El listado que nos aporta Audie Murphy es muy detallada, y nos refresca muchas batallas de la guerra marítima, pero yo sentí curiosidad sobre el asunto, como escribí, por el relato que Luis de Sierra hacía en su libro "Guerra Naval en el Mediterráneo". Éste autor mencionaba que en los hundimientos de los transatlánticos (habilitados para transporte de tropa) "Oceania" y "Neptunia" (submarino británico "Upholder", 18 septiembre de 1941) perecieron 5000 hombres. Que nunca hubiese oído hablar de semejante desastre me sorprendió.
Y ahora, en la lista que puse yo viene, en efecto:
Neptunia Sept 18th 1941 2,500 Italian transport 19,475 tons. Torpedoed by British submarine HMS Upholder about 58 miles off Tripoli carrying Italian military
Oceania Sept 18th 1941 2,500 Italian transport 19,507 tons. Torpedoed by British submarine HMS Upholder near Tripoli carrying Italian military
Pero en la otra lista pone esto:
CONTE ROSSO...OCEANIA (May 24, 1941)
Italian passenger liner of 17,879 tons, built in 1921 and converted to a troopship in 1940, and now belonging to the Italian Merchant Marine, was sunk by the British submarine HMS Upholder (Lt-Cdr. Malcolm Wanklyn) about 80 miles off Tripoli, North Africa. The Conte Rosso was carrying 2,729 Italian troops on their way to Tripoli when attacked. A total of 1,209 lives were lost. Lt-Cdr. Wanklyn was awarded the Victoria Cross in recognition of this. Also sunk by the Upholder were the two 19,475 ton motor vessels Neptunia and Oceania part of a convoy bound for the Axis occupied part of Libya. On September 18, 1941 the Italian passenger liner Neptunia, taken over for service as a troop transport, was torpedoed fifty-eight miles from Tripoli. The same day, the Upholder sank her sister ship Oceania, also converted to a troop carrier. The death toll from both ships was 384 men, some 6,500 being rescued. On April 14, 1942, the Upholder and its entire crew were lost when depth-charged while on its 23rd. patrol.
En el caso anterior del Conte Rosso, del 24 de Mayo de 1941, sí perecieron 1.200 hombres, pero, en cambio, en el "Oceania" y el "Neptunia", hundidos el 18 de septiembre, la mayoría de los pasajeros fueron salvados. Esta lista, como parece más detallada, debe ser la buena...