She had a Werkspoor-type eight-cylinder, four-stroke single-acting diesel engine, built by Hawthorn, Leslie, and rated at 502 NHP,[3] which gave her a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h).

[4] At 19:41 hrs on 20 August, Daronia was positioned between South Africa and Madagascar at 31°10′S 38°00′E / 31.167°S 38.000°E / -31.167; 38.000 when the Kriegsmarine Type IXD U-boat U-861, commanded by Korvettenkapitän Jürgen Oesten, struck her with two torpedoes.

[4] On 28 April 1958, Daronia was in Balikpapan Harbour, in the East Kalimantan Province of Borneo, when a Douglas B-26 Invader bomber aircraft, flown by the CIA and painted black with no markings,[5] attacked the Shell oil terminal there.

The Invader first bombed a larger tanker, Eagle Oil and Shipping's San Flaviano, setting her on fire and sinking her, and then attacked Daronia.

For some months prior, UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd had supported US policy to supply Permesta.

[12] On 6 May 1958, more than a week after the CIA sank San Flaviano and hit Daronia, Lloyd secretly informed US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that he maintained his support for this policy.

[14][15] Nevertheless, in June 1958 both Indonesia and the UK publicly continued to claim that the aircraft had been flown by Indonesian rebels,[7] concealing the CIA involvement of which both governments were fully aware.