Hello Jan-Olof,

The mystery of P33 has not been solved and I have found no reference to A/S attacks off Tripoli before 18/8. On that date HMS UNIQUE tried twice to make contact with P33 without success which seems to indicate that she was lost before. P 33 had been ordered to 33°20'N, 13°00'E (that is 8 miles west of UNIQUE). This position was about 15 miles north of the Italian "T" minefield ("T" for Tripoli). The minefield was made actually of several minefields covering the approaches to Tripoli and P33 was north of a section laid by the destroyers DA RECCO and DA VERAZZANO on 1 May 1941. It is quite possible that P33, which could easily have moved to within 5-10 miles from this position, might have gone a few more miles south than anticipated (navigation was not very precise during those days) and ran into this minefield. P32 mined on 18/8 was actually 10 miles south of her ordered position.

All the best,

Platon