After early peacetime training activity, and two fruitless missions in the Mediterranean Sea, the Barbarigo was assigned to the Atlantic theater, reaching its base in Bordeaux on 8 September 1940, after an unsuccessful patrol.
From October 1940 to May 1941, she went on three missions around Irish waters, which obtained only the damaging of a merchantman. In July, she sailed to the west of the Strait of Gibraltar and obtained its first successes, sinking the British ship Macon (5135 tls) on 25 July, and then the oiler Horn Shell (8272 tls), before turning for port. On 22 October, Barbarigo sailed again, under the command of Capitano di CorvettaEnzo Grossi, but the patrol was unsuccessful. On the next patrol, the submarine met a lighted ship, but Grossi torpedoed and sank her nonetheless (it was the neutral Spanish ship SS Navemar), on 23 January 1941.
Afterwards, Barbarigo was sent to Brazilian waters, departing Bordeaux on 30 April. She was responsible for the first Brazilian war action of World War II; she attacked the Brazilian merchant ship Comandante Lyra on 18 May 1942, without sinking her, and she was chased by Brazilian aero-naval forces for five days. The submarine managed to escape two attacks by Brazilian B-25 aircraft.[1]
On 20 May, the Barbarigo met the cruiser USSMilwaukee and the destroyer USSMoffett; wrongly recognizing the former as a Maryland-classbattleship, Grossi fired two torpedoes at the cruiser. With he and his crew being convinced they had seen and felt the "battleship" being struck and sinking, Barbarigo sailed away, while the American ships had not even been aware of the attack. Grossi reported his "sinking", and, despite the doubts and misgivings of BETASOM commander Romolo Polacchini, the action was widely publicized on Italian and German press; Grossi was awarded with a Gold Medal of Military Valour and promoted to Capitano di Fregata (Commander). On its way home, Barbarigo attacked and sank the ship Charlbury (4836 tls), 28 May.[2]
On 29 August, the submarine sailed again, this time for a mission around the African coast. On the night of 6 October, Barbarigo met the corvetteHMSPetunia, and Grossi "recognized" her as a Mississippi-classbattleship; he fired four torpedoes, and again he was convinced he had successfully sunk an enemy battleship,[3] while Petunia had escaped unharmed. Barbarigo returned to port on the night of 29 October. Again, Grossi's "success" was widely reported, and he was promoted to Capitano di Vascello (Captain) and awarded a second Gold Medal; he left the submarine to replace Polacchini as BETASOM commander. After the war, Grossi's actions would be the object of two enquiries in 1949 and 1962, which concluded that he and his crew had been in good faith, but stripped him of his promotions and awards.[4]
On 24 January 1943, the submarine departed for its last mission as an attack submarine, in which it sank the ships Monte Igueldo (3453 tls) on 24 February, Alfonso Pena (3540 tls) on 2 March, and Staghound on 3 March, before returning to Bordeaux on 3 April.
After a period of time for repairs, as well as some replacements and retraining of crew, the submarine was converted into a transport to carry materiel between Germany and Japan in 1943, with guns, torpedoes and all but one periscope being removed; it departed Bordeaux on 16 June, with 130 tons of valuable load, but disappeared. After the war, British records[which?] showed that an unidentified submarine had been attacked and presumed sunk between 17 and 19 June, in the area where Barbarigo might have been.
↑ Barone, 2013. Section "Amigos, amigos, guerra à parte (War is war)".
↑ Giorgerini, Giorgio (2002). Uomini sul fondo: storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi. Milano: Mondadori. pp.535–8. ISBN8804505370.
↑ Associated Press, "Italy Asserts Battleship of U.S. Destroyed: Sinking of 33,000 Ton Vessel By Submarine Not Confirmed From Any Other Source", The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Wednesday 7 October 1942, Volume 49, page 2.
USS Drum (SS-228) is a Gato-class submarine of the United States Navy, the first Navy ship named after the drum, a type of fish. Drum is a museum ship in Mobile, Alabama, at Battleship Memorial Park.
