Attilio Duilio Ranieri

he submarine GEMMA was one of the 10 boats of the “PERLA” series, part of the class “600” of coastal submarines. This successful series, just like whole class “600”, was built by the C.R.D.A. shipyard (6 units) of Monfalcone (Gorizia) and O.T.O. (4 units) of Muggiano (La Spezia) between 1935 and 1936.

The GEMMA in the early days
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

The GEMMA belonged to Monfalcone’s group and was laid down on September 7th, 1935, launched on May 21st, 1936 and delivered to the Regia Marina on July 8th of the same year.

Operational Life

Upon entering service, the GEMMA was assigned to the 35th Squadron, based in Messina. From here, it completed a long cruise of the Italian islands in the Aegean Sea, repeating it in 1937. Under the command of Lieutenant Carlo Ferracuti, the GEMMA participated in the Spanish Civil War with a patrol off the Sicilian coast lasting nine days, from August 27th to September 5th, 1937.

In 1938, the GEMMA was assigned to the Red Sea, in Massaua. From this base, along with the PERLA, in spring of 1939 it completed long cruises in the Indian Ocean to test, during the monsoon, the sea worthiness and operation of the boat. From the mission reports, in addition to the navigational issues (sea force 9, inability to use the weapons or keep periscope depth), surfaced the danger of the air conditioning systems. The gas used, methylchlorid, was found to be toxic and would cause great problems with the boats so equipped.

The GEMMA still being fitted
(Photo Turrini)

Having returned to Italy toward the end of 1939, the GEMMA was assigned to the 14th Squadron, 1st GRUPSOM based in La Spezia. After Italy’s entry into the war (June 10th, 1940), while still part of the 1st GROUPSOM, the boat was transferred to the 13th Squadron under the command of Lieutenant Commander Guido Cordero di Montezemolo and relocated to Leros, the Italian naval base in the Aegean Sea.

The initial fruitless missions took place:
From June 10th to the 15th, 1940, in the waters off Khios.
From June 30th to July 8th, 1940 off Sollum, along the Egyptian coast
From the 7th to the 16th of August, 1940, north of Crete.
On September 30th, the GEMMA left for the fourth war mission with the assignment of patrolling, from the 1st to the 8th of October along with the AMETISTA and TRICHECO, the Kassos Channel (East of the Island of Crete).

The area of the passage was divided into three areas – north, center, and south – assigned in the same order to the GEMMA, AMETISTA, and TRICHECO. After two fruitless days, on the 3rd of October only the GEMMA was ordered to the east to patrol the area between Rhodes and Scarpanto (Karphatos) (to be more precise in the square defined by the Island of Seria and Cape Monolito (Rhodes), Cape Prosso (southernmost point of Rhodes), Cape Castello (southernmost point of the island of Scarpanto), until the evening of the 8th. It was precisely in this area that on the night of the 7th a tragedy took place.

The night of the 7th, the TRICHECO (Lieutenant Commander Alberto Avogadro di Cerrione), a day before completing its patrol, had left its assigned area south of the Island of Kassos because of a wounded person aboard, and it was navigating along the western coast of Scarpanto, thus in the area occupied by the GEMMA.

Due to a fatal mishap with radio communication, neither the GEMMA nor the TRICHECO were informed of each other’s movements. In addition, a message in cipher dated the 6th in which Leros, via SUPERMARINA, ordered the GEMMA to immediately return to base, was never transmitted by the central operating office. Around 1:15 on the 8th, the TRICHECO sighted a profile of a submarine and, unaware of the presence of an Italian boat in that area, and assuming that such a presence would have been signaled, believed it was an enemy submarine. This situation, with the equipment available at the time, did not leave time to attempt recognition: only the submarine that fires first survives.

Thus, around 1:21, the TRICHECO launched two torpedoes. The distance was close: impossible to miss the target. The GEMMA, hit midship, sank immediately in position 35 30’N, 27 18’E, three miles for 078 off Kero Panagia, not too distant from the City of Scarpanto. No one survived. The opposite could have taken place if the GEMMA had sighted the other submarine first. These are accidents that, unfortunately, take place in all wars and all Navies.

Anyway, such danger for the Italian Navy was very limited. As a matter of fact, Italian naval doctrine was based on the concept of “ambush war” and each boat was assigned a small square of sea from which it was absolutely not allowed to trespass, remaining in waiting for enemy ships. This tactic, inherited from the experience of WW I, proved unsuccessful.

The Germans, on the other hand, since the beginning adopted a method which we could describe as “guerre de corse”: the area assigned to each boat was relatively large and they would pursue ships. After a sighting, all the boats within reach were called to concentrate on the target (often a convoy), forming a “wolf pack”. Operating in this way, the risk of friendly fire was high, but the Germans took it into consideration.

Translated from Italian by Cristiano D’Adamo

This submarine represented a kind of experiment; it was not successful and thus it was not reproduced in series. This submarine was part of the type of boats that, after War World I, all navies of a certain caliber attempted to complete to give their underwater vessels performances similar to the surface units (range, speed, weaponry, etc).

The FIERAMOSCA in late 1940
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

In short, since the submarine had come out of the war showing all of its limitations as a submergible unit, despite having asserted its value as a weapon, it was thought to increase surface performances. In essence, if one had to temporary give up the idea of an ideal “submergible”, then one has to make it a fleet submarine to be employed along with the surface ships. For example, one should think of the French SURCOUF.

But, as already mentioned, the results were not positive, and the idea was soon abandoned by all navies and the evolution of the submarine (at least until the advent of the single propulsion plan for both surface and underwater navigation) focused of the idea of the submergible, a ship capable of submerging, even though for limited periods of time, but nevertheless different from a real surface unit.

In reality, since the beginning the Italian Navy was quite skeptical of the project, and the project was troubled by many alterations and afterthoughts. Even the idea to carry a small hydroplane (eventually never selected) was given up, but the boat was built with a hangar located aft of the conning tower. Later, this was dismantled after the boat was delivered to the Navy.

