Liuzzi-class submarine

The launch of Console Generale Liuzzi in 1939
Class overview
Builders: Tosi Taranto
Operators:
Built: 1939-1940
In service: 1939-1944
In commission: 1939–1944
Completed: 4
Lost: 4
General characteristics
Type: Submarine
Displacement:
  • 1,030 long tons (1,050 t) surfaced
  • 1,484 long tons (1,508 t) submerged
Length: 253 ft (77 m)
Beam: 25 ft (7.6 m)
Draught: 14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) surfaced
  • 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) submerged
Complement: 50
Armament:
  • 8 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes
  • 2 × 100 mm (3.9 in)/47 gun
  • 4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns
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 German 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 20–25% to 3.5–6%; and armament was reduced to defensive machine guns.[2]

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 Attilio 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]
Patrol Date Ship Flag Tonnage Notes
1st 12 June 1940 HMS Calypso United Kingdom 4,118 gross register tons (GRT) light cruiser; 39 killed
4th 11 December 1940 Amicus United Kingdom 3,360 GRT freighter of convoy SC 15
Total:7,478 GRT

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 2 September.[5] 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.[6] 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]

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

Capitano Raffaele 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.[7]

 Ships sunk by Tarantini[7]
Patrol Date Ship Flag Tonnage Notes
2nd 11 July 1940 Beme Panama 3,040 GRT freighter
Total:3,040 GRT

See also

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. ↑ Brice pp.131-133
  7. 1 2 "Regia Marina Italiana". Cristiano D'Adamo. Retrieved 2012-08-10.

Sources

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