The Giant Adrift off Donegal
Kapitänleutnant , born in 1913, is one of the young aces of the Kriegsmarine. He has commanded the U-32 since February 1940 and patrols the western approaches of Ireland, where the convoys linking the British Empire to the islands pass.
On 26 October 1940, a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor piloted by Oberleutnant spots a colossus about 140 kilometres west of the Isle of Arran: the Empress of Britain, a Canadian Pacific liner of 42,348 tons, the largest merchant ship then serving under British colours. The Condor strafes it and hits it with two 250 kg bombs; fire ravages the giant, which carries crew and passengers returning to Great Britain.
With the survivors evacuated, the British do not give up on the hull. On the morning of the 27th, a party from the destroyer HMS Broke passes tow lines; the ocean-going tugs Marauder and Thames take charge of the behemoth, escorted by destroyers and an anti-submarine trawler. The charred but floating ship drifts slowly towards a safe port.
Informed by radio of the position of the casualty, Jenisch surfaces on the evening of 27 October and approaches the towing convoy. Before his periscopes: the largest prize ever offered to a U-boat, but surrounded by a watchful escort.
Faced with the Empress of Britain under tow and escort, what does Jenisch of the U-32 decide?
Jenisch chose A: on the night of 27-28 October 1940, the U-32 launched three torpedoes; two found their mark. The Empress of Britain went down at 02:05 on 28 October, northwest of Bloody Foreland (County Donegal), at 55°16′N and 9°50′W. At 42,348 tons, she remains the largest ship ever sunk by a submarine during the war. But Jenisch's triumph was short-lived: two days later, on 30 October, the U-32 was hunted down and destroyed northwest of Ireland by the British destroyers HMS Harvester and HMS Highlander. Nine German sailors perished; Jenisch and thirty-two men were captured. He became the first German submarine ace to be taken prisoner, and would spend the rest of the conflict in captivity.
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