Daily Event for November 27


November 27, 1941: HMAS Parramatta L-44 was sunk by U-559. Parramatta was escorting an ammunition ship to Tobruk when she was attacked. U-559 fired one spread of 3 torpedoes at the pair of ships, but they all missed. At about 12:45am another torpedo was fired. It found the mark. Parramatta was hit amidships and her magazine exploded. The ship broke in two and sank immediately. Twenty four men survived the sinking, 21 were picked up by the HMS Avon Vale, and 3 swam to the Libyan coast and were recovered by British Troops. However 138 men went down with the ship.

© 2005 Michael W. Pocock
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