The 14th Destroyer Flotilla silhouetted an Italian convoy against the moon and opened fire at close range, with Mohawk and Nubian engaging the rear. Even as the Italian destroyer Luca Tarigo sank, her crew manually launched torpedoes. One hit Mohawk near Y mounting, and another struck the boiler-room division before the ship could regain movement. The path or source of the second torpedo remains uncertain. The action joins night-fighting geometry, an ammunition-ship explosion, progressive flooding, and the limits of reconstructing a chaotic battle.
Chapter · 2:06:51-2:11:54
Mohawk and the night action off the Kerkennah Islands
Mohawk's loss shows how a victorious close-range night attack could still be overturned by torpedoes fired from a sinking Italian destroyer.