"Edinburgh" cast off the tow, so that she started to sail in circles. Although her guns were in disarray, she fired on the attacking German ships. Her second salvo straddled "Hermann Schoemann", damaging her severely enough that her crew scuttled her. "Edinburgh"s escorts drove off "Z24" and "Z25", but she was struck by a torpedo that had missed another ship. The torpedo struck "Edinburgh" amidships, exactly opposite the first torpedo hit from "U-456". She was now held together only by the deck plating and keel, which was likely to fail at any time, so the crew abandoned ship. "Gossamer" took off 440 men and "Harrier" about 400. Two officers and 56 other ranks were killed in the attacks. The vigorous action of the minesweepers led the Germans to mistake the power of the force they were facing.