[Sailor Steve]

July 24:

Atlantic Ocean, north of Scotland: Ernst Graeff, commanding U-36, stops American windjammer (steel-hulled sailing ship) SV Pass Of Bahama, 1,571 tons, bound from New York to Arkhangelsk with a load of cotton, and takes her as a prize. The vessel will be commissioned into the German Navy as the raider Seeadler.

Graeff then stops and boards Danish freighter SS Luise. While the boarding party are jettisoning her cargo another ship is sighted. Graeff orders the ship to stop. When U-36 is 600 meters away the crew of HMS Prince Charles drop their disguise, raise the Union Jack and open fire. U-36, the very first victim of a Q-Ship, is sunk. Luise moves to pick up the survivors, and Prince Charles opens fire on the Danish vessel, thinking it to be a German supply ship. Once this is resolved the British ship helps pick up the survivors. Kplt. Graeff and 15 of his men are rescued, but 18 more are lost. Lt. Mark Wardlaw will recieve the DSO for this action, and the civilian crew of Prince Charles will be awarded a prize of £1,000. Ernst Graeff's final score is 16 ships and 15,486 tons.
(U-boat.net has Graeff's total as 17,140 tons, but this includes SS Niobe, taken as a prize but later released)



North Sea, near the Shetland Islands: Claus Hansen, in U-41, sinks British freighter SS Grangewood, 3,422 tons, heading from Arkhangelsk to La Havre with a cargo of wheat, bringing his score to 19 ships and 30,044 tons.

Much further south, near Lowestoft, Hans Nieland begins his career in UB-12 by stopping and scuttling four British fishing smacks: Activity, 56 tons, Henry Charles, 41 tons, Kathleen, 59 tons, and Prosper, 45 tons. His starting score is 4 vessels for 201 tons.