Wednesday, May 7, 1941 - German weather ship München was captured

[Louis]

Near Iceland, destroyer HMS Somali captures German weather ship München. Prior to being boarded, the crew of München threw overboard the ship's Enigma machine in a weighted bag. However, documents on the operation of the Enigma machine were left on board, as were vital codebooks providing a breakthrough for Allied codebreakers.


HMS Somali (1939)

Expanding the report: "In the North Atlantic at 1707 hours, the German weather ship München was sighted between the cruiser HMS Edinburgh and the destroyer, HMS Somali. The latter fired warning shots which caused most of the München's crew to take to the boats. Somali closed at speed and boarded the ship. A prize crew and boarding party from HMS Edinburgh then went over on a cutter, which also carried a mysterious man in civilian clothes (later revealed to be Captain J. R. S Haines RN of Naval intelligence). The München's captain, another officer and several ratings received the boarding party with great courtesy and a search of the German vessel was commenced. Although the German captain had thrown the Enigma machine and the May coding tables over the side as Somali approached, the settings for June were found in his desk, and these were duly collected by Captain Haines, who knew exactly what he was looking for. HMS Nestar took Captain Haines and his valuable find to Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom at speed".-

 

[mTk]

@Louis You got me interested so I looked it up and learned the following:
"Lieutenant Commander Colin Maud took over as captain in September 1942 when her own captain, Jack Eaton, was ill. On 20 September 1942 Somali was torpedoed by U-703 while covering Convoy QP 14 during the Russian convoys. She was hit in her engine room, and although taken under tow by the destroyer Ashanti, she sank on 25 September, after heavy weather broke her back. Of the 102 men on board, only 35 were rescued from the Arctic waters. Leading Seaman Goad of Ashanti was awarded the Albert Medal for "great bravery in saving life at sea" after diving into the freezing water to save Lieutenant Commander Maud.
Somali was the last Royal Navy Tribal-class destroyer to be sunk during the war." - Wiki