HMS Somali illustrates the machinery-space vulnerability of a destroyer when a U-boat torpedo eventually sent her down under tow. Her earlier career was unusually varied: she captured the German freighter Hannah Böge at the outbreak of war, supported the Norwegian campaign, helped sink a German weather ship, and boarded München, where abandoned documents and codebooks aided Allied codebreakers even though the Enigma machine went overboard. During Operation Pedestal she rescued all 105 crew of the torpedoed American cargo ship Almeria Lykes. Her record combines combat, interception, intelligence work, transport, and rescue duties.
Chapter · 2:39:08-2:42:37
Somali's captures, codebooks, and convoy rescues
Somali's record ranges from the first enemy merchant capture of the war to codebook recovery and a mass rescue during Operation Pedestal.