, we should make the British wish that the war would be over by now.’’
Dönitz nodded soberly at that, his face becoming most serious.
‘’And that is why I am giving Kapitän von Wittgenstein only two weeks to train with his new crew before departing on the first war patrol of the U-801, in the company of your U-800. The industrial might of the United States is starting to seriously affect the balance of this war and we need to convince the British to give up the fight, possibly by signing an armistice, as quickly as possible. Your job, for the both of you, will be to stand across the main convoy routes near Newfoundland and Halifax and to cut the flow of American supplies going to Great Britain. We need to starve the British into submission, and this before the American juggernaut can smother us under its armament output. Concentrate especially on tanker ships: the British war effort is highly dependent on the flow of fuel coming from across the Atlantic. While you will bar the North Atlantic convoy routes, I will task multiple wolf packs of TYPE VII submarines to similarly block the exit of the Mediterranean to the British tankers bringing Middle East oil to Great Britain.’’
‘’I will be ready, Herr Admiral.’’ Said confidently Ulrich. ‘’Kapitän Kretschmer has already made the integration of my new crew much easier by offering me the services of some of his experienced non commissioned officers and crewmembers to add some vintage quality to my crew. Too bad he refused to give me as well the services of his cook.’’
Otto wiggled an index at Ulrich while faking an angry expression.
‘’I told you already! You can’t touch Bootsmannsmaat{29} Hannig: I like his cooking too much!’’
The three officers burst out laughing together then, surprising the number of sailors and civilian workers and technicians present on the quay. As the trio was starting to walk towards the docked U-801, one of Dönitz’ aides came to them at a run while shouting.
‘’ADMIRAL! ADMIRAL! THERE ARE IMPORTANT NEWS!’’
Stopping on the spot, Dönitz waited for his aide to arrive and stop two paces from him, returning his salute while asking him.
‘’Well, what kind of news do you have for me, Leutnant Krueger? Good ones or bad ones?’’
‘’Good ones I believe, Herr Admiral. This message was just forwarded from the headquarters of Gross Admiral Raeder. It is about the French fleet in Toulon and the situation in North Africa.’’
Dönitz gave his aide a sharp look on hearing that: he and Admiral Raeder, with the precious support of Propaganda Minister Goebbels, had barely managed in November to convince the Führer, after the Allies had landed in Morocco and Algeria, not to invade the part of Southern France controlled by the Vichy government of Marshal Pétain. Their counsel to Hitler, in view of the precarious supply situation of the Allied force in French North Africa, had been to try to gamble on French national pride to push the Vichy French into actually fighting to get back their North African colonies from the British and Americans. The withdrawal of the American troops and ships from North Africa and the Mediterranean in the first week of December, made as part of an American reallocation of forces to the benefit of the Pacific Theater, had given further credit to that plan and had convinced Hitler to give Marshal Pétain carte blanche to use French military forces to expel British troops from the French African colonies. Reading quickly the message given to him by his aide made Dönitz smile with glee.
‘’Gentlemen, this is epic news indeed! The French battle fleet has just sailed out of Toulon, headed for Oran and Algiers with the mission to retake the French colonies for the Vichy government and to chase off any British ships from the Algerian and Moroccan coasts. It seems that Marshal Pétain also secured a secret understanding with President Roosevelt that American forces would respect Vichy neutrality from now on. According to Kriegsmarine intelligence, the French fleet sailed out of Toulon with one battlecruiser, six cruisers, 22 destroyers, eleven large torpedo boats and 22 submarines.’’
Ulrich von Wittgenstein couldn’t help wiggle his right hand on hearing that.
‘’Himmel, that’s quite a naval force! The British will have their hands full facing such a fleet, especially after the losses we inflicted on their Mediterranean Fleet in November.’’
‘’After the British attack on Mers-el-Kebir in 1940 and the November landings in French North Africa, I can’t blame the French for being pissed at the British.’’ Added Otto Kretschmer, making Dönitz nod his head.
