August 1940
| 1-4 | August | Operation HURRY (Hurricane fighter reinforcements for Malta). |
| 3 | August | The Italian army invaded British Somaliland. |
| 19 | August | British forces evacuated Somaliland. |
| 29 | August | Operation HATS began (reinforcements for the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria). |
Admiral Cavagnari, Under-Secretary of State for the Navy, after reading a report of submarine operations for the period of 20 to 30 June 1940, noted his disappointment with the patrol reports from some submarines such as Bandiera, Ascianghi, Malachite, Mocenigo, Aradam and Iride and their lack of combativeness. In the western Mediterranean Theatre, Ascianghi wasted four torpedoes on a target without a result. Four of the other six submarines in the same zone had fired eight torpedoes; none had recorded a hit1. Some of their commanders would have to be transferred to other postings. The report for the period of 28 June to 12 July was not much better, and he raised his concern for the paucity of results obtained. Eighteen torpedoes were fired with only three hits, resulting in the sinking of two merchant ships and one destroyer2. In fact, there were five torpedo hits, which was an excellent percentage (almost twenty-eight percent) for the Mediterranean theatre, but the destroyer reported sunk by Beilul (HMS Hasty) was missed. This was more than compensated by the fact both claims by Marconi were not acknowledged, although she did hit two destroyers, one on 2 July (HMS Vortigern by a torpedo which failed to explode) and the other on 11 July (HMS Escort was sunk). On the negative side, one of the two merchant ships was sunk in error: the Vichy French Cheik.
Cavagnari worried about the noise emitted by Italian submarines which appeared to favour detection by British anti-submarine forces, and wondered how this could be remedied. He also asked to be informed of the efficiency of Italian hydrophones. Falangola would answer a few days later with a letter listing the number of hydrophone contacts for each submarine patrol up to the period of 15 August. There were 225 contacts, but only 40 resulted in subsequent sightings. There were 143 sightings so the majority did not originate from a hydrophone contact. For Italian submarines, taught to rely heavily on their hydrophones, this was sobering news but did not bring a change in procedure.
From 22 August to 4 September, an Italian delegation travelled to Germany where they visited the Pillau U-boat Training School. It consisted of Capitano di Corvetta Folco Buonamici of the Pola Training School, Capitano di Corvetta Cristiano Masi of the submarine Cappellini, and Tenente di vascello Junio Valerio Borghese of Pisani3, the latter would soon take over the command of Scirè. On 26 August, Borghese boarded the submarine U–314, and together with U–139, they conducted attack exercises against the freighter Ahrensburg and the submarine depot ship Wilhelm Bauer escorted by three old torpedo boats acting as a convoy. Buonamici and Masi surveyed the manoeuvres from the deck of Bauer. They noted, with some surprise, that German submarines could dive as fast as 25 seconds, although most of the time they averaged 30-35 seconds. The larger Italian Betasom submarines dived only in about 90-120 seconds. Following a few days of exercises, the three men returned home after an overnight stop in Berlin.
On 29 August, Italian submarines were informed that they could now attack without warning, the merchant ships of Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, and Egypt. Despite the tensions with Greece, brought by the sinking of the cruiser Helle (see further on in this section), Hellenic merchant vessels were not on the list. Italian submarines were only authorised to attack specific vessels which were suspected of being used by the enemy.
