Calvi-class submarine

Class overview
Builders:	Oderno-Terni-Orlando
Operators:	Regia Marina
Built:	1935
In commission:	1936–1943
Completed:	3
Lost:	2
Scrapped:	1
Preserved:	0
General characteristics
Type:	Submarine
Displacement:	1,331 long tons (1,352 t) surfaced 1,965 long tons (1,997 t) submerged
Length:	277 ft (84 m)
Beam:	25 ft (7.6 m)
Draught:	17 ft (5.2 m)
Propulsion:	Diesel-electric 2 × 2200 HP Fiat diesel engines 2 × 900 HP electric motors
Speed:	17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h) surfaced 8.5 knots (9.8 mph; 15.7 km/h) submerged
Complement:	66
Armament:	8 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (6 bow, 2 stern) 2 × 100 mm (3.9 in)/47 guns 4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns
Notes:	[1]

The Calvi-class was a class of three submarines built by Oderno-Terni-Orlando in Genoa for the Royal Italian Navy (Italian: Regia Marina). The submarines were built in 1935, and all three served in the Mediterranean at the start of the Second World War. The boats were transferred to the BETASOM German submarine base at Bordeaux in August 1940. In December 1941 the boats were used for a rescue mission of 254 sailors from the sunken German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis. After Calvi had been sunk, Finzi and Tazzoli 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 20–25% to 3.5–6%; and armament was reduced to defensive machine guns.^[2]

Ships

Pietro Calvi

Pietro Calvi (pennant number CV) was launched 31 March 1935.^[1] The first war patrol was from Liguria to the Atlantic Ocean, and lasted from 3 July to 6 August 1940. After overhaul at La Spezia, Calvi sailed on 6 October 1940 for a second Atlantic patrol reaching Bordeaux on 23 October. Calvi suffered storm damage during its third patrol off the British Isles from 3 to 31 December 1940. The fourth patrol was between the Canary Islands and the Azores from 31 March to 13 May 1941. Calvi sailed on 1 August 1941 for a fifth patrol off the Canary Islands. During the sixth patrol from 7 to 29 December 1941 Calvi, Finzi and Tazzoli rescued sailors of the sunken raider Atlantis. The seventh patrol was off Brazil from 7 March to 29 April 1942. Calvi sailed on 2 July 1942 for its eighth patrol.^[3] Calvi was rammed and sunk on 14 July 1942 by convoy SL 115 escort HMS Lulworth.^[4] Three officers and 32 sailors survived.^[3]

Ships sunk by Pietro Calvi^[3]

Patrol	Date	Ship	Flag	Tonnage	Notes
3rd	20 December 1940	Carlton		5,162 gross register tons (GRT)	freighter from convoy OB 260; 4 survivors from a crew of 35
7th	25 March 1942	Tredinnick		4,589 GRT	freighter, no survivors
7th	1 April 1942	T.C. McCobb		7,452 GRT	tanker; 24 killed; first US ship sunk by an Italian submarine
7th	9 April 1942	Eugene V.R. Thayer		7,138 GRT	tanker; 11 killed
7th	April 1942	Balkis		2,161 GRT	freighter
7th	April 1942	Ben Brush		7,691 GRT	tanker; 1 killed
Total:				34,193 GRT

Giuseppe Finzi

Giuseppe Finzi (pennant number FZ) was launched 29 June 1935.^[1] The first war patrol was from Cagliari to the Atlantic, and lasted from 5 June to 10 July 1940. Finzi sailed on 7 September 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 13 September for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 29 September. Admiral Karl Dönitz visited Finzi on 30 September to welcome Regia Marina sailors to the German base. The third patrol near the British Isles from 24 October to 4 December 1940 revealed that the diesel engine air intake was too exposed for North Atlantic winter weather. The fourth patrol was near the Canary Islands from 10 March to 17 April 1941 and the fifth patrol was off Gibraltar in August. During the sixth patrol from 7 to 29 December 1941 Calvi, Finzi and Tazzoli rescued sailors of the sunken raider Atlantis. Finzi sailed for Operation Neuland on 6 February 1942 and returned on 31 March. Finzi returned to the Caribbean Sea for an eighth patrol from 6 June to 18 August 1942. On 26 November 1942 Finzi sailed for a ninth patrol to Brazil; but mechanical problems required return to base on 10 December. Finzi patrolled the west African coast from 11 February to 18 April 1943. Conversion to a transport submarine was never completed; and the boat was scuttled at Le Verdon-sur-Mer on 25 July 1944.^[5]