The submarine FIERAMOSCA was built by the Tosi shipyard of Taranto and laid down on July 17th, 1926. It was launched on April 14th, 1929 and delivered to the Navy on December 5th, 1931.

Operational Life

The operational activity of the FIERAMOSCA was quite modest and marked by several breakdowns and incidents, at times with injuries to personnel,. After a long period of testing and trials, the boat was assigned to the 1st Squadron of the 1st Flotilla based in Taranto. Until 1935, its activity was quite limited. Then, the boat returned to Taranto for a period of refitting by the builder. At the end of this work, it was assigned to the 2nd Squadron in La Spezia. It later was assigned to the 2nd Submarine Group with base in Naples, when, in 1936 and 1937, the boat participated to the Spanish Civil War completing two patrols.

The submarine FIERAMOSCA
(Photo Turrini)

During the first mission, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Mario Bartalesi, the boat completed a patrol off Valencia from December 21st, 1936 to January 5th, 1937 departing Leghorn and returning to La Spezia. It would sight a dozen ships, but on the 27th was able to conduct a night attack on the surface against only one, the cruiser Mendez Nunez, with the release of three torpedoes wich failed to hit the target.

The second mission, also in the waters off Valencia, began in La Spezia on January 28th, 1937 and was interrupted soon after due to a mechanical failure. Repaired the problem, the FIERAMOSCA left again La Spezia on February 2nd, this time to patrol off Barcelona. Despite the numerous sightings, the boat did not complete any attack. Instead, it completed two night bombardments of the port of Barcelona; the first the night of February 8th, firing ten 120mm shots before the weapon jammed, and the second the following night firing in 15 minutes 35 shells, one of which seriously damaged the Spanish tanker Zorrosa. It reentered base on February 16th.
Later on, it completed a cruise to Tunis and in 1939 to Barcelona. The same year, the FIERAMOSCA was assigned to the 1st Submarine Group, as part of the 12th Squadron along with the CALVI, FINZI and TAZZOLI. At the beginning of the war, due to the redistribution of responsibilities implemented by the command of the submarine squadrons (MARICOSOM), this squadron became the 11th. At the beginning of the hostilities, the FIERAMOSCA was already on patrol off the French cost under the command of Lieutenant Commander Giuseppe Mellina. Having failed to locate any traffic, the 14th of June the boat returned to Genoa.

On the 19th the boat was again on patrol off the island of Hyères, near Toulon. A few days later a violent explosion of one of the batteries caused serious damages and the wounding of a few crewmembers forcing the boat to return to La Spezia, where it arrived on the 25th of June.

After this incident, which evidenced the poor reliability of the boat, the FIERAMOSCA was withdrawn from active service. After a period of refitting (during which Captain Mellina was replaced by Lieutenant Commander Beppino Manca, later also replaced by Lieutenant Commander Cristiano Masi), on October 15th 1940 the boat was assigned to the submarine school of Pula where, until March 1941, it completed 28 training sorties for the cadets. On April 10th, 1941 the FIERAMOSCA was removed from service and would later be scrapped in 1946.

Translated from Italian by Cristiano D’Adamo

This submarine (commonly called FAA DI BRUNO) was one of the two boats (the other one was the Smg. COMMANDER CAPPELLINI) of the class MARCELLO “improved”. They were both built by the O.T.O. shipyard of Muggiano (La Spezia) between 1938 and 1939, and were named after two Italian Captains who fought in the battle of Lissa.

The FAA DI BRUNO the day of its launch, June 18th, 1939
(Photo Turrini)

The FAA DI BRUNO the day of its launch, June 18th, 1939.
(Photo Turrini)
The FAA DI BRUNO was laid down on April 28th, 1938, launched on June 18th, 1939, and delivered to the Regia Marina on October 23rd, 1939.

Operational Life

After two missions in the Mediterranean (from the 10th to the 16th of June and from the 15th to the 23rd of July 1940, off the coast of Oran), the boat was destined to operate in Atlantic. Assigned to BETASOM, the Command of the Italian Submarine base of Bordeaux, the FAA DI BRUNO departed La Spezia on August 28th, 1940 and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar between the 2nd and the 3rd of September. Strong submarine currents troubled the underwater crossing; with the sounding apparatus damaged, the boat twice sank to 140 meters crawling on the bottom, but fortunately without damages.

Having crossed the strait, the boat moved to its patrol area south of the Azores, where it remained from the 8th to the 24th of September. During this period, it made five sightings, three of which were followed by attacks, damaging vessels on the 8th and the 19th. On the 9th, the British tanker AURIS of 8,000 t. was also damaged. This ship was destined to become victim of an Italian submarine: on June 28th, 1941 it was sunk with four torpedoes by the Smg. DA VINCI (Lieutenant Ferdinando Calda), just North of Madeira. On September 24th, the boat left the patrol area navigating to Bordeaux where it arrived on October 5th, 1940.

October 5th, 1940:TheTORELLI and the FAA DI BRUNO arrive in Bordeaux
(Photo U.S.M.M.)

On the 31st of October, the FAA DI BRUNO departed for its first, and unfortunately only mission in the Atlantic, patrolling west of Scotland. It was assigned the zone between 57°20’N and 58°20 N, west of the 20° meridian west. It should have re-entered on the 5th of January 1941.

After the departure all contacts with the boat were lost. The causes of its loss are still unknown. The enemy could have sunk it, but it could have also succumbed to a breakdown, possibly due to the rough sea, which in that season plagues the North Atlantic; or due to an internal fault, such as the explosion of hydrogen gas from the batteries. We do not even know if the boat ever reached the assigned patrol area.

Based on British documentation, in the post-war period it was possible to attribute the sinking of the FAA DI BRUNO to the British destroyer HMS HAVELOCK, which reported having attacked, on November 8th in position 56°01’N, 17°50’W, a submerged submarine and having seen broken off pieces, air bubbles, and fuel emerge.