Mediterranean
Italian submarine patrols in the Mediterranean during August 1940
| Argo (…1 August) | Durbo (…2 August) | Narvalo (…6 August) |
| Zaffiro (…6 August) | Squalo (…6 August) | Corridoni (…8 August) Pt.3 |
| Glauco (…8 August) | Alagi (…9 August) | Aradam (…9 August) |
| Mameli (…9 August) | Mocenigo (…9 August) | Anfitrite (…9 August) |
| Cappellini (…9 August) | Speri (…10 August) | Tembien (…10 August) |
| Neghelli (…11 August) | Medusa (1-4 August) | Turchese (1-9 August) |
| Axum (1-11 August) | Diaspro (1-11 August) | Scirè (1-11 August) |
| Fisalia (1-7 August) | Marcello (2-19 August) | Gondar (2-20 August) |
| Ascianghi (2-19 August) | Balilla (3-22 August) | Dessié (3-20 August) |
| Naiade (3-22 August) | Micca (4-21 August) | Settembrini (4-19 August) |
| Jalea (5-17 August) | Gemma (5-17 August) | Manara (5-11 August) |
| Tricheco (5-17 August) | H.2 (6-10 August) | H.6 (6-10 August) |
| Tarantini (9-10 August) | Millelire (13 August…)5 | Bianchi (13 August…) |
| Sciesa (14-18 August) | Dagabur (14 August…) | Des Geneys (14 August…) |
| Delfino (14-17 August) | Iride (16-22* August) | Jantina (16 August…) |
| Tarantini (16-17 August) | Da Procida (18 August…) | Velella (19-26 August) |
| Da Vinci (26-29 August) | Atropo (27 August…) Pt.1 | Foca (27 August…) Pt.1 |
| Settimo (29 August…) | Sirena (29 August…) | Corallo (29 August…) |
| Nereide (30 August…) | Alagi (30 August…) | Axum (30 August…) |
| Capponi (30 August…) | Diaspro (30 August…) | Medusa (30 August…) |
Following the notification that Force H had sailed from Gibraltar, submarines were ordered to sea. On the first day of the month, Argo, Axum, Diaspro, Medusa, Neghelli, and Turchese were deployed to form two lines south of the Balearic Isles. Force H6 had indeed sailed on the last day of July to launch twelve Hurricane fighters from HMS Argus for Malta (Operation HURRY), while on 2 August, HMS Ark Royal sent nine aircraft from 810, 818, and 820 Squadrons to bomb Elmas airfield and mine Cagliari harbour. The Italian submarines did not see anything save Medusa who observed a French convoy; she had to cut short her patrol due to defects and was replaced by Manara.
At the beginning of the month, Galatea, Fisalia, and Smeraldo were withdrawn from Tobruk and sent to Taranto and eventually to Pola, where they underwent an extensive refit. With the loss of Diamante and Argonauta in June and the earlier withdrawal of Naiade, Sirena, Topazio, Lafolè, and Nereide, no submarines remained at Tobruk. Patrolling in the Eastern Mediterranean was left to the Leros-based submarines as well as those from Taranto and Brindisi.
On 1 August, some 80 miles south of the Kaso Straits, Goffredo Mameli (C.C. Nicola Maiorana) was recharging her batteries. The seas were rough, but visibility was excellent when, at 2320 hours, a ship was observed proceeding at about 10 knots toward the southeast and obviously to an Egyptian port. The submarine circled to get into a good attacking position and, at 0050 hours, fired two torpedoes from 800 metres with her bow tubes. This was the Greek Roula (1,041 GRT, built 1899) carrying tobacco, food, and matches from Istanbul to Port Said. The vessel apparently saw the torpedo tracks and turned to starboard to avoid them, and they missed. The submarine maneuvered to gain a new position and, this time, used 450mm from a stern tube; the Greek ship took evasive action to starboard and avoided it. Maiorana ordered his gunners to open fire, and after the third round, Roula came to a stop. The submarine closed and ordered the ship to be abandoned, firing a fourth round to accelerate the proceedings. The lifeboat was duly launched, and Maiorana closed and asked if everyone was accounted for and if they needed anything. The survivors answered the first question affirmatively and the second negatively. Mameli opened fire on the old ship, but this did not have much effect. Two more torpedoes were fired from the bow tubes but they either failed to explode or missed under. The Italian commander ordered the deck gun to reopen fire, and this time the old vessel sank. The survivors were distributed in two lifeboats, the Master Kostas Mitroupoulos and nine men in one, the First Officer and seven men in the other. The first boat reached the Egyptian coast, however the second boat was not found.
The next day, Glauco (C.F. Candido Corvetti) claimed to have been bombed while submerged at a depth of 30 metres off Cape Palos, but the attack seems to be unconfirmed by British sources.
Neghelli (C.C. Carlo Ferracuti) reported being missed by two torpedoes west of Sardinia on 5 August, but the attack was bogus. These may have been porpoises, which were frequently mistaken for torpedoes.
