7 Apr, 1943
The German submarine U-644 was sunk in the North Sea north-west of Narvik, Norway, in position 69º38'N, 05º40'W, by torpedoes from the British submarine HMS Tuna (Lt. D.S.R. Martin, RN).

Hi All

I would like to add my Grandfathers personal recollection to the above. My Grandfather served as the Sonar Operator on HMS Tuna at the time of U-644's sinking. Unfortunately my Grandfather is no longer with us, but this is his brief account of the action as he explained it to me some 20 years ago.

Please accept my apologies for not being precise, 20 years is a long time for my memory to recall exact details.

My Grandfather said that the sinking of U-644 could have gone either way, "us or them" as he put it. For some quirk of fate the "Tuna" had been due to surface at night to send/receive radio messages at a specific time. Some time before they were due to surface they encountered a technical hitch which prevented them surfacing at their alloted time. As they lay just under the surface trying to recticy their technical problem U-644 blew her tanks and surfaced right in front of the "Tuna" my Grandfather relayed the co-ordinates to the Captain and U-644 was successfully hit, sinking in a matter of minutes.

My Grandfathers most vivid memories of the attack on U-644 was as she went down, the whole crew were in stoney silence as they listened to the U boat breaking up on her way to the bottom of the Atlantic, my Grandfather said the sound of grinding, twisting, collapsing metal had always been with him. They were acutely aware of the fact that if they had surfaced at the correct time they would have been the ones' on their way to a watery grave. When they did finally surface the searched for survivours but to no avail.

The chances of two submarines arriving at more or less the same co-ordinates, on the same day, at the same time has always amazed me, one survived and one did'nt, yet my Grandfather never made an issue of it, he would just say it wasn't his time, a statement which he never elaborated on either.