December 1943
| 2/3 | December | During the night, the Luftwaffe conducted a devastating raid on Bari harbor. The sinking of the Liberty ship USS John Harvey, carrying mustard gas, caused many casualties. |
| 26 | December | The German battle cruiser Scharnhorst was sunk in the Battle of North Cape. |
| 28 | December | Battle of Biscay. The British light cruisers Glasgow and Enterprise defeat a German squadron of five large destroyers and six torpedo boats. |
Italian submarine patrols in the Mediterranean during December 1943
| Axum (19-21 December)x | Marea (23-29 December) | Axum (25-28 December*) |
Loss of Axum
During the night of 3/4 December, Axum (T.V. Giovanni Sorrentino) landed a group of fifteen OSS agents near Castel di Mezzo (Pesaro). This was Special Operation DECENCY also known as the ‘Vittorio’ mission, which sent valuable intelligence until the capture of their station by the Germans on 17 March 1944. Axum was to return on 19 December, but engine defects diverted her to Taranto instead. She sailed again on 25 December to land British agent Captain Peter and picked up one ISLD agent, two USAAF personnel, and seven Greek agents in the Gulf of Arcadia, south of the Channel between Zante and Morea. On 28 December, she ran aground on Kaifas Beach (37°31′ N, 21°35′ E) and had to be scuttled the next day. The crew, including Lt Jeffrey RNVR and Midshipman Roberts RNVR, who were acting as liaisons, were rescued with the help of the Greek Resistance. During the night of 3/4 January, an initial attempt to pick them up by the Italian destroyer Augusto Riboty failed as they were forced to move inland to avoid German troops combing the area. Thanks to a parachute drop of warm clothing and boots by an RAF aircraft, and after a five-day trek across the mountains of Morea, they were finally picked up by the torpedo boat Ardimentoso on Proti Island on 29 January 1944. They reached Taranto the next day.
A human torpedo was recovered from the tanker Olterra and repaired by the British. From 3 December to 7 January, trials were conducted with the maiale manned by Lieutenant. Lionel K.P. Crabb, RNVR, and Temporary Petty Officer D.M. Bell (the latter was replaced on the last day by Acting Lieutenant Commander B.N. Sullivan, RNVR). The Gibraltar defences were tested, and valuable experience was gained[1].
At Taranto, the construction of the large supply submarines R.3, R.4, R.5, and R.6 was stopped. The effort was considered no longer justified.
Marea (S.T.V. Attilio M. Russo) also landed several agents in another secret mission (23-29 December). These were part of special operations RENOWN (SOE), RODNEY (SOE), and VENICE II (MI9). Russo and his crew earned praise from Rear-Admiral McGregor for their perseverance in the face of extremely bad weather.
On 3 December, the five Italian C.B. boats were transferred to the Rumanian Navy but were later returned to the Italian Socialist Republic.
[1] Cf. ADM1/16490 (TNA). Crabb was the bomb disposal officer and had already successfully removed limpets from merchant ships targeted by the Decima Flottiglia MAS. In 1956, Crabb apparently died under mysterious circumstances during a dive to examine the hull of the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze on an official visit to Portsmouth.