Sinking of Voltaire

4 April 1941, Central Atlantic, west of the Cape Verde Islands

German victory; Voltaire sunk

On the morning of 4 April 1941 Thor, now on her way home, met the armed merchant cruiser Voltaire, an old Lamport & Holt liner, west of the Cape Verde Islands. Thor's first salvo hit Voltaire's generator and wireless office, so she could not report the fight, and set her on fire. Her old guns overheated and her steering jammed, and after about an hour she struck her flag, burning from end to end. Thor picked up 197 men; 75 were killed. It was the third armed merchant cruiser Thor had fought, and the only one she sank. She reached Hamburg at the end of the month after 329 days at sea.