internal explosion?

[skogkatt]

Hi,

I experienced something strange with my sub, and would like to know if "it can happen" og is really unusual.

I'm in my 6th patrol on a type VIIB, date is 10 of april 40. I dived after an air attack and got no damage from it. I decided to cruise undersea during one hour, at 40 meter depth. Suddendly, my chief is shouting about damaged compartments, the only crew in the diesel compartment is dead, the sub is going down and water is flooding everywhere. Hopefully the sub lies at the bottom of the sea which is only 75 meters, so I have time to repair without worrying about the pressure. Once the flood is under control, I surface (with no engines since the batteries are destroyed), and sub status is :

Port diesel engine, both batteries, hydrophones, attack and obs periscope, radio antenna destroyed. one dead crew.

I lost a lot of fuel too.

I don't understand what happened: No planes in the area, no ship. Could something have exploded in the sub? of could have I met a mine ? I'm about 70 kilometers from english coast in the northern sea, and the external view confirms I'm the only one in this area,

Any ideas?

Skogkatt