AN ITALIAN WOLFPACK?
submarines of the regia marina
In the spring of 1940 the Italian navy, the Regia Marina, possessed nearly 120 submarines, although their capabilities were deficient compared to those of their German allies. After the fall of France, Italian submarines moved to ports on the Atlantic, establishing a base at Bordeaux. Their performance was disappointing early in the war as ten submarines were lost in the first three weeks, and only about 30 Italian submarines were operating at sea at any time in the conflict.
During the course of the Battle of the
Atlantic, Admiral Karl Dönitz, commander of the German Ubootwaffe, attempted to blend Italian submarines into the wolfpacks that stalked the Atlantic sealanes. Results were disappointing due to performance issues. Italian submarines were relatively slow and cumbersome. Therefore, most of their combat experience in World War II was conducted during individual cruises in the south Atlantic and the Mediterranean sea. In the Atlantic, Italian submarines sank 109 Allied merchant ships and 593,864 tons of cargo.
The most successful Italian submarine of World War II was the Leonardo da Vinci, under the command of Gianfranco Gazzanapriaroggia, the highest-scoring Italian submarine commander of the conflict. Leonardo da Vinci sank 17 ships and 120,243 tons of cargo, including the 21,500-ton passenger liner Empress of Canada, before falling victim to the destroyer HMS Active and frigate HMS Ness off the coast of spain on 22 May 1943. All hands were lost. At least 88 Italian submarines were sunk during World War II.