Later, and considering that the events reported by the HAVELOCK had happened in a zone very distant from that which the FAA DI BRUNO would have crossed, a more accurate study of the positions and the events indicated that the boat attacked by the British vessel was the Smg. MARCONI. From this attack, the MARCONI had escaped almost unharmed.

Therefore, it is not even possible to define when this boat was lost and we have to conceal its loss under the generic and bureaucratic label “lost on an undefined date between October 31st, 1940 and January 5th, 1941”.

Translated by Cristiano D’Adamo

The submarine DIASPRO belonged to the series “PERLA” of the coastal submarines of the class “600”. The class “600”, unanimously recognized as one of the best Italian submarines of the time, was divided into five series, all slightly different:

Series ARGONAUTA, 7 units
Series SIRENA, 12 units
Series PERLA, 10 units
Series ADUA, 17 units, plus 3 for the Brazilian Navy
Series PLATINO, 13 units

For a total of 59 boats for Italy and 3 for Brazil.

The series “PERLA” was built between 1935 and 1936, part by the CRDA shipyard of Monfalcone, Gorizia (6 units), and part by the Shipyard OTO of Muggiano, La Spezia (4 units). The DIASPRO was built in Molfalcone: laud down on September 29th, 1935. It was launched on July 5th, 1936 and delivered to the Navy on August 22nd of the same year.

Operational Life

The operational life of the DIASPRO began early on. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander Giuseppe Mellina, the boat participated in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The first patrol took place in 1937, north of Cape Bon (Tunisia), with an unsuccessful attack against two merchant ships. A second attack took place on September 1st in the waters off Benicarlò, north of Valencia, in which the British tanker WOODFORD of 6,987 t. was sunk. After the initial attack, and having avoided the first two torpedoes, the ship attempted to ram the submarine.

The DIASPRO in Cagliari – July 24th, 1941
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

Upon Italy’s entry into the war (June 10th, 1940), the submarine was assigned to the 72nd Squadron of the 7th submarine group based in Cagliari, Sardinia. The war fought by the DIASPRO was long and hard, took place solely in the Mediterranean, and was intense: 53 operational patrols, of which 32 were offensive. It amounted to long and nerve-raking patrols, but lacked significant results. After all, in the Mediterranean, differently from the Atlantic, the enemy’s merchant traffic was limited and always heavily escorted. Nevertheless, the DIASPO was able to complete several attacks, but without tangible results (or at least this is what surfaced from post-war British documentation, but many times the weapons were heard to explode).

In the first two years of the war, the activity of the DIASPRO was almost exclusively restricted to the Channel of Sardinia. On September 1st, 1940 it was the object of a very harsh hunt by British aero naval units, and especially an airplane from which it defended itself with the machine guns, later being able to escape without damage.

With command transferred to Lieutenant Antonio Dotta, on July 22nd, 1941 while on patrol off Bougie (Algeria), the DIASPRO found itself in the middle of a large naval formation. It launched four torpedoes against an aircraft carrier, but failed to hit it, even if one of the weapons was heard to detonate. It then launched two torpedoes against one of the escort units, the destroyer H.M.S. NESTOR, missing it by “a hair”, as the British, who spotted the wave of the torpedoes, would later report.

From the 1st of April to September 10th, 1942 the boat was assigned to the submarine school of Pula where it completed 32 training missions with submarine cadets.

Returned to base, in November 1942 it again began operational activity. On the 8th, while submerged off Biserta (Tunisia), it had a small accident, fortunately not too serious: it collided with the submarine ALAGI. While the latter received damages which forced it to return to base, the DIASPRO was able to continue on with the patrol. On the 12th, it entered the Bay of Bougie where it attacked a large motor-ship, but the torpedoes failed to hit the target.

With the command of the boat transferred to Lieutenant Alberto Donato, on the night of July 13th, 1943 the DIASPO attacked a convoy in the waters off Cap de Fer (Algeria), but this time also the two torpedoes appeared to have failed to hit the target, despite the fact that after 2 minutes and 22 seconds, the time proscribed, two explosions were heard.

We insist on saying “it appeared” because there is a well-grounded suspicion that, in some cases, the British failed to report damages, even when these were quite possible. It could then be that the explosions heard were actual hits, but that they did not cause the loss of the ship. The fact that these events are not reported by the British documentation is not a guarantee of truthfulness, since the documents prepared at the time were useful to the propaganda and not to ascertain events. Even today, in the archives at the present time open to the public and accessible to everyone, there is a British resistance to admit (especially in the area of espionage) to facts already proven by other means. But let us return to the DIASPRO.

The DIASPRO docked alongside the BRAGADIN
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

The last meaningful patrol before the armistice of September 8th, 1943 took place on August 18th, in the waters off Stromboli, when the boat launched two aft torpedoes against two destroyers, but without hitting them. The following day, while returning to Naples, the DIASPRO sighted two more destroyers, which were attacked with four torpedoes and, after the required time, two explosions were clearly heard. When, one hour later, the submarine surfaced, one of the two destroyers was still in the water and clearly damaged, but the boat had run out of torpedoes and could not but move on to Naples.

September 8th caught the DIASPRO at sea. Based on the clauses of the armistice, it should have sailed to Bona (Algeria), but due to technical problems it instead sailed to Cagliari. Up to that moment, the submarine had completed 53 patrols, with 806 days at sea for a total of 22,345 miles on the surface and 3,057 submerged.

Having completed the necessary repairs in Cagliari, in March 1944 the DIASPRO was transferred to Brindisi where it provided training support for the ships based in Brindisi and Taranto until April 1945. During this period, it also completed a special operation landing commandos in Zante and Cephalonia. In May 1945, it went to Malta to provide for anti-submarine training for allied ships.

Following the surrender of Japan in World War II, the DIASPRO returned to Taranto where it was removed from service. During the co-belligerence period, it completed 59 missions, 48 of which were for training, for a total of 4,030 miles.

