After the war, examination of German records showed the submarine attacked was the , badly damaged after being rammed by the Flower-class corvette HMS "Crocus" off the coast of West Africa. German lookouts had seen the torpedoes' tracks, enabling "U-333" to evade the torpedoes; the torpedoes then self-detonated for unknown reasons. The commander of "U-333" was Peter-Erich Cremer. In his post-war account of the attack, he suggested the rattling and banging noises "Graph"s crew had heard were due to the severe damage previously inflicted on "U-333". His route back to France closely hugged the Spanish coastline, a pattern followed by other U-boats, and he had also believed that Marriott was aware of this and had been lying in wait.