Around 0130 hrs six E-boats of the 5. S-Boot Flottille (5th E-Boat Flotilla) commanded by Korvettenkapitän Bernd Klug saw eight dark ships and split into three pairs to attack with torpedoes: first "Rotte 3" ("S-136" & "S-138"), then "Rotte 2" under Oberleutnant zur See Goetschke ("S-140" & "S-142"), then "Rotte 1" ("S-100" & "S-143"). The final three E-boats of the nine, S-Boot Flottille commanded by Korvettenkapitän Götz Freiherr von Mirbach ("S-130", "S-145" & "S-150"), saw the red flares for attack (or may have heard the contact report sent at 0203 hrs) and joined the attack. After, within the "Rotte 1" pair, "S-100" collided with "S-143" and damaged its superstructure, the boats decided to leave, masking their retreat with smoke while sending another contact report. "S-145" attacked the ships with gunfire. The attack ended circa at 0330 hrs. The Germans had been puzzled by the strange-looking ships which did not look like merchantmen. They estimated that they were some type of American landing ship with a shallow draft as the initial torpedoes from "Rotte 3" and "Rotte 2" seemed to miss.