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The Action of 18 June 1918 was an attack on two allied ships near Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean by an Imperial German Navy u-boat during World War I. Sinking an allied merchant vessel, the U-boat failed to destroy an American warship which came to the merchantman's aid. ==Action== The was a British flagged merchant ship known for her involvement in the War at Sea. On 18 June 1918, while steaming in the Atlantic from France to Newport News, Virginia, ''Dwinsk'' encountered the German submarine around from Bermuda. The submarine surfaced and fired a torpedo into the helpless British steamer which caused severe damage. No distress call is known to have been sent by ''Dwinsk''. The deaths of 22 or more British sailors have been confirmed, others were reported to have minor injuries. The dead either went down with ''Dwinsk'' when she sank or were in a lifeboat that went missing after their vessel went down. ''U-151''s action was not over though, instead of fleeing after sinking the ''Dwinsk'', she waited in the vicinity for any allied vessels coming to aid the British lifeboats which did not attempt to abandon the wreckage of their transport. The German U-boat remained for a few hours, using the stranded Britons as bait. USS ''Von Steuben''—which just happened to be returning to America from Brest, France—sighted the wreckage of ''Dwinsk'' from over five miles away. What the Americans saw were seven lifeboats that appeared to be empty. The boats appeared to be empty due to the captain of ''Dwinsk''; he had ordered the crew to lie down to prevent allied vessels from approaching and being attacked by the Germans. ''Von Steuben'' made her approach anyway and began zig-zagging as a measure against torpedo attack. Sure enough, as ''Von Steuben'' closed the British lifeboats, the wake of one or two torpedoes were spotted coming towards the ship off her bow from abaft the port beam. Quickly the American commander was informed of the situation and ordered his crew to battle stations. ''Von Steuben'' fired her first shells in anger at the incoming torpedo, while another turret fired on ''U-151''s periscope which was seen at the other end of the torpedo's trail. The shots fired at the torpedo apparently missed their target but ''Von Steuben'' was able to maneuver fast enough to keep out of the torpedo's path which missed by just a few yards from the auxiliary ''Von Steuben''. Once over the U-boat's last known position, the Americans dropped over 12 depth charges which shook the submarine severely—according to German accounts—and forced her to flee. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Action of 18 June 1918」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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