Settembrini (C.C. Alcide Bardi) sailed from Augusta to operate west of Crete and, on 7 August, attacked two large destroyers—possibly HMS Jervis and HMS Hostile—with a single torpedo; it missed. The next day, Naiade (T.V. Luigi Baroni) observed a submarine west of Crete but refrained from attack as Baroni could not make out wwhether it was a friend or foe.
On 12 August, Pietro MIcca (C.F. Alberto Ginocchio) laid another minefield in deep waters northwest of Alexandria. It was cleared within a few days.
During the night of 13/14 August, the naval base of Augusta was attacked by nine Swordfish aircraft from 830 Squadron, six carrying bombs and three carrying torpedoes. The damage was insignificant; all three torpedo bombers were shot down. The five submarines present (Brin, Dagabur, Durbo, Sciesa, and Tembien) were unscathed.
The political situation with Greece had been envenomed by the sinking of the Greek tanker Ermioni, chartered to supply the Dodecanese. She was reported by British Intelligence to have gone through the Corinth Canal and was intercepted and sunk by the light cruiser HMS Neptune on 28 July. This followed the sinking of the light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, and in both cases, Greek collusion was suspected. During the month, Italian submarines operating in Greek waters reported being subjected to several attacks, thereby confirming those suspicions. There is no evidence that the Hellenic Navy had carried out hostile actions.
During the afternoon of 14 August, Pietro Micca was patrolling northwest of Mersa Matruh when she discovered two enemy destroyers. She fired a single stern shot from 800 metres and claimed a hit heard after forty seconds. These were the light cruisers HMAS Sydney and HMS Neptune, escorted by the destroyers Nubian, Mohawk, Hostile, and Imperial. They escaped damage. Nubian and Hostile were left behind to hunt the submarine but could not locate it.
The sinking of the cruiser Helle
For some time now, the governor of the Dodecanese Islands, De Vecchi de Val Cismon, one of the four founders of the Fascist Party, had become convinced that Greece was conspiring with Great Britain to carry out clandestine hostilities toward the Italian possessions. He now gave verbal orders to T.V. Giuseppe Aicardi, commanding officer of the submarine Delfino, to attack Greek shipping at Tinos in retaliation. The submarine sailed from Leros at 2030 hours on 14 August and submerged at 0430 hours in the vicinity of Tinos. A periscope view revealed two merchant vessels judged to be of about 6-8,000 tons; these were the passenger ships Elsi (1,433 GRT, built 1891) and Esperos (1,461 GRT, built 1918). Shortly after, a warship was seen slowly entering the harbour, and as she could have collided with the submarine, Aicardi took his boat down to 40 metres and listened with hydrophones. When the noise of the screws had subsided, the Italian captain brought back Delfino to periscope depth, and the warship was observed moored to the main pier. This was the old Greek light cruiser Helle (2,115 tons) visiting the island to mark the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos on 15 August. Aicardi was now convinced that the presence of the three ships in such a small harbour meant that something was afoot and that they could only be in enemy service. He ordered one torpedo fired from 700 metres. The cruiser was hit squarely between the two funnels and sank immediately as a large column of smoke rose in the sky. There were nine killed and twenty-four wounded. The submarine now turned away and fired successively two stern shots at Elsi and Esperos. Both missed. Greece was neutral at the time and fragments of Italian torpedoes – with the marking ‘Torrino 1930’ – were later recovered7. The Italian Government stoutly denied responsibility and accused the British government of provocation8. The Italian Naval High Command was not informed of this deliberate breach of neutrality, although the diaries of Count Ciano indicate that the hand of De Vecchi was certainly suspected. It was found that, for political expediency, the matter should not be pursued, at least openly. The governor of the Dodecanese Islands had instructed the submarine captain not to forward his patrol report to his superiors. Only in December 1941, sixteen months after the incident, De Vecchi authorised Aicardi to release his report to Maricosom. However, the incident would remain hushed up long after the war ended.
The same evening, Domenico Millelire (C.C. Francesco De Rosa de Leo) reported being bombed west of Crete. No trace of such an attack could be found in British records. This venerable submarine was on her way to the Kaso Straits. At twenty-eight days, her patrol was the longest carried out by an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean theatre during the war.
