He 111 torpedo (page 4)

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On the 20th, Lorenz was again able to fly in daylight, setting off at 15.55 and returning to report that:

1T+BH landed at Brest at 2125/20 [GMT]. The task had been carried out. An attack on a steamer of eight to ten thousand tons was made at 18.35. Two torpedoes were dropped at ranges of 400 and 600 metres. The first torpedo had a gyro failure (G.A. Versager) which caused the torpedo to run on a circle and finish up on a course opposite to the original track.

The second torpedo also had a “G.A. Versager”. Its initial course was parallel to that of the target.

The attack took place at the northern end of the St. George’s Channel.

According to Bletchley Park an “outside source” (the Admiralty?) confirmed that two torpedoes had been launched by an aircraft against a ship near Anglesey although it is not obvious which vessel this may have been. For example, Trawler M was attacked by four aircraft at 11.00 hrs, 18’ west of The Smalls but rather than torpedoes the report speaks only of one bomb being dropped, which missed. The next day Lorenz took off at 08.30 hrs. and was in the air for 6 hours and 13 minutes:

At 12.45 [GMT] I attacked a steamer of 5,000 tons at the southern end of the North Channel. The state of the sea was 3. Two torpedoes were dropped.

The first torpedo was a surface run and a “G.A. Versager.”

With the second torpedo, the “G.A. spindle” broke. The torpedo was fired with a deflection setting at a range of 300 to 400 meters, but no track was observed.

Bletchley’s analysts commented:

Our agent knows something about torpedoes himself, and is inclined to think that Lorenz uses torpedoes which are set to turn 180 degrees after crossing the target line. Lorenz is being watched, and if he continues to be discursive, we may have further information shortly.

A German who knew something about torpedoes was a naval engineer named Klauke. On the afternoon of the 21st he contacted Kiel, giving the serial numbers of the two Lorenz had dropped that day (as he had done for the previous day) and asking for more. Temporarily out of “ammunition”, Lorenz that evening expressed the hope that he would be allowed to undertake a bombing mission for comparison with torpedo attacks.

Again, several attacks were reported by vessels in the Irish Sea that day. A report was sent from Merseyside to the Admiralty at 13.19 hrs. that the Slieve Donard had been attacked north west of North Stack; the trawler LT 410 reported an attack by three aircraft off The Smalls, with “six bombs and aerial torpedoes dropped” (apparently around 14.30, so too late for Lorenz’s account); and there were other incidents later in the afternoon.

NOTE: As an aside, there had been a strange incident just off Brest that afternoon. Shortly before 14.00 hrs. three Ju 88s had overflown the Île d’Ouessant (Ushant to British seafarers) at about 800 metres. One of them dropped three bombs, two of which exploded near the island’s wireless station before the Junkers’ gunners opened up; a house was severely damaged. Observers on the ground had clearly seen German markings on the aircraft and markings on the unexploded bomb’s fuse confirmed that it too was German, an SC 50.

continued on next page…

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PART FOUR OF SIX