How did you sink S 57?

[cam]

Hi,

Colleagues,

Found such information

19 Aug. 1944
When protecting two infantry vessels, four boats of the 3rd Minesweeper Flotilla had an engagement with enemy PT boats near Peljesac on the night of the 18 Aug. After being badly damaged,  boat S 57  was blown up by its own crew. The crew was rescued. The other three boats arrived in Dubrovnik
with few casualties.
https://archive.org/stream/wardiarygermann601944germ/wardiarygermann601944germ_djvu.txt

In the e-book "Schnellboote: A Complete Operational History" says that the English had МGB-643, -659 and -663, and the Germans S 30, S 33, S 57, S 58 and S 60 . The rest of the text about this fight is missing there. Help please find out what happened to the German ships that night.

cam

[Darius]

Hello cam,

are you working on a new article? Can you shere it with us or give some annotations about its content?


Regards

Darius

[cam]

Hi, Darius.

She is in Russian. It describes the most interesting actions of MTB and MGB in the Adriatic Sea in 1943-45.

cam

[IRON]

Hello Cam, for those languages we use the following translation machine: https://www.deepl.com/translator
which is able to speak Russian as well.

Здравствуйте, Кэм, для этих языков мы используем следующие переводческие машины: https://www.deepl.com/translator
который тоже может говорить по-русски.

Regards

Christian

[cam]

Thank you Christian.

I have such information on this topic

Late in the evening of August 17, MGB-657 (Lieutenant Commander J.D. Maitland), -658 (Lieutenant K.Berk) and -663 (Lieutenant T.Lander) of the 56th Flotilla land two observers on the western tip of Mljet Island. Equipped with the new American search radar MGB-657 has detected fast-moving "schnellbots". "The Dogs did not have time to intercept them, as the enemy was faster, but remained unnoticed and continued patrolling in the Strait of Mljet. An hour later, shortly after midnight on August 18, the MGB was ambushed by a 6-knot convoy approaching from the northwest near Trstenick (Peljesac). It was a Hammer convoy of schooner "Jota" and "Dora" (supplies and ammunition) armed with 37 mm and 20 mm artillery, the Helga and Peter oil lighters, and the I-O-68 and -48 infantry landing boats from Korcula to Dubrovnik; the S 30, S 57, S 58 and S 60 of the 3rd flotilla had previously been observed to cover the convoy further.
Waiting for the convoy to reach the traverse, the English, "illuminating" him with illuminating projectiles, went to approach and opened fire from 500 yards, reducing the distance to 300 yards. The Germans did not answer until 20 seconds later. The "dog" column was running at 8 knots on the opposite course between the enemy and the shore, shooting at all visible targets in turn on the left side. The I-O-48 was sunk. When the convoy remained behind the stern, it was discovered that the MGB-657 flagship had suffered minor damage, but the MGB-658 had received a 37 mm shell into the engine room; the internal right engine had been launched, but both left-handers had been disabled.
Maitland decided to repeat the attack, this time from the sea. The dogs turned around at 23.59 and caught up with the convoy and resumed firing from 200 yards on the port side. Having overtaken the enemy, MGB again turned around and at 00.35 went into the third attack, opening fire with the starboard side.  The "Dora" burns and explodes, and the "Jota" turns to the coastal cliffs; the convoy is completely dispersed.                                                                                              The MGB-658 had only one engine. Having put it in the tail of the column, Maitland attacked the visible watercraft for the fourth time, and then made a "cleaning" of the strait. At 01.50 "Jota" was found and set on fire (exploded at 03.25), at 02.50 "Peter" was sunk, and at 04.00 the British turned to the base.                                                                                                                  As a result, the "Jota", "Dora", "Peter" and I-O-48 were sunk. "The Schnellbots' cover-ups were limited to firing from afar "at two MGBs, which hid in the smoke screen". The passivity of the Schnellbots' commanders, who were justified by the "uncertain situation", was criticized by the Navy Command South.
In the morning, two fighter-bombers flew to the battlefield and "discovered and sank another vessel", the Helga lighter, which had been damaged during the night battle. Only I-O-68 escaped from the convoy.

In the evening of 18 August, the Germans sent two infantry boats from Dubrovnik to the Mljet Strait accompanied by the S 30, S 33, S 57, S 58 and S 60 of the 3rd Flotilla in order to search for the crew members who had died on the eve of the ships. But at 03.50am on August 19, they were intercepted by the MGB-643, -659 and -663 at the site of last night's battle off the coast of Peljesac. S 57 Hans Buschmann was hit by at least 20 40 mm, hit by engines, caught fire and exploded; 2 crew members were killed and 9 injured. The rest of the boats picked up his crew and went to Dubrovnik.

I am interested in the details of the battle of the S-boats from the MGBs, where the S-57 was sunk.

cam