German submarine UIT24 in the Inland Sea, Japan, August, 1944. UIT24 was the ex-Italian submarine Comandante Cappelini and was later the IJN I-503. |
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| Career (Italy) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Cappellini |
| Launched: | 14 May 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 23 September 1939 |
| Renamed: | Aquilla III, May 1943 |
| Fate: | Captured by Japan, 10 September 1943, and handed over to Germany |
| Career (Germany) | |
| Name: | UIT-24 |
| Acquired: | September 1943 |
| Fate: | Incorporated into Japanese Navy after German surrender in May 1945 |
| Notes: | Mixed Italian/German crew |
| Career (Japan) | |
| Name: | I 503 |
| Acquired: | May 1945 |
| Fate: | Captured by the U.S. Navy in August 1945, and scuttled, 16 April 1946 |
| Notes: | Mixed Italian/Japanese crew |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,060 long tons (1,080 t) surfaced 1,313 long tons (1,334 t) submerged |
| Length: | 73 m (239 ft 6 in) |
| Beam: | 7.19 m (23 ft 7 in) |
| Draught: | 5.1 m (16 ft 9 in) |
| Propulsion: | Diesel-electric 2 × Fiat diesels 2 × CRDA electric motors |
| Speed: | 17.4 knots (20.0 mph; 32.2 km/h) surfaced 8 knots (9.2 mph; 15 km/h) submerged |
| Complement: | 58 |
| Armament: | 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 4 stern) 2 × 3.9 in (99 mm) guns 4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns |
Comandante Cappellini or Cappellini was a World War II Italian Marcello-class submarine built for the Italian Royal Navy (Italian: Regia Marina). Operating under the BETASOM command, Comandante Cappellini made war patrols in the Atlantic Ocean sinking or damaging 31,000 tons of enemy shipping. She participated in the rescue of the survivors of the Laconia in September 1942. Was later converted to the transport of strategic materials to and from Japan. After Italy's capitulation in 1943, the submarine, was captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy and handed over to Germany at Sabang on 10 September 1943. Commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as foreign U-boat UIT-24 and assigned to 12th U-boat Flotilla with a mixed Italian and German crew. She remained in the Pacific despite failed attempts to return to the 12th flotilla base at Bordeaux, France.
At Germany's surrender in May 1945, the submarine was taken over and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as I-503 and shuttled between ports as a transport submarine. At Japan's surrender in August, she was seized by the United States Navy, which scuttled her off Kobe on 16 April 1946.
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