October 29, 1941 1848 near Leuca, Italy
HMS Marlin, the former American submarine, had a quiet first war patrol in the Mediterranean. She had left Malta seven days ago and the sea was almost empty of Axis shipping. A single fishing and picket boat had been spotted the day before but the 87 ton craft was not worth a torpedo nor the risk of a surface action. A sighting report was radioed into Malta which dispatched a flight of bombers who merely harassed the small ship with near and not so near misses. However luck had changed.
The hydrophones had detected a small Italian convoy consisting of two destroyers and four small coastal merchant ships, none more than four thousand tons creeping down the coast. With a short burst of speed to four knots, HMS Marlin had arrived at a spot where the convoy would ride right over her.
She dove to 150 feet and waited like the wolf spider in its pit for the prey to lead themselves to her. All six torpedo tubes were loaded with torpedoes. Twenty seven minutes later the steady thrum of propellers had risen to a crescendo roar as the pinging destroyers were screeching and searching for threats. The nearest destroyer had been within minutes of finding Marlin but he turned to another course where its booming sonar could find nothing as nothing was there.
She rose again, inside the screen. A fast periscope view completed the targeting solution. Two columns of two ships apiece were nearby. The closer pair was nine hundred yards away, the further pair 1,600 yards. The twenty four year old lieutenant pulled down the periscope and made his final decision. Two torpedoes apiece from the forward tubes at the the nearest two merchant ships and then a dive to evade the inevitable counterattack.
Within minutes, Four torpedoes had left the tubes in a cavalcade of noise and bubbles. All four ran hot and true. Torpedo 1 and 3 detonated on time as they exploded against the hull of the lead ship. The rear ship skewed to port and dodged both torpedoes.
As Marlin dove to safety, the pair of escorting destroyers hurried down the torpedo tracks. Within minutes a barrage of depth charges started as they crisscrossed the sea hunting for the interloper. No damage was done to HMS Marlin as she and her crew skulked back to Malta.
@fester one quick question what torpedoes are the british using for hms marlin, british or american?