HMS Hotspur H Class Destroyer Royal Navy Warship Art Print by Artist Chris French FGAvA
18:30hrs, 20th October 1940. Royal Navy H-Class destroyer HMS Hotspur rams the Italian submarine Lafolè in the western Mediterranean. RN ships had been engaged in seven hours of cat-and-mouse with the submarine, depth charges having damaged electric motors and pumps on Lafolè, bending the propeller shafts and causing flooding. Ultimately, the submarine could not sustain a dive and surfaced repeatedly, the final time being directly in front of HMS Hotspur. The destroyer going full speed rammed the submarine in the area of the conning tower and it sank soon after.
