At 15:00,
Protea's officer of the watch sights something on the surface about 2½ miles on her starboard quarter. This means that if it had been a surface vessel, then
Southern Maid would have had to pass within half a mile of it and could not have missed it. It was therefore immediately assessed to be the conning tower of a submarine. This was confirmed when it submerges soon after. On the first sighting,
Protea turns towards the contact and also instructs
Southern Maid to investigate. Both ships now steam toward the datum at maximum speed.
As there is no sonar contact on this first sweep, the two ships conduct a second sweep through the area. Eventually at 16:10
Southern Maid gets a sonar contact, but at such close range that she passes over it before she can increase speed sufficiently to carry out a depth charge attack in safety and again loses contact. Five minutes later
Protea makes contact and releases a six-charge pattern, with 250- and 350-foot settings, the only apparent result being a yellowish discolouration of the water. Contact is once again lost but is regained at 16:25. At 16:35,
Protea drops her second pattern, this time with 350- and 500-foot settings; oil is seen to bubble up among the splashes.
Contact is retained and at 16:50
Protea releases her third pattern (350- and 500-foot settings), also dropping a calcium flare to mark the spot. A minute later the submarine surfaces, listing heavily to starboard and stops. As she slowly rights herself the crew are seen pouring out of her conning-tower hatch, some of them jumping into the water.
Both ships immediately close the enemy at full speed, opening fire with their 4-inch and Oerlikon guns at 1,000 yards obtaining numerous direct hits. One hit sets the submarine's ready-use ammunition on fire preventing her gun from being manned. At the same time Walrus aircraft No 2709, having arrived a few minutes earlier from Beirut as a result of a W/T report made by
Protea, drops two depth-charges close alongside of the submarine.
At 16:55, when the ships cease fire, the enemy is obviously out of action, with the last of her crew taking to the water. She sinks a minute later in position 34° 35? N, 34° 56? E – six miles from the position in which she had first been sighted. The ships then pick up five officers and 36 men – two of the latter badly wounded and finds that five of the crew have been killed. Interrogation of the officers indicated that the submarine was the Italian
Ondina (787 tons submerged, and armed with one 3.9-inch gun and six torpedo-tubes). Her captain had at first mistaken
Southern Maid for a small merchant ship and, not being suitably placed to torpedo her, had surfaced in order to attack with gunfire. Realising his error he dived the submarine.
1942 Med - crew of HMSAS Southern Maid that sunk a Submarine W.O. photo 8 by 8cm Some of the members of the crew of the "Southern Maid" on their vessel. the South African Ships Protea and Southern Maid along with a Walrus Aircraft from Beiruit sank the Italian Submarine Ondina 17.7 1942 a War...
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