On February 1st, 1948 the DIASPRO was definitely removed from service and, soon after, as prescribed by the armistice the blowtorch began the sad task of demolishing it. During its entire operational life, the DIASPRO had only one casualty: Sergeant Gaetano Loffredo.

Translated from Italian by Cristiano D’Adamo

The submarine Corallo was one of the 10 boats of the “PERLA” series, part of the class “600” of coastal submarines. This successful series, just like the whole class “600”, was build by the C.R.D.A. shipyard (6 units) of Monfalcone (Gorizia) and O.T.O. (4 units) of Muggiano (La Spezia) between 1935 and 1936. The submarine Corallo (code CO), was part of the first six and was laid down on October 1st, 1935. Launched on August 2nd, 1936 and delivered to the Regia Marina on September 26th of the same year.

At the outbreak of war, Corallo was assigned to the 7th Submarine Group, 72nd Squadron based in Cagliari (Sardinia), and operated from this base for the whole war. However, when Italy entered the war (June 10th, 1940), the boat was in Monfalcone, the shipyard where it had been built, and therefore could not immediately enter service.

Corallo before delivery to the Navy at the C.R.D.A. shipyard in 1936.
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

Work was completed around the end of August 1940, and before returning to base, Corallo under the command of Lieutenant Commander Loris Albanese completed from the 3rd to the 18th of September its first patrol in the eastern Mediterranean. In the late afternoon of the 17th, while on patrol 60 miles south of Crete, Corallo intercepted a large enemy naval formation en route to Alexandria and immediately commenced a decisive attack. Avoiding the screen, the submarine launched two torpedoes against an aircraft carrier from a very close distance (about 1,500 meters)and immediately after disengaging by diving to avoid the enemy forces’ reaction. Even if after a minute everyone aboard heard two loud explosions, different from the ones caused by depth charges, the result of the attack was never established because there is no confirmation in any of the British documentation.

The CORALLO still on the slip
Photo Turrini)

The intense enemy reaction forced the boat to dive past the 80 meters (max operational depth) and assume “silent operations”, a system which used air to move water between trim tanks instead of pumps, and which caused the progressive increase of the air pressure within the boat. After three hours, eluding the hunt, the boat reached surface and the second in command, Lieutenant Alfredo Gatti, opened the conning tower’s hatch and, probably due to the excitement of the moment, failed to gradually release the over-pressured internal air; the porthole opened all at once and the officer was violently ejected. Despite the long search, he was never found.

Another man, the Chief Torpedoman Angelo Bianchi, was found dead in the forward torpedo room, perhaps victim of a fatal fall while the boat, under attack from depth charges, had repeatedly lost control. Because the damage sustained was not reparable on board, the boat went on to Tobruk where it arrived on September 18th.

After this unlucky event, in the two subsequent years Corallo operated almost continuously, completing patrols all over the Mediterranean, but without many results, just like the great majority of the Italian submarines operating in this area where the enemy traffic was not as present and in the Atlantic.

After March 17th, 1941, Corallo was under the command of Lieutenant Gino Andreani, who sank with the deck gun the following ships (after having rescued the crew):
April 28th, 1943, near Cape Bon, the Tunisian Goleta DAR EL SALAM of 138 t. and the fishing boat Tunis of 41t.
On June 7th, 1942, east of Galite, the Tunisian motorized sailing ship HADY M’HAMED of 26t.
Up to the date of its loss, Corallo completed 48 patrols, remaining at sea over 180 days for a total of 23,718 miles.

On December 10th, 1942, under the command of Lieutenant Guido Guidi who had replaced Captain Andreani in mid June 1942, the boat left Cagliari for a patrol off the African cost between Bona and Bizerta. The operational orders contemplated an offensive patrol in the Bay of Bougie for the night of the 13th. After departure, all communication with the boat was lost despite radio signals sent up to the 23rd of December.

Just before December 10th, Salvatore Fanale, one of the crewmembers, disimbarked due to an illness, thus he was the only surviving member of the unforunate crew.
(Photo Piergabriele Pirolo)

The loss of this boat was only confirmed after the war by British official sources. The night of the 12th of December, at about 14 miles off Bogie, Corallo was discovered by British antisubmarine units and underwent an intense bombardment. Forced to the surface, the boat was rammed by the gunboat ENCHARTRESS (which was seriously damaged) and immediately sank in position 36°58’N – 05°07’E. There were no survivors.

Translated from Italian by Cristiano D’Adamo

Operational Records

Type	Patrols (Med.)	Patrols (Other)	NM Surface	NM Sub.	Days at Sea	NM/Day	Average Speed
Submarine – Coastal	48		21,131	2,587	180	131.77	5.49

Actions

Date	Time	Captain	Area	Coordinates	Convoy	Weapon	Result	Ship	Type	Tonns	Flag
4/28/1942	04.10	C.C. Gino Andreani	Mediterranean	37°01’N-11°09’E		Artillery	Sank	Dar-el-Salam	Sailing Vessel	138	Tunisia
4/28/1942	04.10	C.C. Gino Andreani	Mediterranean	37°01’N-11°09’E		Artillery	Sank	Tunis	Sailing Vessel	41	Tunisia
6/7/1942	02:00	C.C. Gino Andreani	Mediterranean	37°24’N-9°10’E		Artillery	Sank	Hady M’Hammed	Sailing Vessel	26	Tunisia

