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On 22 February 1944,<ref name="mercantile">{{cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/a/mercantilemarine.org/mercantile-marine/ss-british-chivalry |title=SS ''British Chivalry'' |work= Mercantile Marine |year= 2012 |access-date=10 November 2012}}</ref> ''I-37'' attacked the British 7,118-gross register ton armed tanker {{SS|British Chivalry}} — which had departed Melbourne on 1 February 1944 to steam in ballast to Abadan<ref>Edwards, p. 81.</ref> — in the Indian Ocean south of [[Addu Atoll]] in the Maldives, firing two torpedoes at her.<ref name=edwardsp89>Edwards, p. 89.</ref> ''British Chivalry''′s crew sighted ''I-37''′s [[periscope]] and the approaching torpedoes;<ref name=edwardsp89/> she began an evasive turn, and one torpedo passed astern of her, but the other hit her in her starboard side.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/><ref name=edwardsp89/> The torpedo hits knocked out ''British Chivalry''′s engines, destroyed two of her [[Lifeboat (shipboard)|lifeboats]], and killed six members of her crew.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/><ref>Edwards, pp. 90, 91.</ref> Her 53 surviving crewmen abandoned ship in her two remaining lifeboats, one of them motorized.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/><ref>Edwards, p. 90.</ref> While the motorized lifeboat began the process of collecting provisions from four uninhabited [[life raft]]s cast overboard before ''British Chivalry''′s crew abandoned ship,<ref>Edwards, pp. 91, 92.</ref> ''I-37'' surfaced either {{convert|660|yd|m}}<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> or {{convert|1|nmi}}<ref name=edwardsp91>Edwards, p. 91.</ref> away from ''British Chivalry'' (according to different sources) and fired seventeen {{convert|140|mm|in|1|adj=on|sp=us}} rounds at her.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> The first six landed near the lifeboat with ''British Chivalry''′s [[Sea captain|master]], Caoptain Walter Hill, aboard, and then ''I-37''′s gunners concentrated on ''British Chivalry'', scoring three hits as ''I-37'' closed to a range of less than {{convert|200|yd|sigfig=2}}.<ref name=edwardsp91/> ''I-37'' then fired another torpedo which hit ''British Chivalry'' in her port side admidships, sinking her at 11:30 at {{coord|00|50|S|068|00|E|name=SS ''British Chivalry''}}.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/><ref name=edwardsp91/>
After ''British Chivalry'' sank, ''I-37'' turned her attention to the lifeboats, opening fire on them with her [[Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Gun|25-millimeter]] [[antiaircraft gun]]s.<ref name=edwardsp92>Edwards, p. 92.</ref> When an officer aboard one of the boats signaled ''I-37'' for instructions by [[semaphore]], ''I-37'' ceased fire<ref name=edwardsp92/> and ordered the boats to come alongside one at a time.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/><ref>Edwards, pp. 92–93.</ref> ''I-37''′s medical officer interrogated the men in the lifeboats,<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> and ''I-37'' brought Captain Hill aboard as a prisoner-of-war,<ref name=combinedfleetI37/><ref name=edwardsp93>Edwards, p. 93.</ref> forcing him to surrender his [[briefcase]], which contained about fifty [[diamond]]s and [[sapphire]]s.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> ''I-37'' ordered the motorized lifeboat to take the other boat in [[Towing|tow]] and head westward, and ''I-37'' proceeded toward the east.<ref name
While ''I-37'' was on the surface in the [[Arabian Sea]] {{convert|200|nmi}} west of [[Diego Garcia]] at 20:30 on 26 February 1944, her lookouts sighted the British 5,189-gross register ton armed [[motor vessel]] {{MV|Sutlej}}, which had detached from a convoy to proceed independently during a voyage from [[El Qoseir|Kosseir]], [[Egypt]], to Fremantle, Australia, with a cargo of 9,700 tons of [[Phosphorite|rock phosphates]] and [[mail]].<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> Soon after dark, the submerged ''I-37'' fired two torpedoes at ''Sutlej'' from a range of {{convert|2,190|yd|m|sigfig=3}}.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> One torpedo hit ''Sutlej'' in her port side, and she sank four minutes later at {{coord|08|S|070|E|name=MV ''Sutlej''}}.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> Her survivors abandoned ship in a lifeboat and several life rafts.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> ''I-37'' surfaced and used a [[searchlight]] to illuminate the area, discovering a teenage [[Indian people|Indian]] boy clinging to her [[rudder]].<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> After ''I-37'' took him aboard, her medical officer interrogated the other survivors in an attempt to identify ''Sutlej''′s master, who apparently had died in the torpedo explosion, and to gather information about ''Sutlej''′s cargo and destination.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> Nakagawa then ordered ''I-37''′s crew to open fire on the survivors.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> In the sinking and subsequent gunfire, 41 crew members and nine gunners from ''Sutlej'' perished.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> The [[Royal Navy]] [[whaler]] {{HMS|Solvra}} rescued ten crewmen and a gunner after they spent 42 days on a life raft,<ref name=combinedfleetI37/> and the [[Royal Navy]] [[sloop-of-war]] {{HMS|Flamingo|L18|6}} rescued 11 crewmen and a gunner after they had drifted at sea for 46 days.<ref name=combinedfleetI37/>
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