On 18 August, Gondar (T.V. Piero Riccomini) was on patrol south of Majorca when an unknown aircraft was suddenly sighted. The submarine did not have time to dive and opened fire with her machine guns. Firing was quickly checked when it was identified as a French seaplane, but this was not before the gunners had shot their own radio aerial.
Operation G.A. and loss of Iride
The submarine Iride (T.V. Francesco Brunetti) was the only loss of the month, but it was a serious blow as she was earmarked for the first maiali (human torpedo) operation against Alexandria (operation G.A.). She was carrying four SLCs and eight operators9 of the Prima Flottiglia MAS. She was caught on the surface in the Gulf of Bomba by three Swordfish aircraft of 824 Squadron from HMS Eagle which took off from the airfield of Ma’aten Bagush near Sidi Barrani. Torpedoed by the aircraft of Captain Patch of the Royal Marines, she was sunk along with the minelayer Monte Gargano. Brunetti, with a few other men, was picked up, but the submarine was cut in two and had gone down in shallow waters. There were survivors trapped in the hull; they made themselves known by tapping. The depth of the water was only sixteen metres, and rescue efforts were soon underway with the assistance of the torpedo boat Calipso, the tugboats Egadi and Luigi Rizzo, and the fishing vessel Diego. Fortunately, the maiali operators were ashore at the time, and they were rushed to help. They frantically worked around the clock to save the trapped men. At this depth their Davis apparatus lasted only twenty minutes, forcing them to surface frequently and exchange them for fresh ones. One of the divers was Luigi Durand de la Penne, the future hero of another attempt at Alexandria. He entered the wreck and donned his Davis apparatus to a rating who was reluctant to leave the submarine. Seven men trapped in the wreck would be rescued, however two would succumb, most likely from embolism. There were thirty-three victims in all.
On 25 August, Michele Bianchi (C.C. Adalberto Giovannini) was patrolling east of Gibraltar when a 600-ton sloop of the Barricade class was sighted. Due to a mistake, two torpedoes were fired from 500 metres instead of one, and they missed the target.
On 30 August, operation HATS began. Its purpose was to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet based at Alexandria with the aircraft carrier Illustrious, the battleship Valiant, and the antiaircraft cruisers Calcutta and Coventry. To achieve it, Admiral Somerville would take Force H10 from Gibraltar to cover the passage until off Malta while Admiral Cunningham would sail with the Mediterranean Fleet11 from Alexandria to take over for the remainder of the trip.
The following morning, the Italian Fleet sailed to meet the threat12. A few hours later, the submarine HMS Parthian fired six torpedoes from close range at the light cruiser Duca Degli Abruzzi, one of them missed under. A large-scale engagement appeared imminent.
Atlantic
Italian submarine patrols in the Atlantic during August 1940
| Veniero (…1 August) | Calvi (…6 August) | Tazzoli (1-9 August)x13 |
| Barbarigo (7 August…) | Dandolo (8 August…) | Emo (27 August…) |
| Faà di Bruno (28 August…) | Giuliani (29 August…) | Baracca (31 August…) |
| Torelli (31 August…) | Tarantini (31 August…) |
Creation of Betasom
Germany having accepted the presence of Italian submarines at Bordeaux, preparations were made to send over twenty submarines to the Atlantic Theatre. On 20 August, this would assume the name of Grupsom Atlantico but would later be known as Betasom (‘B’ for Bordeaux). Grand Admiral Raeder looked forward to great cooperation with his new Italian Allies. The German surface fleet had been badly mauled during the Norwegian campaign. Only the heavy cruiser Hipper was available for raiding operations in the Atlantic. Raeder hoped that the more powerful Italian Navy would draw a large portion of the Royal Navy to the Mediterranean and enable him a freer hand in the Atlantic.
But the arrival of Italian submarines in Bordeaux was viewed with some alarm by Rear-Admiral Dönitz (Befehlshaber der U-boote [BdU] or Commander of the submarine force). He feared that they would try to take over the conduct of operations from him as they would initially outnumber the German U-boats in this theatre. Dönitz was determined to bring England to her knees by a tight blockade. This would become the only viable option following the defeat of the Luftwaffe during the air battle over the British Isles and the abandonment of Operation SEA LION, the projected invasion of England.