‘’Prime Minister Churchill indeed stabbed the French twice in the back in this war to date. Remember the way he had British troops storm aboard the French warships docked in Great Britain in 1940, at the same time his battleships were firing on French warships harbored in North Africa. Those kind of things are never forgotten and rarely forgiven, especially by people as proud as the French. Let him pay now for his arrogance and strategic blunders. I am ready to cheer on for the French fleet if this means that the British fleet will get walloped in the Mediterranean. In the meantime, I will count on you two to continue walloping them in the North Atlantic. You will however have to put to sea without your Brandenburg Regiment commandos or your four Japanese sailors, Kretschmer: those Japanese have just left for Japan aboard one of our long-range Type IXD2 submarines heading towards the Indian Ocean and the Java Sea. As for your commandos, they will stay on land this time: I want you to concentrate solely on sea targets during your next patrol.’’
06:55 (Paris Time)
Wednesday, December 16, 1942
British destroyer H.M.S. JAVELIN
Cruising off Algiers, Mediterranean Sea
One of the lookouts on duty on the H.M.S. JAVELIN, a J-Class British destroyer that was part of the British Mediterranean Fleet, suddenly saw through his binoculars a faint white line on the surface of the ocean. From experience, he knew that it had to be the bow wake of a ship coming in at night. The distance was however quite long and the half-moon made for very low visibility. Still, he decided to call it to the bridge duty officer.
‘’SIR, POSSIBLE INCOMING SHIP AT OUR TWO O’CLOCK, DISTANCE UNKNOWN BUT STILL QUITE FAR!’’
The duty officer, a young ensign, came to him nearly immediately: German and Italian submarines had been infesting the waters off the Algerian coast and harassing for weeks now the ships supporting the British troops landed in Oran and Algiers. Any sighting at night was thus a matter of possible concern. The young ensign, much less experienced at night observation than the lookout, took some time to see the white wake in the distance.
‘’Aah, yes! I see it now! It is however too dark to see what kind of ship is causing that wake.’’
The lookout, who had continued to scan the horizon in the meantime, suddenly stiffened.
‘’Sir, I now see at least two more wakes behind the first one I saw. We have a group of ships coming at us.’’
‘’Damn, I wish that we had a radar on the JAVELIN.’’ Said the ensign before going back inside the covered bridge of the destroyer, where he called the captain’s cabin by telephone. Less than six minutes later, the captain was up on the bridge and looking at the ships’ wakes in the distant night.
‘’Mister Reynolds, call the ship to battle stations! Have ‘A’ turret fire a star shell to our two o’clock!’’
‘’Aye, sir!’’
Four minutes later, with the gunners at their posts, a 4.7 inch illuminating shell was fired in a high trajectory in the direction of the unknown ships. It burst high in the still dark early morning sky and started floating under its parachute, throwing a dancing, ghostly light over a large patch of ocean. The captain of the JAVELIN swore when he saw that at least four ships, maybe more, were coming towards his destroyer…fast!
‘’Bloody hell! These blokes are not coming just for a morning cup of tea! I however still can’t identify them in this darkness. Mister Reynolds, signal by lamp to those newcomers: From British destroyer: identify yourselves!’’
Maybe two minutes later, a lamp signal came back from the approaching ships, signal that the captain of the JAVELIN read himself at the same time as his signals officer.
‘’From French Navy: all British ships are to leave immediately Vichy territorial waters or they will be fired upon.’’
That answer angered the captain of the destroyer to no small measure.
‘’Those Nazi puppets! They got some nerve to want to chase us away. SIGNAL OFFICER, SEND IMMEDIATE MESSAGE TO FORCE Q: VICHY FORCE OF AT LEAST FOUR WARSHIPS APPROACHING ALGIERS, ARE TELLING ALL BRITISH SHIPS TO LEAVE VICHY WATERS AND THREATEN FIRING. SEND OUR POSITION AT THE SAME TIME.’’
‘’UNDERSTOOD, SIR!’’
As the signals officer disappeared inside the covered bridge to go to his radio room, the duty ensign gave a hesitant look to his captain.
‘’What should we reply to them, sir?’’
‘’What I would really want to say to them would be unprintable, my boy.’’ Said the captain, smiling to himself. ‘’Send instead the following: am now passing your request to my higher. Strongly suggest you keep your distance and wait in the meantime.’’
‘’Uh, yes sir!’’
Less than a minute later, the French sent another lamp signal in response that convince the captain of the JAVELIN that blood would flow on this day.
