he engaged the three huge liner-transports Neptunia, Oceania and Marco Polo. He fired all of his torpedoes and all missed and once again Upholder was subjected to counter-attacks. Just 17 days later, Wanklyn would engage two of these vessels again. Neptunia, Oceania, Duisburg convoy The day following their return—2 September 1941—several of the crew received awards. Wanklyn received the Distinguished Service Order. The Victoria Cross award for his sinking of Conte Rosso had not been publicly announced. The London Gazette published the exploits of Wanklyn and he became a well-known figure in Britain and the men were given two weeks leave on Malta. Simpson summoned all of his commanding officers to his harbour headquarters. Upholder, Upright, Ursula and Unbeaten were to patrol the Tripoli sea lanes and intercept the convoy Wanklyn had failed to intercept two weeks earlier. On 16 September Upholder departed Malta. At 3 a.m on the morning of 18 September 1941, Wanklyn received a message from Unbeaten, which had spotted the convoy. At night as the liners were illuminated by the moon, Wanklyn attacked with four torpedoes. The submarine could only manage 10.5 knots and a swell was rocking her from side to side, making aiming difficult. It was too dark to begin a submerged attack against a fast-moving convoy. Wanklyn deduced that the attack must be made at long range, outside the escorts' protective screen. Wanklyn saw that on occasion the targets overlapped, and as they did so he fired at the bow of one and stern of the other. Bringing back the aiming point to the centre of the overlapping mass, he fired two more torpedoes. Two torpedoes struck. The first destroyed the propellers of the Oceania and she stopped dead in the water. The other struck and tore a large hole in Neptunia. The escorts stopped to pick up survivors. Wanklyn retired to a safe distance and reloaded. Closing to finish the crippled Oceania, Wanklyn was forced to crash-dive because of an Italian destroyer. Too close to fire, he continued under the liner and emerged on the other side. There he fired a single torpedo which blew the ship apart and it sank. Unbeaten had arrived and was about to fire but saw the second strike disintegrate the ship, which was carrying several thousand German soldiers. Neptunia limped off with a destroyer at but her bulkheads collapsed due to the damage and she came