HMS Courageous Sinking. The sinking of the aircraft carrier Courageous was depicted in this manner in a British newspaper. The Courageous was sunk in the North Atlantic by the German U-29 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart) on 17 September 1939. For the Kriegsmarine this was the first big success of the war. The 22,500-ton carrier was hit by two torpedoes on the port side and sank within 15 minutes with the loss of 514 men including her commander, Captain Makeig-Jones, and 24 aircraft.