Crew Members Lost

Last Name	First Name	Rank	Italian Rank	Date
Berrà	Giuseppe	Sublieutenant	Sottotenente di Vascello	12/13/1942
Bianchi	Angelo	Chief Mine Men	Capo Silurista	9/18/1940
Boi	Virgilio	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Camporeale	Sergio	Sergeant	Sergente	12/13/1942
Capraro	Giovanni	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Caucci	Guido	Sublieutenant G.N.	Tenente G.N.	12/13/1942
Cavicchio	Silvio	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Cecchini	Armando	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Ciccarelli	Alberico	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Cimminiello	Giuseppe	Chief 2nd Class	Capo di 2a Classe	12/13/1942
Crociani	Giuseppe	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
De Luca	Angelo	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Di Domenico	Albino	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Di Stefano	Luciano	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
D’orso	Carmelo	Sublieutenant	Sottotenente di Vascello	12/13/1942
Duradoni	Pietro	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Esposito	Antonio	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Failla	Giuseppe	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Falcone	Giovanni	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Ferrini	Salvatore	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Finistauri	Erminio	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Giacobbe	Nicola	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Gilardi	Giovanni	Chief 3rd Class	Capo di 3a Classe	12/13/1942
Gori	Isidoro	Chief 2nd Class	Capo di 2a Classe	12/13/1942
Guidi	Guido	Lieutenant	Tenente di Vascello	12/13/1942
La Pira	Giovanni	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Leonardi	Michele	Chief 2nd Class	Capo di 2a Classe	12/13/1942
Ljacono	Benedetto	Chief 3rd Class	Capo di 3a Classe	12/13/1942
Manzello	Ardengo	Ensign	Guardiamarina	12/13/1942
Marra	Salvatore	Chief 2nd Class	Capo di 2a Classe	12/13/1942
Mazzella	Antonio	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Mignosa	Mauro	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Minelli	Luigi	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Monaco	Francesco	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Montecuccoli	Gualtiero	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Morgantini	Dino	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Nibbi	Marino	Chief 2nd Class	Capo di 2a Classe	12/13/1942
Nicoletta	Francesco	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Origgi	Elia	Naval Rating	Comune	12/13/1942
Palazzolo	Sebastiano	Sergeant	Sergente	12/13/1942
Petracchi	Salvatore	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Pirazzini	Franco	Ensign	Guardiamarina	12/13/1942
Quagliato	Carlo	Sergeant	Sergente	12/13/1942
Sansonetti	Giovanni	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Scianaro	Cosimo	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Simeoni	Antonio	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Sirago	Mariano	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Sottile	Rosario	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Torre	Vincenzo	Sergeant	Sergente	12/13/1942
Urban	Antonio	Junior Chief	Sottocapo	12/13/1942
Corallo	Salvatore	Sergeant	Sergente	8/12/1942

he submarine CAGNI, as it was more commonly knows, was part of the class called “Ammiragli” (Admirals), which included four boats named after famous personalities in the history of the Italian Navy: Saint Bon, Millo, Caracciolo, and Cagni. Of the four, only the last one survived the conflict. These boats were designed for the ‘guerre de course’ on distant oceans, and met very high operational requirements – range (up to six continuous months, or about 20,000 miles), armament, reliability – hardly obtainable in a conventional submarine, even today. The ‘Ammiragli’ were, overall, the best Italian submarines produced up to that period.

The CAGNI was built by the C.R.D.A. shipyard of Monfalcone, near Gorizia. It was laid down on September 16th, 1939, launched on July 20th, 1940 and delivered to the Regia Marina on April 1st, 1941 well into the war.

The CAGNI in the early days
(Photo Turrini)

From the beginning of it operational life to February 1942, the CAGNI was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Carlo Liannazza and, because of its large carrying capacity, was mostly used in transport missions to North Africa were fuel and ammunitions were in much need. Thereafter, it was decided to take advantage of it exceptional range by sending it in far away seas. Thus, after a long period of repairs in Taranto to fit the boat for war in the Atlantic Ocean, on October 6th, 1942 it departed from La Maddalena to reach the South-African coast and possibly the Indian Ocean to intercept traffic between the two bodies of water.

Crossed without any difficulty the Strait of Gibraltar, on November 3rd, the CAGNI sank the British motor vessel DAGOMA of 3,845 t. off Freetown. A few days later, on the 29th, it sank the Greek ship ARGO of 1,995 t., off Cape of Good Hope. Then, having failed to locate any traffic, in the meantime rerouted by the enemy on further away routes, and also having reached the furthers most point allowing it to return to base (despite a scheduled transfer of fuel from a German submarine), on the 8th of December the CAGNI left the patrol area to return to BETASOM, the Italian submarine base in Bordeaux.

The CAGNI with a smaller conning tower, also know as ‘German style’
(Photo Turrini)

On February 15th, 1943, while in navigation in the Gulf of Biscay, the CAGNI was attacked by a Sunderland against which it defended itself quite efficiently with machine guns. It eluded the attack, but Sergeant Michelangelo Canistraro was killed. After 136 days at sea, on February 20th, 1943 the CAGNI reached Bordeaux. This was the longest continuous mission conducted by any Italian vessel in WW II.

In Bordeaux, the CAGNI underwent alterations to be fitted, with other submarines, for the secret transport of rare goods to Japan. With the command of the boat already transferred to Lieutenant Commander Giuseppe Roselli Lorenzini, the CAGNI left le Verdon on June 29th, 1943 for its second patrol, destined to Singapore from which it should have returned with a load of rubber and tin.

During this mission, the night of July 25 while off Freetown, the CAGNI attacked the British auxiliary cruiser ASTRURIAS of 22,048 t, which did not sink, but was left inoperable for the remainder of the war. On September 8th, 1943, date of the Italian armistice, the CAGNI was in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Between the contrasting orders from BETASOM (reach Singapore as soon as possible), and those of SUPERMARINA (reach the South –African port of Durban), Captain Roselli Lorenzini decided to follow the later, obeying the will of His Majesty the King.

The CAGNI in Taranto (1944), moored next to a corvette of the APE class
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

Thus, on September 20th 1943, after 85 days at sea, the CAGNI entered Durban flying the Italian colors and with the crew manning the railing while the enemy presented them with military honors. Back in Taranto on January 1944, the boat was deployed to Palermo to perform training duty in support of the Allies.

The CAGNI was removed from service on February 1st, 1948 and scrapped soon after in accordance with the terms of the peace treaty, but the conning tower was spared to become a monument in perennial memory of the over 3,000 Italian submariners killed on duty aboard 87 boats between 1940 and 1945.

