Because such attacks were a regular occurrences at this time and because all available surface craft were on patrol the dispatch from "Carolyn" produced no immediate action. The Duty Officer in the Control Room had not been informed as to the secret nature of "Carolyn", and consequently his only action was to forward the dispatch to Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH). "Carolyn" was not dead—yet. After "U-123" turned to starboard, "Atik" gathered steerage way, paralleling her course by turning to starboard as well, and dropped her concealment, commencing fire from her main and secondary batteries. The first shell dropped short of the U-boat, as she made off presenting a small target; the others were off in deflection. A veritable hail of .50-caliber machine gun fire, though, ricochetted around the U-boat's decks as she put on speed to escape the trap into which Hardegen had fallen. One bullet mortally wounded a midshipman standing watch on "U-123"'s bridge. Gradually, the U-boat pulled out of range behind the cover of a smoke screen emitted by her straining diesels, and her captain assessed the damage. As he later recorded, "We had been incredibly lucky." "U-123" submerged and again approached her opponent. At 21:29, the U-boat shot a torpedo into "Atik"s machinery spaces. Satisfied that this blow would be fatal, "U-123" stood off and watched as "Atik" settled by the bow, her single screw now out of the water. Once again, "Atik"s crew could be seen embarking in her boats, as their ship clung stubbornly to the surface. "U-123" surfaced at 22:27, confident that "Atik" was no longer a threat, and continued to watch until 22:50, when a cataclysmic explosion blew her to pieces. Ten minutes later, "U-123" buried her only casualty, the midshipman killed by the Q-ship's machine gun fire. "Atik"s entire crew perished, either in the blast or during the severe gale that blew up soon after the ship disintegrated. Several hours after receiving the report of the SOS, an officer in Cominch Operations room phoned the Duty Officer and asked if the Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier (CESF), or the Chief of Staff had been notified.