‘’Leave Vichy waters immediately or we will fire… Hell, those frogs are quite impatient today! MISTER REYNOLDS, HAVE ALL MAIN GUNS LOADED WITH SEMI-ARMOR PIERCING ROUNDS! PREPARE THE TORPEDO TUBES!’’
Not even thirty seconds later, a star shell fired by the French ships popped up over the JAVELIN, making the British destroyer clearly visible on the surface of the sea.
‘’There goes the neighborhood, men! We won’t get out of this without a fight, I’m afraid.’’
A second French star shell soon joined the first one in the dark sky. Despite his façade of bravado, the captain of the JAVELIN was by now quite nervous and apprehensive: he was heavily outnumbered and the Vichy assault was coming at a time when the British Mediterranean Fleet was at its weakest in months, due to the heavy losses suffered during the year. In particular, there was only one British battleship left inside the Mediterranean, while not a single aircraft carrier was left operational. Also, all American warships had by now left the Mediterranean, taking with them their troopships and few surviving transport ships crammed with their army troops. As for the British ships near or around Algiers, the only sizeable force was Force ‘Q’ of Rear-admiral Harcourt, consisting of three light cruisers and two destroyers. The big question now was if the Vichy French would have the stomach to shoot at British ships.
The answer to that came four minutes later, when a flash in the distance was followed twenty seconds later by a big geyser of water 300 meters from JAVELIN’s bow. It was clearly a warning shot, but the delay between the flash and the noise of the departure shot at least gave the captain of the destroyer a rough distance to the enemy.
‘’About six miles… Too far still for torpedoes but close enough for a real slugfest. MISTER REYNOLDS, HAVE WE RECEIVED A RESPONSE FROM FORCE ‘Q’ YET?’’
‘’NEGATIVE, SIR!’’
Swearing again to himself, the captain took a few seconds to look more closely at the newcomers. What he saw was not to his liking: the French warships coming at him were the kind of ‘super-destroyers’ that the French Navy was so fond of, with 138.6 mm caliber guns that outranged his own 4.7 inch guns and threw shells nearly twice as heavy. As for outrunning them, that was not a realistic option. Worse, the line of incoming destroyers was backed up by what appeared to be a light cruiser. He was thus badly outgunned by the French ships and would probably be pounded to dust within minutes in a gun duel. His dilemma was that there were a number of British cargo ships in port in Algiers, busy offloading badly needed supplies for the British troops there. If he withdrew away from Algiers, which would seemingly be the only reasonable option he had, then those cargo ships would be at the mercy of the Vichy warships. After the way the British Navy had slaughtered the French ships harbored in Mers-el-Kebir in 1940, causing hundreds of French casualties and sinking many of the ships in what had been nothing short of a fratricide, he however didn’t expect those Vichy warships to be tender with those British transport ships. Running back inside his bridge, he collared his signals officer as the man was emerging from the radio room.
‘’Lieutenant, signal immediately by radio and signal lamp to our ships and harbormaster in Algiers that Vichy warships are approaching with hostile intents. Our ships in Algiers should leave for safety at once. Got it?’’
‘’Yes sir!’’
The captain then grabbed an intercom handset and connected himself with his gunnery officer.
‘’Ramsay, we may need to stand and fight here, at least at first. I know that we are badly outnumbered and outgunned, but we must give time to our ships in Algiers to flee to safety. We will have to split our fire between three targets.’’
His gunnery officer was silent for a moment on the intercom before replying in a cautious tone.
‘’Sir, you do realize that each of these VAUQUELIN-Class destroyers outgun us? There are at least four of them, plus what looks like a LA GALISSONIÈRE-Class light cruiser. We won’t last long against that kind of firepower, not unless we get some help real quick.’’
‘’I know that, Ramsay. Do your best anyway! You can fire the moment the French will start firing directly at us.’’
‘’Understood, sir!’’ Said glumly the young gunnery officer before hanging up.
To the dismay of the captain of the JAVELIN, the French warships kept coming on while holding their fire until they were within five miles, a distance at which their big 138.6mm guns would be quite accurate, while still being a bit long for JAVELIN’s torpedoes. First light had come by then and the British captain was now able to see that there were actually six of the big French destroyers, plus a light cruiser. The French ships then split up in two groups and veered in column to starboard, thus unmasking all their main guns. One group of four destroyers accelerated to over 35 knots and headed straight towards the port of Algiers, while two destroyers and the light cruiser formed a battle line facing the JAVELIN. A blinking light signal appeared from the bridge of the French light cruiser, which the captain of the JAVELIN read aloud.