Notes: The DAGOMA was sunk in position 02 29N, 19W with the loss of 10 crewmembers. The remaining 23 were rescued. The ship was built in 1928 by McMillan & Sons of Dumbarton.
L’ARGO, built in 1920 as the San Jose, was sunk in position 34 53S, 17 54E with 18 crewmembers lost and 18 saved.

Translated from Italian by Cristiano D’Adamo

This was the submarine after which the Brin class was named. Deriving from the Archimede class, it retained the previous class excellent characteristics and performances.

Amongst the improvements, the deck gun was installed aft of the conning tower higher than the deck. This way, it was assumed that the use of the deck gun in wrought seas would be easier. In actuality, this solution ended up not being too practical thus, during the conflict, he gun was reposition forward of the conning tower.

R. Smg. Benedetto Brin
(Photo USMM)

The Brin class were later added two new boats slightly different from the original three in both dimensions and displacement. While nearly completed, the Regia Marina transferred to the Spanish Nationalist Navy the “Archimede” and “Torricelli” of the “Archimede” class. To replace them, it was decided to lay down at the Tosi Shipyard of Taranto two new submarines. At the two new boats were assigned the names of the two units transferred to Spain, thus “Archimede” and “Toricelli”. Despite the few differences, they were still classified as belonging to the Brin class.

In peace time, the Brin completed training and in 1939 operated along the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. At the beginning of the conflict, Lieutenant L. Longanesi Cattaneo completed four was patrol in Mediterranean, however fruitless, and in 1940 the boat was ordered to the Atlantic at the base in Bordeaux.

Lieutenant L. Longanesi Cattaneo being congratulated by Adm. Perona upon his return to Bordeaux
(Photo U.S.M.M.)

On October 28th, 1940 the Brin left Messina to reach the French base and, on November 4th, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. Having surfaced at 3:30 PM two miles off Cape Malabata, in Spanish territorial waters, it was attacked by two British motorboats which, although did not use firepower in Spanish waters, attempted to ram the boat, however failing, while this was entering the port of Tangiers.

The Brin remained in Tangiers the time necessary to repairs an issue with the batteries and, the night of the 12th, left port for Bordeaux along with the Bianchi. While approaching the Girond, the Brin was attacked by the British submarine Tuna which launched six torpedoes to which the Brin replied with two without any damage to either boat. Soon after midday on the 18th, the Brin entered the harbor.

In Atlantic the Brin completed five patrols obtaining good results. Amongst the most important successes it should be mentioned the action of June 13th, 1941 off the Azores Islands. Then, the Brin attacked a convoy on the surface and in a very short period of time sank the British steamer “Djukjura” (3460 t.) with a torpedo and the Greek steamer Kyriakides. Probably, it damaged two other ships, all belonging to “SL76” a convoy from Sierra Leon to Great Britain.

R. Smg. Brin after its return to the Mediterranean
(Photo Turrini)

On August 20th, 1941 the Brin departed Le Verdon for the Mediterranean, reaching Messina on September 10th. Thereafter, it had intense activity but without scoring further successes. On September 8th, 1943 (Armistice Day) the Brin was at sea and, as ordered, it reached Bona surrendering to the British authorities which sent the boat to Malta. In October it returned to Taranto where it underwent refitting. In May 1944, it was sent to Colombo (then India) where it assisted in training British antisubmarine units. It returned to Taranto in December 1945 and on February 1st, 1948 was removed from service and later scrapped.

In Mediterranean, the Brin completed 17 patrols and 16 transfers between bases for a total of 26,426 nautical mils.

Translated from Italian by Cristiano D’Adamo

The Submarine Bragadin, previously named Marcatonio Bragadino, was a boat of the same class which included only another unit, the Filippo Corridoni. The class should have had a larger number of units, but the mediocre performances of the first two built persuaded the Italian Navy not to go any further.

R. Smg. Marcantonio Bragadin
(Photo Turrini)

In the period between the two world wars, when the Italian submarine force was mostly developed, the Regia Marina decided to build mine-laying submarines with performances higher than those of the three existing boats of the X class. More precisely, the intent was to build a boat of medium displacement, good for operations outside the Mediterranean, and with a good balance between launching torpedoes and laying mines.

The project was assigned to Admiral (E) Curio BERNADIS, a talented designer who authored the plans of various excellent submarines. He was the same engineer who, a few years earlier, had designed the mine-laying submarines of the X2 and X3 class using as a model the X1 class. The X1 was an Italian mine-laying submarine rebuilt from the wreck of the Austrian submarine U24 (previously UCF 12 in the Krigsmarine), sunk by one of the mines it was laying in front of Taranto on March 16th, 1916 and later salvaged by the Italian Navy.

For this project, Bernardins derived his new design from his previous of the Pisani class, compared to which the new class should have been improved and more innovative with the addition of the mine-laying capability.

The boats of the Bragadin class were laid down on the slips before the Pisani had undergone testing at sea and which highlighted some issues, foremost lack of transversal seaworthiness on the surface. Thus, the boat of the Bragadin class had the same issues, but also a tendency to dip the bow underwater in rough seas.

This precarious seaworthiness was remedied, on both classes, by applying counter hulls near the water line. The other issue with the Bragadin class, the tendency to dip the bow into the water, was resolved by augmenting the size of the outside hull, thus creating positive buoyancy; thus, when the bow was going down, this created an opposing force. This alteration changed quite considerably the profile of the bow, thus deserving the class nickname of “big nose”. Later, in 1943, the bow was restored to the original design.

Both remedies (side hull and larger bow) caused a noticeable reduction in surface speed, a characteristic essential to war operations for the submarines of the time.

But the Bragadin class’ problems were mostly related to the same reason that brought about their construction. The apparatus for the handling and launching of the mines never became fully acceptable, despite several alterations, to the point that it was only utilized once, on the Bragadin itself.

