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Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "USS Frost (DE-144) - Guide 361" video.
@danielregnard882 incidents of a warship losing to a merchant ship? RMS Olympic was converted to a troop ship, with a few deck guns, during WWI. In the wee hours of the morning of May 12, 1918, Olympic was at nearly full trot, speeding US troops to France. U-103, running on the surface, had ambitions of torpedoing Olympic. Olympic's lookouts spotted the sub. The liner's deck guns opened fire as she turned to ram. The sub attempted to dive. Too late. Olympic's port screw sliced into the sub's hull. Olympic carried on to Cherbourg, while the sub's survivors were picked up by USS Davis.
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@ConsumerWatchdogUK I read Ralph Barker's book about RAF Beaufort torpedo bomber operations a while back. iirc, the Italians used small convoys, maybe five cargo ships and tankers, escorted by destroyers and torpedo boats. Their route from Italy went along the Greek coast, to stay as far away from Malta as possible. Attacking Beauforts tended to be cut to ribbons by AA fire, as they had to overfly the escorts at low altitude to get at the cargo ships. Then the commander of the Beaufort force on Malta hit on the idea of bringing some Beaufighters along to strafe the escorts, to suppress the AA fire. Beaufort survivability increased substantially with the AA suppression. Barker's book is a pretty good read. Originally published in the UK as "The Ship Busters". Published in the US by Ballentine as "Torpedo Bomber!"
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