Malaspina (C.F. Mario Leoni) was the first submarine to join the new base. On 3 August, she crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. The submarine attempted to make the crossing on the surface at full speed (16 knots). Leoni, believing he had been sighted by an enemy destroyer, ordered an emergency dive. Her stern hydroplanes blocked; the submarine was out of control and quickly reached a depth of 165 metres before the situation was remedied. Thankfully, there was no depth charging. However, the submarine had suffered some minor damage, and one of her torpedoes was damaged in its tube. Passage was resumed, and two days later, Leoni detected a destroyer off Cape De Roca (Portugal). He closed to attack before recognising it as the Portuguese Douro.
On 8 August, Malaspina, with a warning shot, stopped the Portuguese San Miguel on passage from New York to Lisbon via Ponta Delgada (Azores). The vessel was released after her papers were examined.
At daybreak on 12 August, a ship was sighted on the horizon, the submarine dived and closed to attack. The ship was seen to be a large tanker zigzagging on a mean course of 200 degrees. This was the tanker British Fame (8,406 GRT, built 1936), which had left convoy OB.193 after dispersal. She was in ballast and travelling from Avonmouth to Abadan. At 0620 hours, Malaspina gained a favourable position and fired a pair of 533mm torpedoes from 1,600 metres. Leoni did not observe the result and took his submarine down to 15 metres. After 70 seconds, a loud explosion was heard, and the tanker opened fire on the submarine, apparently aiming at the spot from which the torpedoes had been launched. The submarine returned to periscope depth, and the target appeared to have stopped her engines but was drifting slowly. A third torpedo (this time a 450mm type) was aimed at the engine room as the crew was seen to abandon ship in three lifeboats. The tanker was sinking very slowly, Leoni circled his submarine to fire a fourth torpedo (again of the 450mm type) from the opposite side. It was 1030 hours, the hit broke her back, and she quickly sank. Malaspina now surfaced, closed the lifeboats, and took the Master William George Knight on board. Of the crew, three men had been killed. The forty-five survivors were rescued by the Portuguese destroyer Dao and landed in Lisbon. Leoni took special care of his prisoner and befriended him; a friendship that would be renewed after the war.
Two days later, Malaspina attacked an unidentified vessel with two torpedoes, but this time missed, the vessel fired two rounds at the submarine and escaped.
In the late afternoon of 18 August, Malaspina came under fire from an old vessel as Leoni was trying for a stern shot. This was the armed merchant cruiser HMS Circassia and the periscope was seen but so close that the guns could not be depressed enough. She just had time to fire one 6-inch and two 3-inch rounds and a near miss slightly damaged the submarine. The warship dropped three depth charges, but Malaspina escaped further damage and broke off the attack. That same night, the submarine attacked a vessel believed to be Loch Lomond with one torpedo. It missed. On 28 August, she was instructed to proceed to Bordeaux but not to arrive before 4 September.
Barbarigo (C.C. Giulio Ghiglieri) was next and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar on 1 August. On 18 August, she examined the Spanish Cierto on passage from Barcelona to Cadiz, and she was allowed to proceed. The next day, a vessel was sighted over the horizon some 170 miles west of Safi (Morocco) and was stalked by the submarine for several hours in the afternoon, skilfully staying at the limit of visibility. Dandolo submerged and closed at maximum speed, managing 7 knots for about an hour. This was the British Aguila (3,255 GRT, built 1917) on passage from Lisbon to the Canary Islands. Finally, the submarine surfaced at dusk and opened fire with both guns at long range (9,600 metres), and the enemy returned fire. After a duel that lasted seventeen minutes, the British vessel managed to disappear out of range. Ghiglieri claimed to have hit her five times, but she came out unscathed. On 21 August, two torpedoes were fired at a target believed to have been an auxiliary cruiser, without success.
