H
e
r a l d i c D a t a
September
Serving with Home Fleet and
deployed on anti-submarine patrol duty in
the SW
Approaches.
The deployment of aircraft carriers to
carry out this role had been
introduced
as an offensive measure and assumed that
the ASDIC equipment available
in the
escorts was far more effective than was in
fact the case.
17th
During
patrol with a screen of two Home Fleet
destroyers a wireless signal was
received
from
ss KAFIRISTAN indicating that she was
under fire from a German submarine.
Whilst
carrying out a search for this merchant
ship or any survivors, she came under
attack
by
U29, hit by three torpedoes and sank
quickly.
518
lives were lost including many Reservists
and Pensioners. Some survivors were
rescued
by HM Destroyer ECHO. (Casualty
List - note
on
casualties)
As a
consequence of this loss and an
unsuccessful U-boat torpedo attack on HM
Aircraft
Carrier ARK ROYAL on 14th September the
policy of using aircraft
carriers
for A/S search and destroy patrols was
abandoned.
(For
details of this loss and the failure of
German torpedoes see ENGAGE THE
ENEMY MORE
CLOSELY by Corelli Barnett).