MV Auckland Star

In his memoirs, Winston Churchill said that the threat posed by U-boats was the only thing that ever truly alarmed him throughout the Second World War. Nevertheless, "Silent Otto" definitely kept the British Prime Minister up at night. Otto Kretschmer made history as Germany's most successful U-Boat commander, earning his nickname from both his stealth techniques and quiet attitude. The highly decorated commander sank 47 ships, totaling 274,418 tons, including the MV Auckland Star, a British cargo ship.

The transport ship was hit by three torpedoes on July 7, 1940, by Kretschmer's U-99, which was 80 miles northwest of Valentia Island in County Kerry. The Auckland Star was transporting 10,700 tons of general cargo, including lead, steel, hides, wheat, and chilled meat, back to Liverpool from Australia. In four lifeboats, all 74 of the crew members were able to safely depart. These details regarding the incident were later provided by The London Evening Standard: "...and in one of those boats were the three pets of the crew."