Dandolo (C.C. Riccardo Boris) passed Gibraltar on 16 August and at dusk five days later, sighted a tanker on a 250-degree course. Maneuvering to stay out of sight until complete darkness, Boris brought his submarine into an attacking position and fired a single torpedo. This was the Dutch Hermes (3,768 GRT, built 1914). Hit forward on the port side, the ship was abandoned by her crew. This was observed by Boris, who assumed the ship was sinking and prematurely left the scene. However, when it was seen that the ship was still afloat, the crew climbed back on board and brought her to Lisbon. On the evening of 26 August, Dandolo attacked the British Ilvington Court (5,187 GRT, built 1919) carrying iron ore from Freetown to Cardiff. This time, the vessel sank in ten minutes. There were no casualties, and the forty-six survivors reached Santa Maria Island in the Azores.
If Commander Boris received praise for his patrol from Admiral Parona, this was not universally shared. Admiral Somigli14 made his disappointment known by commenting that tankers [such as Hermes] needed several torpedoes to sink and that, considering their importance to the war effort, submariners should not hesitate to use the necessary number to dispose of them15.
On 27 August, Supermarina informed the submarines that were destined for Atlantic operations that secret Base C was available for resupply if needed. This was in Cadiz on the southwest coast of neutral Spain. The supply ship Fulgor (6,503 GRT, built 1922 ) was put at their disposal and was anchored in the Carraca Channel (36°30’46” N, 06°15’23” W). Spanish authorities had turned a blind eye to it. Submarines were instructed to enter harbour after 2200 hours to avoid the numerous fishing vessels which arrived at nightfall. Scirè appears to be the only Italian submarine to use the facilities (twice) during the war and an effort would be made to destroy all the secret documents relating to the existence of this base. The possibility of Fulgor supplying U-boats had not gone unnoticed by the British Admiralty, and a rumour had been received that a U-boat had refuelled from the Italian tanker during the night of 11/12 August. An enquiry by the British Naval Attaché in Madrid had rejected it as untrue. British Naval Intelligence learned of it when the submarine Perla was captured in 1942, and incriminating papers were found on board.
On 30 August at Lorient, C.F. Primo Longobardo was assigned as an observer to U-99 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Otto Krestchmer. The German was already one of the top aces of the Kriegsmarine and would become the most successful submariner of the Second World War with forty-six ships sunk (over 270,000 tons) and five more damaged. On 3 September, bombs missed the U-boat, and she sailed for patrol the next day. In a three-week foray in the North Atlantic, the U-boat sank seven ships for a total of nearly 26,000 tons. Upon his return from patrol, Longobardo took over command of the submarine Luigi Torelli from C.F. Aldo Cocchia: the latter joined the Staff of Admiral Parona at Bordeaux.
Red Sea
Italian submarine patrols in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean during August 1940
| Guglielmotti (2-5 August) | Ferraris (14-17 August) | Guglielmotti (21-25 August) |
| Ferraris (26 August…) |
On 4 August, the RAF reported to have missed two Italian submarines during an air raid on Massawa. The steamer Impero and the gunboat Biglieri were hit during this raid. Two days later, an Italian submarine was claimed to have been damaged by a direct 250lb bomb hit during another raid on this base, but this was not confirmed.
At midnight on 15 August, Ferraris (C.C. Livio Piomarta) attacked a large destroyer or small cruiser of the Leander class northeast of Harmil Island. She missed and was counter-attacked but escaped damage. Some sources have indicated that it was the battleship Royal Sovereign who arrived at Aden on 16 August, however, her log shows that she was nearly 200 miles away at that time.