USS Milwaukee (CL-5) was an Omaha-class light cruiser built for the United States Navy during the 1920s. The ship spent most of her early career assigned to the Asiatic and Battle Fleets. In 1941, she was assigned to the Neutrality Patrol until she was refitted in New York in late 1941. She escorted a troop convoy to the Pacific in early 1942 before returning to the South Atlantic where she patrolled for German commerce raiders and blockade runners. In November, she intercepted one of the latter, but it scuttled itself before it could be captured. In 1944, she was temporarily transferred to the Soviet Navy and commissioned as Murmansk. The ship was returned by the Soviets in 1949 and sold for scrap in December.
This is a timeline for the Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945) in World War II.
HMS Safari was a third batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Commissioned in 1942, she was assigned to operate in the Mediterranean Sea. During the course of the war, Safari sank twenty-five ships, most of which were Italian.
The Marcello class was a class of nine submarines built in 1937 and 1938 by CRDA in Trieste for the Royal Italian Navy. Two similar submarines built in 1939 at La Spezia by Oto Melara are sometimes considered part of the class. All eleven served in the Mediterranean Sea at the start of the Second World War. After Provana's 1940 sinking, the remaining boats were transferred to the BETASOM Atlantic submarine base at Bordeaux in August 1940. After four boats had been sunk in the Atlantic, Barbarigo and Comandante Cappellini were then 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. Only Dandolo was in operational condition at the end of the war.
The Marconi class was a class of six submarines built for the Royal Italian Navy. The submarines were all launched between 1939 and 1940, and all but one, Luigi Torelli, were lost in the Atlantic during the Second World War.
Carlo Fecia di Cossato was an officer in the Regia Marina, in command of submarines and torpedo boats during World War II. He was credited with the confirmed sinking of 23 enemy ships. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and of the Gold Medal of Military Valor, the highest decoration of the Italian Armed Forces.
Enzo Grossi ; was an officer in the Regia Marina during World War II.
BETASOM was a submarine base established at Bordeaux, France by the Regia Marina Italiana during World War II. From this base, Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from 1940 to 1943 as part of the Axis anti-shipping campaign against the Allies.
The Cagni or Ammiraglio Cagni class was a class of submarines built for Italy's Regia Marina during World War II.
Leonardo da Vinci was a Marconi-class submarine of the Italian navy during World War II. It operated in the Atlantic from September 1940 until its loss in May 1943, and became the top scoring non-German submarine of the entire war.
Archimede was a Brin-class submarine built for the Royal Italian Navy during the 1930s.
The Liuzzi class was a class of four submarines built by Tosi in Taranto for the Royal Italian Navy. 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 Atlantic 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 between 20 and 25% to between 3.5 and 6%; and armament was reduced to defensive machine guns. The submarines saw action in the Second World War during which they collectively sunk 5 freighters and 1 light cruiser and were eventually either sunk or captured.
Romolo Polacchini was an Italian admiral during World War II.
Italian submarine Corallo was a Perla-class submarine built for the Royal Italian Navy during the 1930s. She was named after a gemstone Coral.
Italian submarine Diaspro was a Perla-class submarine built for the Royal Italian Navy during the 1930s. She was named after a gemstone Jasper.
Guglielmotti was a Brin-class submarine built for the Royal Italian Navy during the 1930s.
Salvatore Bruno Todaro was an Italian naval officer and submariner during World War II. He is best known for his participation in the battle of the Atlantic and the two instances in which he towed to safety the lifeboats carrying the survivors of ships he had sunk.
Pegaso was a torpedo boat and an escort aviso of the Italian Regia Marina. She was one of the most successful Axis anti-submarine warships of World War II.
HMS Petunia (K79) was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy and was built by Henry Robb in 1940. She was named after Petunia. Commissioned in 1940, rammed and sold to the Chinese Nationalist Government and renamed ROCS Fu Bo.
References
Bagnasco, Erminio (1977). Submarines of World War Two. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN1-85409-532-3.
Barone, João (2013) "1942: O Brasil e sua guerra quase desconhecida" (1942: Brazil and its almost forgotten war)(in Portuguese) Editora Nova Fronteira ISBN8520933947
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Italy
