11/1/1940 South Atlantic 22°50’S, 7°39’E 441st day at sea
Since the last report Ship 15 has sent an additional 8 ships to the bottom, off the coast of Madagascar 2 ships were shelled, On July 14th the French steamer LUXOR 8,205 grt (FHWJ) from Diego Suarez to Plymouth loaded with misc. cargo. on the 23rd the French motorship KATHERINE 7,903 grt (ZSPL) from Karachi to London loaded with tea, spices, teak, and general cargo. Proceeding into the Bay of Bengal Ship 15 sank 2 ships on September 1st, in the morning was the British steamer CARNIVAL 8,053 grt (TCIZ) from Calcutta to Freetown. In the afternoon the British freighter NORTHWEST 8,140 grt (VVSU) from Madras to London loaded with tea, spices, oil nuts, and jute. The following morning the British freighter CORK 4,056 grt (OZXU) from Rangoon to Gibraltar loaded with army and air force equipment. After this success the Kommandant moved into the Laccadive Sea where Ship 15 sank 2 British freighters on September 12th the BIRMINGHAM 2,427 grt (LMCR) from Colombo to Singapore loaded with stores, mail, and naval stores. Three days later on the 15th the FLYNN 8,039 grt (TUFB) was sunk loaded with 8,100 tons of wheat and flour from Sydney to London via Karachi-Durban-Freetown. Moving into the Arabian Sea Ship 15 sank only one ship the British freighter KINGSTONE 4,012 grt (DOUV) in ballast from Suez to Colombo.
The Kommandant decided to begin the return transit as Schiff 16 and 33 were now operating in the Indian Ocean and Ship 36 and 45 in the Pacific. Brinkmann is now making for the Atlantic for a final hunt before making for Germany. On October 29th the Kommandant was awarded the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross.
Ship 15 has sunk 123,278 grt of shipping.