‘’Last warning. Leave now or be sunk.’’
An old history lesson he had learned in his school years then came back to his mind and he twisted his head to look at a sailor manning the nearest signal lamp on the open bridge.
‘’Do you speak French, Able Seaman?’’
‘’I’m fair at it, sir.’’ Answered the somewhat surprised signalman.
‘’Then, send back the following: TIREZ LES PREMIERS, MESSIEURS LES FRANÇAIS{30}!’’
The captain chuckled as the signalman started sending his response.
‘’We might as well be polite between us before killing each other.’’
Apparently, the French took his reply at heart, with both destroyers and the light cruiser opening fire simultaneously. This time, it was no warning shot.
‘’MISTER RAMSAY, YOU HAVE MY BENEDICTION TO OPEN FIRE!’’
Lieutenant Ramsay obeyed him at once, having evidently already made his fire computations. One gun out of each of the three double 4.7inch turrets of the JAVELIN spat a shell, with the intent to verify the range to the targets. As the British shells were still flying into the air, terrifying howls announced the arrival of the first French shells. Since the two sides were firing at only half or less of their maximum range, both the British and French shells bracketed their targets on their first salvo, projecting huge water geysers as they impacted the sea around the warships. One French shell in particular fell uncomfortably close to the JAVELIN, shaking it with its underwater shockwave and making the captain clench his teeth together for a second.
‘’SIGNAL OFFICER, CALL OUR AIRFIELDS AROUND ALGIER AND ASK FOR URGENT AIR SUPPORT!’’
‘’YES SIR!’’
The JAVELIN, having well-trained gunners, was the first to achieve a hit on the third salvo, one 4.7inch shell exploding against the superstructures of one of the French heavy destroyers. However, the light cruiser in the French battle line, being advantaged by its larger baseline optical rangefinders, was next to manage hits. No less than four 152mm shells, each more than twice as heavy as a 4.7inch shell, either struck directly the British destroyer or exploded in the water close to its hull, buckling hull plates and creating flooding. The aft 4.7inch twin turret of the JAVELIN was put out of action, while the amidships anti-aircraft gun mount was blown sky-high and part of the forward deck was opened like a tin can by a shell exploding in the empty crew spaces. The signals officer then shouted to the captain from the radio room.
‘’SIR, OUR AIRFIELDS ARE PRESENTLY UNDER GROUND ATTACK BY FRENCH INFANTRY AND CAN’T PROVIDE ANY SUPPORT.’’
‘’Bloody great! This leaves only Force ‘Q’ to possibly come and save our bacon.’’
Briefly looking towards the port of Algiers, some three miles away, the British captain saw with some relief that the four French destroyers that had flanked him to get to the harbor had not opened fire yet on the British cargo ships that had been at quay. Those cargo ships were in turn in the process of leaving the harbor, watched closely by the French warships. He however soon understood that the French restraint had nothing to do with mercy or magnanimity: as soon as the cargo ships had cleared the harbor’s entrance channel and were no more in position to block it if sunk, the French destroyers opened fire from near point blank at the transports, turning them rapidly into burning, sinking hulks. The captain of the JAVELIN had no time to become enraged at that, as he had plenty of problems of his own by then. With the three French warships facing him now having found the range, his poor destroyer was battered by a rain of 138.6mm and 152mm shells that quickly silenced all three of its main turrets and disabled its engines. Now dead in the water, burning and helpless, the JAVELIN was bypassed by the French warships, which went to form a picket line to the east of Algiers. One of the French destroyers however fired a salvo of three 550mm torpedoes at the JAVELIN from short range as it was speeding past it. Two of the torpedoes hit their target and exploded, making it capsize within three minutes. Only a dozen survivors managed to swim away from the doomed British destroyer. A French motor boat found and rescued those survivors an hour later, taking them as prisoners.