The Bragadin was built by the Tosi shipyard of Taranto; laid down on February 3rd, 1927, launched on July 21, 1929 and delivered to the Italian Navy on November 16th, 1931. Despite the aforementioned limitations, it had a long operational life and intense activity, especially during the conflict with transport mission to North Africa.

Upon entering service, the Bragadin was assigned to the 2 Squadron based in La Spezia. Then, in 1934, it was relocated to Taranto where, in 1935, it was involved in a collision, fortunately without serious consequences, with the submarine Tito Speri.

In 1939, the boat operated for a few months at the Submarine School (Pula), but at the beginning of the hostility the boat was already assigned to the 37th Squadron based in Messina.

Its first war patrol, under the command of Bandino Bandini, began on June 24th with the transport of 27 tons of war materiel for the Italian Air Force from Naples to Tobruk. During its patrol, the boat was attacked twice by antisubmarine units and three times by airplanes, and during these encounters four crew members were killed.

The Bragadin first war patrol, under the command of Bandino Bandini, began on June 24th with the transport of 27 tons of war materiel for the Italian Air Force from Naples to Tobruk.
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

After some refitting, the boat began operating again in October 1940 under the command of Mario Vannutelli. On October 24th, the boat laid 24 mines off Navarrino (Greece); this was to be the only mine-laying operation.

Between December 9th and October 1st 1941, the Bragadin was assigned to the Submarine School in Pula where it completed 65 patrols for the training of cadets and 3 war patrols in the Adriatic Sea. Thereafter, it returned to Messina and later Taranto.

Here, under the command of Luigi Andreotti, it departed on December 17th 1941 with 50 tons of various war materials destined to Benghazi, but later it was redirected to Tripoli. Near Point Tagiura, it ran aground on a shallow reef from which it was later freed by the tug boat Ciclope. Returned to Taranto in early 1942 and having repaired the damaged caused by running aground, it resumed service practically to the armistice.

Sliena, Malta – September 1943. A sad picture of 19 of the 22 submarines which had reached the British base. From left: Corridoni, Atropo, Bandiera, Settembrini, Onice, Galatea, Zoea, and finally the Bragadin.
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

On September 8th, the Bragadin was in the Gulf of Taranto. Following the government decree, it moved to Augusta where it surrendered to the British, later reaching Malta. Here, in 1943, it was sent to Haifa and assigned to the GRUPSOM LEVANTE (Submarine Group East) with six other Italian boats. Their collaboration with the Allied forces consisted of training activity for British antisubmarine units. After awhile, due to a mechanical failure not repairable in Haifa, the boat was towed to Taranto. On February 1st, 1948 the Bragadin was decommissioned and later, in accordance with the peace treaty, demolished.

Translated by Cristiano D’Adamo

The submarine ASCIANGHI was one of the 17 boats of the series “ADUA” (also known as the “Africans”) which was part of the class “600” of costal submarines. The 17 boats of the series ADUA were built by various Italian shipyards between 1936 and 1938 and were named after famous episodes of the recently concluded war in East Africa (1935-36) which had brought about the creation of Italian East Africa.

Il sommergibile ASCIANGHI all’inizio della guerra con l’equipaggio schierato
(Foto Turrini)

Upon Italy’s entry into the war (June 10th, 1940), the boat was assigned to the 1st GRUPSOM (15th Squadron) in La Spezia, but deployed in Cagliari (Sardinia). From this base, under the command of Lieutenant Ugo Gelli, the boat left for its first war patrol, from the 20th to the 28th of June, near the Balearic Islands. At 01:25 of the 22nd, the boat sighted a large armed ship against which it launched four torpedoes that failed to hit the target due to the rough sea. Then, the boat continued the attack with the deck gun, hitting the target a few times, but the precise and strong reaction of the enemy ship’s guns forced the submarine to run away.

Several other patrols followed, all around the Mediterranean, but without any important event until August 1941. After command of the boat was transferred to Lieutenant Olinto Di Serio, the 21st of September, during a patrol that lasted from the 20th to the 24th off Beirut, the ASCIANGHI sank the Polish tanker (in service to the British) ANTAR of 389 t., but only after having allowed the crew to abandon ship.

The Ascianghi’s conning tower with an invitation to visiting Bougie, a light-hearted way of mocking the harsh reality of the missions in the Mediterranean.
(Photo Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

Patrols continued until July 1942, when the boat’s command was transferred to Lieutenant Rodolfo Bombig, who held it for a short period of time, and then Lieutenant Rino Erler. Lieutenant Erler’s first mission, in early November 1942, consisted in the transport of 20 t. of ammunitions from Messina to Tobruk. During the transfer, on the 3rd, the crew sighted and picked up 20 shipwrecks: they were German military personnel whose plane had been shot down.

A few days later, between the 11th and the 16th of November, the ASCIANGHI was again on patrol along the Algerian cost. On the 15th at 03:39, while conducting a raid in the Bay of Bougie, Captain’s Elder’s submarine sighted and attacked a small naval group believed to have included a cruiser and two destroyers. The first two torpedoes missed the target, but the subsequent ones, launched around 03:46, hit the third ship in the group between midship and the bow, causing it to quickly sink. The ship in question was the fast minesweeper ALGERINE of 1,040 t. Confirmed the result of the launch, the submarine disengaged submerging and avoiding the hunt of the other enemy units.

A few months later, the night of the 2nd of March 1943, during a patrol in the Gulf of Sirte, the ASCHIAGHI sighted and attacked a large formation. After the release of the torpedoes, to avoid being rammed by one of the units, the boat was forced to immediately dive, thus could not verify the result of the attack. After several seconds, two strong explosions were clearly heard giving the impression of a hit, but post-war British documentation does not confirm anything.

After this mission, the boat stopped for a long period of repairs at a shipyard and command was transferred from Lieutenant Erler to Sub-Lieutenant Mario Fiorini. The new, young commander of the ASCIANGHI left Naples on July 16th, 1943 to move, along with two other boats, south of Sicily in a last attempt to stop the Allied landing already in course.