Ships sunk by Guiseppe Finzi^[5]

Patrol	Date	Ship	Flag	Tonnage	Notes
7th	6 March 1942	Melpomese		7,011 GRT	tanker, no casualties
7th	6 March 1942	Boren		4,528 GRT	freighter; no casualties
7th	10 March 1942	Charles Racine		9,957 GRT	tanker; no casualties
10th	28 March 1943	Granicos		3,689 GRT	iron ore freighter sank in less than 30 seconds, one survivor from a crew of 31
10th	29 March 1943	Celtic Star		5,575 GRT	freighter, 2 killed
Total:				30,760 GRT

Enrico Tazzoli

For other Italian submarines named Enrico Tazzoli, see Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli.

Enrico Tazzoli (pennant number TZ) was launched 14 October 1935.^[1] It was named after Enrico Tazzoli, a martyr of the Italian wars of independence. The first wartime patrol was off the coast of north Africa from 21 June 1940 to 2 July. The second was an unsuccessful attempt to pass the Strait of Gibraltar from 30 July to 9 August 1940. After overhaul at La Spezia, Tazzoli sailed on 2 October 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 7 October for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 24 October. The fourth patrol was off the British Isles from 13 December 1940 to 6 January 1941. Tazzoli sailed on 7 April 1941 to patrol between Freetown and the Azores; and shot down an attacking Bristol Blenheim while returning to port on 23 May. The sixth patrol was again off Freetown from 15 July to 11 September 1941. During the seventh patrol from 7 to 27 December 1941 Calvi, Finzi and Tazzoli rescued sailors of the sunken raider Atlantis. Tazzoli sailed for Operation Neuland on 2 February 1942 and returned on 31 March. The ninth patrol was again to the Caribbean from 18 June to 5 September 1942; and the tenth patrol was to Brazil from 14 November 1942 to 2 February 1943.^[6] After conversion to a transport submarine, Tazzoli sailed for Japan on 16 May 1943 and was sunk by aircraft in the Bay of Biscay on 23 May.^[7]

Ships sunk by Enrico Tazzoli^[6]

Patrol	Date	Ship	Flag	Tonnage (GRT)	Notes
3rd	12 October 1940	Orao	Yugoslavia	5,135	Freighter shelled then torpedoed while radioing; 2 killed
4th	27 December 1940	Ardanbahn	United Kingdom	4,980	No survivors from freighter of unescorted Convoy OB 263
5th	15 April 1941	Aurillac	United Kingdom	4,248	Freighter, 1 killed
5th	7 May 1941	Fernlane	Norway	4,310	Freighter with ammunition cargo, no casualties
5th	10 May 1941	Alfred Olsen	Norway	8,817	Tanker, no casualties
6th	19 August 1941	Sildra	Norway	7,313	Tanker, no casualties
8th	6 March 1942	Astrea	Netherlands	1,406	Freighter
8th	6 March 1942	Tonsbergfjord	Norway	3,156	Freighter; 1 killed
8th	8 March 1942	Montevideo	Uruguay	5,785	Freighter; 14 killed
8th	10 March 1942	Cygnet	Greece	3,628	Freighter; no casualties
8th	13 March 1942	Daytonian	United Kingdom	6,434	Freighter; 1 killed
8th	15 March 1942	Athelqueen	United Kingdom	8,780	Tanker; 3 killed
9th	2 August 1942	Kastor	Greece	5,497	Freighter; 4 killed
9th	6 August 1942	Havsten	Norway	6,161	Tanker; 2 killed
10th	12 December 1942	Empire Hawk	United Kingdom	5,032	Freighter
10th	12 December 1942	Ombillin	Netherlands	5,658	Freighter
10th	21 December 1942	Queen City	United Kingdom	4,814	Freighter, 6 killed
10th	25 December 1942	Doña Aurora	United States	5,011	Freighter, 7 killed
Total:				96,165

See also

• Italian submarines of World War II

Sources

• Marcello class at regiamarina.net
• Blair, Clay (1996). Hitler's U-Boat War, The Hunters 1939-1942. Random House. ISBN 0-394-58839-8. 
• Brice, Martin Axis Blockade Runners of World War II (1981) Naval Institute Press ISBN 0-87021-908-1
• 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)

Notes