The launch of Console Generale Liuzzi
The launch of Console Generale Liuzzi in 1939
Class overview
BuildersTosi Taranto
Operators
Built1939–1940
In service1939–1944
In commission1939–1944
Completed4
Lost4
General characteristics
TypeSubmarine
Displacement
  • 1,030 long tons (1,050 t) surfaced
  • 1,484 long tons (1,508 t) submerged
Length253 ft (77 m)
Beam25 ft (7.6 m)
Draught14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) surfaced
  • 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) submerged
Complement50
Armament
Notes[1]

The Liuzzi class was a class of four submarines built by Tosi in Taranto for the Royal Italian Navy (Italian: Regia Marina). The submarines were built in 1939 and began their Second World War service in the Mediterranean Sea, where Liuzzi was sunk. The three surviving boats were transferred to the BETASOM Atlantic submarine base at Bordeaux in 1940. After Tarantini was sunk, Bagnolini and Giuliani were selected for conversion to "transport submarines" in order to exchange rare or irreplaceable trade goods with Japan. Cargo capacity of 160 tons reduced reserve buoyancy from between 20 and 25% to between 3.5 and 6%; and armament was reduced to defensive machine guns.[2] The submarines saw action in the Second World War during which they collectively sunk 5 freighters and 1 light cruiser and were eventually either sunk or captured.

Ships

Console Generale Liuzzi

Console Generale Liuzzi was launched 17 September 1939.[1] Two weeks after the Italian declaration of war, Liuzzi was sunk by Royal Navy destroyers south of Crete on 27 June 1940.

Alpino Bagnolini

Bagnolini (pennant number BI) was launched 28 October 1939[1] and completed on 22 December 1939. Bagnolini was at sea when Italy declared war, and torpedoed the cruiser HMS Calypso south of Crete on 12 June 1940. A second Mediterranean war patrol was unsuccessful. Bagnolini sailed on 9 September 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 13 September for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 30 September. En route Bagnolini torpedoed the neutral Spanish freighter Gabo Tortosa. Bagnolini sank a single ship on its first BETASOM patrol before being damaged by anti-submarine patrols. A July 1941 patrol off Gibraltar and a patrol off the Azores from 18 January to 22 February 1942 were unsuccessful; and three patrols to the South Atlantic from 24 April to 28 June, from 15 September to 7 November 1942, and from 14 February to 13 April 1943 were similarly unproductive.[3] After conversion to a German transport submarine, Bagnolini sailed as UIT-22 on 26 January 1944 and was sunk off the Cape of Good Hope by No. 262 Squadron RAF Consolidated PBY Catalinas on 11 March.[4]

Ships sunk by Bagnolini[3]
Ship Flag Patrol Date Tonnage (GRT) Notes
HMS Calypso United Kingdom 1st 12 June 1940 — light cruiser; 39 killed
Amicus United Kingdom 4th 11 December 1940 3,360 freighter of convoy SC 15

Reginaldo Giuliani

Giuliani (pennant number GN) was launched 3 December 1939.[1] After two unsuccessful Mediterranean war patrols, Giuliani sailed on 29 August 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 September for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 30 September. After an unsuccessful BETASOM patrol in November, Giuliani sailed on 16 March 1941 to serve as a training submarine at Gdynia to instruct Italian officers in attack techniques and methodologies employed by the Germans. From April 1941 to April 1942 training courses of two to five weeks including Baltic Sea cruises of ten to twenty days were completed by seven Italian crews. Giuliani returned to Bordeaux on 23 May 1942. Giuliani sank three ships during a patrol off the Cape Verde Islands from 24 June to 3 September 1942. Giuliani remained in the Spanish port of Santander, Cantabria until 8 November 1942 repairing damage inflicted by Short Sunderlands on 1 September and No. 304 Squadron's Wellington on 2 September.[5][6] After return to France and conversion to a transport submarine, Giuliani sailed on 16 May 1943 with 130 tonnes of mercury and reached Singapore on 1 August 1943.[7] When Italy surrendered on 8 September 1943 Giuliani was seized by Germany in Singapore and renamed UIT-23. UIT-23 sailed for France on 15 February 1944 with 135 tonnes of rubber and 70 tonnes of tin, and was torpedoed three days later by HMS Tally-Ho.[4] There were 14 survivors from the crew of forty.[5] One survivor was picked up by the Tally-Ho, the others were saved by a German Arado Ar 196 floatplane operating out of Penang, which transferred the survivors on its floats in several trips.[8]

Ships sunk by Giuliani[5]
Ship Flag Patrol Date Tonnage (GRT) Notes
Medon United Kingdom 7th 10 August 1942 5,444 freighter; no casualties
California United States 7th 13 August 1942 5,441 freighter; one killed from crew of 36
Sylvia de Larrinaga United Kingdom 7th 14 August 1942 5,218 freighter; three killed from crew of 53
Total: 16,103

Capitano Tarantini

Tarantini (pennant number TT) was launched 7 January 1940[1] and was on patrol in the Mediterranean when Italy declared war. Tarantini sank one ship on its second Mediterranean war patrol, but then had two unsuccessful patrols. Tarantini sailed on 31 August 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 September for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 5 October. Tarantini began its first BETASOM patrol on 11 November and was torpedoed by HMS Thunderbolt in the Gironde estuary while returning to base on 15 December 1940. Five of the crew were rescued.[9]

Ships sunk by Tarantini[9]
Ship Flag Patrol Date Tonnage (GRT) Notes
Beme Panama 2nd 11 July 1940 3,040 freighter

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Kafka & Pepperburg p. 790
  2. ↑ Brice pp. 129, 131
  3. 1 2 "Regia Marina Italiana". Cristiano D'Adamo. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  4. 1 2 Brice pp. 145–149
  5. 1 2 3 "Regia Marina Italiana". Cristiano D'Adamo. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  6. ↑ Sobski, Marek (2013). "Sommergibili na Atlantyku". Okręty (in Polish). No. 9(28)/2013. p. 48. ISSN 1898-1518.
  7. ↑ Brice pp. 131–133
  8. ↑ Brennecke 1996, p. 342.
  9. 1 2 "Regia Marina Italiana". Cristiano D'Adamo. Retrieved 2012-08-10.

Bibliography

  • Brice, Martin Axis Blockade Runners of World War II (1981) Naval Institute Press ISBN 0-87021-908-1
  • Brennecke, Jochen (1996). Jäger-Gejagte. Deutsche U-Boote 1939-1945 (in German) (5th ed.). München: Wilhel Heyne Verlag. ISBN 3-453-02356-0.
  • Erminio Bagnasco, Submarines of World War Two, Cassell & Co, London. 1977 ISBN 1-85409-532-3
  • Kafka, Roger & Pepperburg, Roy L. Warships of the World Cornell Maritime Press (1946)
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