HMS P48 (Lt M E Faber) departed Malta on her last patrol on 23 December 1942. Two days later, while attacking a large Italian convoy NorthWest of Zembra Island in the Gulf of Tunis, an escorting aircraft fired bursts of machine-gun fire into the sea to signal the presence of an enemy submarine. Seconds later, the escorting Italian torpedo boat Ardente made sonar contact with a target, then attacked it with 48 depth charges. A large oil patch 100–150 metres in diameter was observed and the crew of the torpedo boat claimed the submarine sunk. It is most likely that the submarine was P48, but her wreck was not found and it is possible that she was sunk elsewhere later. The submarine was officially declared overdue on 5 January 1943.