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Mike: Louvain was on passage, escorted by a destroyer, from Malta to Mudhros, carrying stores, mail and men for the fleet in the Aegean when she was torpedoed. 224 men were lost, with 278 survivors. The papers regarding her loss may be found in the National Archives at Kew under references ADM.137/3715 and ADM.1/8523/119. At 7:40pm German time on January 20, 1918, UC 22 spotted a steamer with an escorting destroyer. UC 22's commanding officer, Oblt.z.S Carl B?nte, decided to maneuver to lay a minefield across the formation's path and then process with a bow torpedo attack. The first mine is laid at 8:00pm, the last at 8:10pm. UC 22 immediately thereafter begins her torpedo attack and soon fires a single torpedo at 600 meter range. The torpedo hits the steamer (Louvain); UC 22 is rather near the escort and is soon being depth charged. UC 22 finally surfaces about an hour after the attack and sees the destroyer at the attack site but the steamer is gone. The minefield prevents the U-boat from getting back to the attack site. Conditions were sea state 2 with clear skys and very good visability. Given the conditions and the presence of an escorting vessel, I would presume Louvain must have gone down very quickly for there to be such a heavy loss of life. (Bendert lists 224 dead). The location would be the Keos passage. I didn't write down the estimated location of the sinking; the minefield location was 37?37.8'N, 24?10.4'E to 37?38.5'N, 24?10.5'E.