In the early afternoon of the 23rd, during a submerged patrol ten miles off Augusta, the ASCIANGHI sighted a group of cruisers and destroyers and moved decisively on the attack against the larger units. It launched two torpedoes (they were later credited by the British for having seriously damaged the heavy cruiser NEWFOUNLAND of 8,000 t.; Later re-evaluation of the events induced to believe that the damage was actually caused by U 407, at the time present in the area of the attack), but it was immediately targeted by a strong hunt with depth charges which caused serious damage and many leaks.

Made heavier, the boats inexorably gained depth, exceeding the maximum allowed. Then, Captain Fiorini decided to emerge and accept the one-sided fight on the surface and scuttle the boat. But, as soon as the boat broke surface, it was centered by precise gunfire from the British destroyers LAFOREY and ECLIPSE; fire was so close that there was no possibility to react.

H.M.S. Eclipse (H08)

Hit by multiple shots and greatly flooded, the boat sank in a few minutes taking along 23 of the 50 crewmembers. The British picked up the 27 survivors. During its operational life, the ASCIANGHI completed 22 war patrols, 1 transport mission, and 24 transfers, for a total of 28,923 miles.

The submarine ARGONAUTA (second boat with this name; the first one operated in WW I) was the first and the eponymous of a successful series of 7 boats built in the early 1930s (Series ARGONAUTA Class “600”). This was the period in which Italy got started with a massive construction program of submarines, which would bring her, upon her entry into the war, to be the first submarine fleet in the world for total tonnage, and only second in number of boats to the Russian Fleet.

The ARGONAUTA at sea (1932)
(Photo Turrini)

The ARGONAUTA was a submarine of over 600 tons of displacement, 61.5 m. long and capable of reaching a depth of 80 meters, something quite respectable for the period. With a surface speed of 14 knots and 8.5 knots submerged, the boat was armed with a single 102 mm gun, 4 machine guns and 6 torpedo tubes: 4 forward and 2 aft. The crew included 50 men of which 5 or 6 were officers.

Built by the C.R.D.A. (Cantieri Riuniti dell’Adriatico) shipyard of Monfalcone, near Gorizia, the boat was laid down on November 9th, 1929, launched on January 19th, 1930 and delivered to the Navy on January 1st, 1932. Upon Italy’s entry into the war, the boat was assigned to the 61 Squadron of the VI Submarine Group based in Tobruk, Libya.

The ARGONAUTA in Messina
(Photo courtesy Erminio Bagnasco and Achille Rastelli)

On June 10th, 1940 the ARGONAUTA, under the command of Lieutenant Vittorino Cavicchia Scalamonti, was one of the 55 boats already on patrol in the Mediterranean. Along with other boats, the ARGONAUTA was assigned an area between the Island of Crete and the Egyptian Coast where enemy traffic to Suez and the naval base of Alexandria was to be expected. In fact, from these bases the British sent out anti-submarine forces meant to free these waters of Italian submarines.

The ARGONAUTA remained on patrol until June 21st in an area about 100 miles north east of Alexandria, picking up on the hydrophones heavy anti-sub activity but failing to locate and attack any target. It should be considered that, according to the regulations in place at the time, boats had very limited freedom of action to “eliminate dangerous interferences with each other” and a small square of sea was assigned to each of them. They absolutely could not leave this “square”, but had to wait for enemy ships to come their way. Crossing into another square was very dangerous: since there were no means for recognizing “friends and foes” (today we have electronic systems), and in a fight between submarines only the one who fires first survives, precisely as it happened between the submarines TRICHECO and GEMMA. The latter had entered the area assigned to the first and was sunk; it happened to other navies.

Enemy ships, instead, swept the sea in large numbers and on the 21st the ARGONAUTA was located and made object of an intense and precise bombardment with depth charges. With quick maneuvering (when a submarine is located and under attack by enemy warships, it prefers this tactic and reacts only if there is no way out), the boat was able to escape the enemy hunt, but suffered several serious malfunctions such as the failure of the attack periscope which practically blinded it.

The Argonauta in drydock
(U.S.M.M.)

Under these circumstances, the ARGONAUTA was forced to interrupt its mission and return to base in Tobruk where it arrived on June 22nd. The damage was repaired as well as possible, but the base was not equipped for the replacement of the periscope, thus it was decided to send the boat to Taranto, where the shipyard could have easily completed the task. At 21:45 on June 27th, the ARGONAUTA left Tobruk sailing along the Libyan coast to Cape Ras el Hilal (the northern most point of the coast), from which it directed to Cape Colonne, near Crotone (Calabria) on a north-north-west due course. After departure, all communication was lost.

From research conducted after the war, and by consulting documentation provided by the British, it was reasonably assumed that the ARGONAUTA was sunk around 6:15 on the 29th of June in position 35°16’ N, 20°20’ E (one third into the journey), by a squadron of British destroyers (DAINTY, DEFENDER, DECOY, VOYAGER and ILEX) which from the 27th to the 30th had patrolled the area between Alexandria, the Aegean Sea and the central Mediterranean as part of operation “MA3” in support of British convoys from the Greek ports to Port Said and from Alexandria to Malta.

There were no survivors. Other submarines were lost in similar circumstances. An official British source indicates that an antisubmarine airplane of the type “Sunderland” (a large flight boat which was deadly to most submarines) on June 29th at at 14:50 attacked with two volleys of depth charges a submarine navigating at periscope depth in position 37°29’ N, 19°51 E; a point almost coinciding with the route of the ARGONAUTA, but quite ahead of what the position should have been based on the speed of the vessel. Since there were no other attacks and losses reported in those days, besides those checked and located, the
report of the “Sunderland”, possibly erroneous in defining the actual position, could be correct. Anyway, the Historical Bureau of the Italian Navy, and the vast majority of historians, believes the first theory to be more believable. But, in my opinion, the doubt persists.

Translated from Italian by Cristiano D’Adamo