Night Attack on the Newcastle

Night Attack on the Newcastle by Robert Taylor
Overall Print Size: 26" x 19"
Edition size of 500
S/N by Artist and Five (5) veterans

Hit and run attacks by fast moving German E-Boats were a constant threat to vital Allied shipping in the Mediterranean during the second World War. Often made under cover of darkness, these fast, highly manoeuvrable craft would speed through a convoy, release their torpedoes, and disappear into the night. During the night of 15 June 1942 German E-Boats of the 3rd Flotilla left their Eastern Mediterranean base at Derna to intercept an Allied convoy bound for the island of Malta. Shortly after midnight, under the command of Leutnant Seigfried Wuppermann, the motor torpedo boat S-56 slipped past two Royal Navy escort destroyers to make a stern attack on the British cruiser HMS Newcastle.

Alerted to the incoming attack, suddenly a searchlight at Newcastle’s foremast switched on, illuminating S-56 from stem to stern. Reacting quickly, Wuppermann fired two torpedoes in quick succession from 600 yards, and turned hard to starboard to make good his escape. A second searchlight aboard Newcastle pin-pointed S-56, but by then it was too late. Travelling at 33 knots, under fire from the escorts, S-56 threw out a smoke screen and released depth charges as a distraction, and disappeared into the darkness.

Robert Taylor’s action packed painting shows S-56 some thirty seconds after release of her torpedoes, as the first explodes against the hull of HMS Newcastle. The second will strike a few seconds later. The cruiser, though badly damaged, limped back to Alexandria.

Joining the artist Robert Taylor in signing this edition are FIVE veterans who served with HMS Newcastle

• Admiral of the Fleet Sir HENRY LEACH
• Lieutenant JOHN BABER
• Able Seaman WILFRED MARRIOTT
• Signalman ARTHUR DEAKIN
• Chief Petty Officer RUPERT STANT