Royal Italian Navy Submarines of WW2 - Operations along the American Coast

'Battle of the Atlantic Boats'  

R. Smg Torelli and R. Smg Faa di Bruno upon their arrival in Bordeaux

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 and the subsequent declaration of war by Germany and Italy on the United States, the U-Boats began “Operation Paukenschlag”, commencing unrestricted submarine warfare along the East Coast of the United States. As early as January 1942, the Da Vinci, Torelli, Morosini and Finzi were sent to the Antilles, followed in March by the Calvi. As both Captain Mario Rossetto and Rohwer Jurgen documented, during this period the results obtained by the Italian submarines were equal to those of the German U-Boats. The gap had been closed, but while Germany was producing a new U-Boat each day, Italy’s production was very limited and focused on the smaller coastal boats operating in the Mediterranean. Once again, since the Italian boats had greater endurance than their German counterparts and Dönitz did not have enough of the new long-range type IX U-Boats, the Italians were asked to patrol off the Brazilian coast. Starting in April and through May, the Cappellini, Barbarigo, Bagnolini, Archimede and Da Vinci departed Bordeaux for the long voyage to Brazil. There were good successes, despite the fact that the American Navy had begun setting up better escorts and extended aerial reconnaissance.

On the 19th of May, the Captain of the Barbarigo, Enzo Grossi , informed Betasom of the sinking of an American battleship, possibly a Maryland or a California. Soon after, despite some concerns already raised in Bordeaux, “Comando Supremo ” published the news in an official war bulletin; the Americans promptly rebutted it. It is said that Mussolini himself, a journalist by profession, edited the announcement himself. This would be the first of two fictitious battleship sinkings claimed by Commander Grossi. These episodes contributed to discrediting the reputation of the Italian submarine force. A second group of submarines was sent to Brazil, which included the Torelli, Morosini, Giuliani and Tazzoli. Despite the increased escort, they sank several ships, but on the way back to France the Morosini was lost, probably to a mine just off Bordeaux. On September 15th, the Calvi was scuttled after an attack by the British destroyer H.M.S. Lulworth near the Azores.

'Battle of the Atlantic Boat'

R. Smg. Da Vinci

Operations off Freetown and the South Atlantic

While the operations off the Americas were taking place, Betasom organized a few patrols off Freetown and later into the South Atlantic. The Cappellini, following the sinking of the liner Laconia by U 156, intervened to rescue some of the thousands of POW’s rescued by the U-boat. The sinking of the Laconia was a sad and regrettable event and one of the darkest pages of World War Two. Meantime, the Archimede, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Saccardo, sank the large transport Oronsay and nearly missed the equally large Nea Hellas. On the 6th of October, the already mentioned Grossi claimed another imaginary battleship, this time a Mississippi-class one. He was awarded the German Knights Cross and the Italian Gold Medal, rewards he later had to return. In October, the Italians were once again off the Brazilian coast. This time the Da Vinci, and Tazzoli scored well, while the Finzi returned empty handed. A fourth boat, the submarine cruiser Cagni, was sent all the way to Cape Town, but after a record-long mission of 137 days at sea, it only had 5,840 tons to its credit .

Another group of six submarines followed. The Barbarigo, now under new command, sank three ships for a total of 15,584 tons; the Da Vinci sank six ships for a record 58,973 tons , including the large liner Empress of Canada. These were stunning results only exceeded by Lieutenant Commander Henke of U 513 . The Finzi also sank ships, but the successes of the Italian submarine fleet came at a very high price. The Archimede was sunk by an American plane near the island of Fernando di Noronha, off the Brazilian coast, and the Da Vinci did not return to base, probably sunk on May 23rd, 1943 by the frigates Active and Ness 300 miles off Vigo, Spain. Two more vessels, the Torelli and the Bagnolini, returned without successes. After three years of continuous operations, the few remaining boats were worn out and no longer deemed fit for war patrol.

'Battle of the Atlantic Boat'

R. Smg Barbarigo

Conclusions

Betasom would remain fully operational until September 8th, 1943 when, after the Italian armistice, it was occupied by the Germans. Thereafter, some Italian personnel opted to continue fighting alongside the Germans, but Italian command was never re-established. The type VII submarines assigned to Italy were quickly reposed by the Kriesgmarine, and the few Italian submarines left in Bordeaux were too worn out for any possible use. It should be noted that while the Germans built concrete pens for their boats in Bordeaux, the Italian submarines where always exposed to aerial attacks. Despite this weakness, not a single vessel was lost in port or along the Gironde to aerial attacks. Thus, although restricted in the number of submarines deployed and the total tonnage sunk, the Italian contribution to the Battle of the Atlantic should be insignificant. On the contrary, in the perspective of the mammoth struggle which eventually saw British ingenuity and American industrial might prevail over the Axis, we should recognize that despite having fought for an unjust cause, the Italian submariners in the Atlantic contributed to writing one of the most epic pages of naval warfare.