- Letter to Admiral Falangola of 10 August 1940 in Maricosom Cartella 35 (USMM). This referred to the attacks of not four but six submarines: Morosini, Iride, Aradam, Bandiera, Glauco, and Cappellini. ↩︎
- Letter to Admiral Falangola of 16 August 1940 in Maricosom Cartella 35 (USMM). ↩︎
- Cappellini was being repaired at La Spezia, and Pisani was undergoing a refit at Pola. ↩︎
- U-31 had the rare distinction of being sunk twice during the war. The first time was on 11 March 1940, when she was lost in the North Sea with all hands following an attack by a Blenheim bomber. She was later raised and repaired. When Borghese boarded her, she had recently been back in service. On 2 November 1940, she was sunk again by HMS Antelope northwest of Ireland. Fortunately, this time, most of the crew survived. ↩︎
- This would be the longest patrol by an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean (twenty-eight days). ↩︎
- Force H consisted of the battlecruiser Hood, the battleships Valiant and Resolution, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and Argus, the light cruisers Enterprise and Arethusa screened by the destroyers Gallant (D.13), Hotspur, Greyhound, Encounter, Faulknor (D.8), Fearless, Foresight, Foxhound, Forester, and Escapade. ↩︎
- Fragments of a torpedo are on display at the Maritime Museum of Piraeus. ↩︎
- After the war, as reparation from the Italians, the Hellenic Navy obtained the light cruiser Eugenio di Savoia who was renamed Helle. ↩︎
- T.V. Gino Birindelli, T.V. Alberto Franzini, T.V. Luigi Durand Della Penne, Maggiore G.N. Teseo Tesei, Maggiore G.N. Franzini, Capo G.N. Elios Toschi and Capo Enrico Lazzari. ↩︎
- Force H: battlecruiser Renown (flagship Admiral Somerville), Valiant, aircraft carrier Illustrious, light cruisers Sheffield, Coventry and Calcutta, destroyers Faulknor (D.8), Fortune, Fury, Foresight, Firedrake, Forester, Encounter, Gallant (D.13), Greyhound, Hotspur, Griffin, Nubian, Mohawk, Janus, Hero, Wishart and Velox. ↩︎
- The Mediterranean Fleet: battleships Warspite (flagship Admiral Cunningham), Malaya, aircraft carrier Eagle, Third Cruiser Squadron with the light cruisers Orion and Sydney (Austr.) and Seventh Cruiser Squadron with the heavy cruiser Kent, the light cruisers Gloucester and Liverpool and the destroyers Decoy Defender, Hereward, Imperial, Hyperion, Ilex, Hasty, the Australian Stuart, Voyager, Vampire and Vendetta and the Polish Garland. They were also to provide cover for convoy M.F.2 for Malta (merchant ships Cornwall, Volo, and RFA Plumleaf escorted by the destroyers Jervis, Juno, Dainty, and Diamond). ↩︎
- This was the Italian Fleet’s largest deployment of the war: five battleships, six heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, thirty-four destroyers, and two torpedo boats.
From Taranto: the battleships Littorio (flagship Admiral Campioni), Vittorio Veneto, Duilio, and Cavour, the heavy cruisers Pola, Zara, Gorizia, the light cruisers Abruzzi and Garibaldi and twenty-two destroyers (7th Squadron: Freccia, Strale, Dardo, 8th Squadron: Folgore, Baleno, Fulmine, Lampo, 9th Squadron: Alfieri, Carducci, Gioberti, Oriani, 10th Squadron: Maestrale, Grecale, Libeccio, Scirocco, 12th Squadron: Lanciere, Ascari, Carabiniere, Corazziere, 16th squadron: Da Recco, Pessagno, Usodimare. On 2 September, the battleship Giulio Cesare, escorted by the torpedo boats Pleiadi and Partenope departed from Taranto to join the main body.
From Messina: the heavy cruisers Trento, Trieste, and Bolzano and four destroyers (11th Squadron: Artigliere, Aviere, Camicia Nera, Geniere).
From Reggio Calabria: three destroyers (13th Squadron: Granatiere, Alpino, Bersagliere)and a fourth from Palermo: Fuciliere.
From Brindisi: the light cruisers Eugenio di Savoia, Duca d’Aosta, Attendolo, and Montecuccoli and four destroyers (15th Squadron: Pigafetta, Da Mosto, Da Verazzano, Zeno). ↩︎ - Tazzoli had sailed for the Atlantic, however defects forced her to turn back before reaching Gibraltar. ↩︎
- Ammiraglio di Squadra Edoardo Somigli, Sotto Capo di Stato Maggiore (Vice-Chief of Naval Staff). ↩︎
- Cf. Argomento: Missioni compuite dai Smg. Malaspina – Dandolo – Barbarigo fra il 29 Luglio e il 10 settembre dated 9 October 1940 in Maricosom Cartella 36 (USMM). ↩︎