10:41 (Paris Time)
Bridge of the British light cruiser H.M.S. ARGONAUT
56 nautical miles east of Algiers
‘’The latest radio report from our ground units in Algiers, sir. Unfortunately, it went up and down the separate chains of command of the Army and of the Navy before getting to us, thus the delay in receiving it.’’
Rear-admiral Harcourt, in command of Force ‘Q’, grumbled at that but didn’t reply directly to his signals officer as he took and read the message handed to him: the disjointed and often uncoordinated state of communications between the Army and the Navy had been and still was a sore point in this war. The reading of the message did nothing to brighten his day.
‘’Hmmm… All British ships around Algiers now sunk, with force of six French destroyers and one light cruiser blockading the harbor. Attacks on local R.A.F. airfields now repulsed, but most aircraft destroyed or severely damaged on the ground. Continuous incidents of sniping and ambushes against our troops in and around Algiers. Supply situation becoming critical.’’
Harcourt was frowning with frustration as he gave back the message to his signals officer: Operation Torch had resulted in nothing up to now but a gigantic waste of precious, limited resources. To add to that, Great Britain now had to face what had been the second most powerful navy in the Mediterranean at the start of this war. A warning from the bridge duty officer then made his head snap around.
‘’FRENCH RECONNAISSANCE SEAPLANE AT OUR TWO O’CLOCK HIGH, ADMIRAL!’’
Going quickly to one of the windows of the bridge and raising his binoculars to his eyes, he was able to see the French seaplane nearly at once. It was however flying quite high and would be difficult to shoot down at such a distance. As for the reason of its presence overhead, it was way too clear to Harcourt: it had to be a spotting seaplane launched by a French cruiser and sent to scout along their western flank. If he was hoping to take the French by surprise, that prospect was now gone. The French seaplane didn’t leave a chance to the British gunners of Force ‘Q’ to try to shoot it down anyway, turning around and flying away while still out of range of the British gunners. Harcourt was however still confident that his force of three light cruisers and two destroyers could chase away the French squadron presently blockading Algiers.
The British rear-admiral had to revise his opinion when his force arrived within visual sight of Algiers: instead of finding only six French warships, he was confronted by a fleet consisting of one battlecruiser, four heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and a total of twelve heavy destroyers. However, it was what he didn’t see that truly cost him heavily. Already deployed and slowly cruising underwater to the East of Algiers was a picket line of eight French submarines tasked with spotting and harassing any British ship that would approach Algiers from Malta or Egypt. The first sign that alerted Harcourt to that hidden threat was the shouted alarm by one lookout of the ARGONAUT.
‘’INCOMING TORPEDOES AT THREE O’CLOCK!’’
‘’ALL SHIPS: INCREASE SPEED AND START ZIG-ZAG COURSE! HELM, STEER HARD STARBOARD!’’
Harcourt had to take hold of a pipe in order not to lose his balance as his flagship started a tight turn to starboard. He anxiously followed with his eyes the trajectory of the four incoming torpedoes, made visible by the trails of bubbles in their wake. To his relief, all four torpedoes missed, one passing within thirty meters from the cruiser’s stern. The shout of another lookout however told Harcourt that he was still not out of trouble.
‘’SIX TORPEDOES INCOMING FROM EIGHT O’CLOCK!’’
‘’HELM, REVERSE TURN! FULL SPEED AHEAD!’’
Again, the deadly fish missed his flagship. However, not everybody in his flotilla was as lucky. After missing the ARGONAUT, two of the torpedoes continued on and struck the port flank of the light cruiser H.M.S. SIRIUS. The unlucky cruiser shuddered in the water under the impact of the two 550mm torpedoes and quickly lost speed, falling behind the rest of the British warships. With a significant hole thus created in his battle line, Harcourt had to decide if he was going to stay and fight or if he was going to withdraw in front of an overwhelmingly superior enemy force. Harcourt was no coward, but the sight of the nineteen French warships lined up and waiting for his five ships, one of which was now severely crippled, convinced him that a fight now would only result in the loss of hundreds or even thousands of his sailors. As he was ordering his small force to turn around towards Malta, two more torpedoes hit the already severely crippled SIRIUS, sealing its fate. The light cruiser capsized less than six minutes after the last two hits and sank. Thankfully, to the credit of the French admiral in charge of the Vichy fleet, Harcourt