the Tunisian coast on the afternoon of the 15th. The destroyers sortied at dusk to search for the convoy and spotted it in the early hours of 16 April. The convoy consisted of five cargo ships escorted by three destroyers. Captain Philip Mack, commander of the 14th DF, manoeuvred his ships to silhouette the convoy against the moon and closed to a range of only before his flagship, and her sister opened fire on the trailing destroyer, , at 02:20, quickly disabling her guns and turbines, and setting her on fire. Mohawk and Nubian were in the rear of the formation and engaged the rearmost freighter, , which was carrying a load of ammunition, causing an explosion and setting her on fire. As the sisters advanced down the side of the convoy, Mohawk withheld fire as all of the targets were being engaged. By 02:35 the leading escort, the destroyer , had turned back and was taken under fire by all of the British ships. As the Italian ship was sinking, her crew was able to fire two torpedoes under manual control. The first of these struck Mohawk just after she had turned to avoid being rammed by the freighter as the destroyer passed through the convoy shortly after 02:45. The torpedo hit Mohawk on the starboard side abreast 'Y' gun mount, knocking out both aft mounts and blowing off the upper stern. Although the ship had stopped and was awash up to 'X' mount, the chief engineer reported five minutes later that he believed that the propellers and their shafts were intact and that the ship could move. Before he could do so, another torpedo struck the port side on the bulkhead that separated the middle and aft boiler rooms at 02:53. Its detonation caused the aft boiler to explode and the upper deck to split down the middle. Mohawk capsized a minute later with her stern touching the shallow bottom with the loss of 41 crewmen. The British ships rescued her surviving crew and Janus had to put four shells into her buoyant forecastle to put the ship fully underwater off the Kerkennah Islands. Notes Sources External links HMS MOHAWK (L 31) - Tribal-class Destroyer, including Convoy Escort Movements IWM Interview with survivor William Lashmer IWM Interview with survivor Peter Blackwell 1937 ships Maritime incidents in April 1941 Ships built in Southampton Tribal-class destroyers (1936) of the Royal