Avorio (AV)
Avorio

Type	Coastal / Sea going
Class	Platino 1 (24)
Laid down	9 Nov 1940	Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone
Launched	6 Sep 1941
Commissioned	25 Mar 1942
End service
Stricken
Loss date	8 Feb 1943
Loss position	37° 13'N, 6° 41'E
History
Fate	Scuttled on 8th February 1943 north-west of Philippeville, Algeria, in position 37°13'N, 06°41.5'E after being forced to surface after being depth charges and being damaged by gunfire from the Canadian corvette HMCS Regina.

Commands

Commander	Date from	Date to	Command notes
C.C. Marco Revedin	1 Apr 1942	6 Apr 1942
S.T.V. Silvestro Sergio Grandesso	6 Apr 1942	10 Apr 1942
C.C. Emilio Gariazzo	10 Apr 1942	27 Apr 1942
C.C. Mario Resio	27 Apr 1942	20 May 1942
T.V. Mario Priggione	20 May 1942	29 Jan 1943
T.V. Leone Fiorentini	29 Jan 1943	9 Feb 1943

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

	Commander	Date	Time	Port	Arr. date	Arr. time	Arr. port	Miles	Description
		11 Feb 1942	0945	Monfalcone	11 Feb 1942	1710	Monfalcone		Exercises.
		13 Feb 1942	0920	Monfalcone	13 Feb 1942	1735	Monfalcone		Exercises.
		14 Feb 1942	1000	Monfalcone	14 Feb 1942	1805	Pola		Passage Monfalcone-Pola.
		16 Feb 1942	1000	Pola	16 Feb 1942	1805	Pola		Exercises.
		22 Feb 1942	0725	Pola	22 Feb 1942	2220	Pola		Exercises.
		23 Feb 1942	1055	Pola	23 Feb 1942	1620	Monfalcone		Passage Pola-Monfalcone.
	Revedin, Marco	3 Apr 1942	0900	Monfalcone	3 Apr 1942	1320	Monfalcone		Exercises.
	Grandesso, Silvestro Sergio	6 Apr 1942		Monfalcone	10 Apr 1942		Monfalcone		In reserve, change in command.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	10 Apr 1942		Monfalcone	27 Apr 1942		Monfalcone		In reserve, change in command.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	24 Apr 1942	0910	Monfalcone	24 Apr 1942	1230	Monfalcone		Exercises.
	Resio, Mario	27 Apr 1942		Monfalcone	20 May 1942		Monfalcone		Change in command.
	Priggione, Mario	25 May 1942	0900	Monfalcone	25 May 1942	1700	Monfalcone		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	27 May 1942	0800	Monfalcone	27 May 1942	1900	Monfalcone		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	1 Jun 1942	0800	Monfalcone	1 Jun 1942	1225	Venice		Passage Monfalcone-Venice.
	Priggione, Mario	2 Jun 1942	1140	Venice	2 Jun 1942	1315	Venice		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	5 Jun 1942	0845	Venice	5 Jun 1942	1450	Pola		Passage Venice-Pola.
	Priggione, Mario	9 Jun 1942	1200	Pola	9 Jun 1942	1615	Pola		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	12 Jun 1942	0730	Pola	12 Jun 1942	1625	Pola		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	15 Jun 1942	0625	Pola	15 Jun 1942	2030	Pola		Exercises escorted by the torpedo boat T.3.
	Priggione, Mario	18 Jun 1942	0550	Pola	18 Jun 1942	1945	Pola		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	22 Jun 1942	0635	Pola	22 Jun 1942	1515	Pola		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	28 Jun 1942	1410	Pola	1 Jul 1942	1120	Naples		Passage Pola-Naples with the submarine Granito.
	Priggione, Mario	3 Jul 1942	0825	Naples	3 Jul 1942	1600	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	4 Jul 1942	0810	Naples	4 Jul 1942	1420	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	5 Jul 1942	0820	Naples	5 Jul 1942	1400	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	9 Jul 1942	0915	Naples	9 Jul 1942	1630	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	10 Jul 1942	0825	Naples	10 Jul 1942	1540	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	12 Jul 1942	0825	Naples	12 Jul 1942	1340	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	13 Jul 1942	0835	Naples	13 Jul 1942	1555	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	14 Jul 1942	0840	Naples	14 Jul 1942	1500	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	16 Jul 1942	0930	Naples	16 Jul 1942	1315	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	17 Jul 1942	0830	Naples	17 Jul 1942	1534	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	18 Jul 1942	0845	Naples	18 Jul 1942	1645	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	19 Jul 1942	0840	Naples	19 Jul 1942	1840	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	21 Jul 1942	0840	Naples	21 Jul 1942	1540	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	22 Jul 1942	0840	Naples	22 Jul 1942	1516	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	24 Jul 1942	0747	Naples	24 Jul 1942	0935	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	27 Jul 1942	1425	Naples	27 Jul 1942	2305	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	29 Jul 1942	1440	Naples	30 Jul 1942	0031	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	3 Aug 1942	0725	Naples	3 Aug 1942	1130	Naples		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	4 Aug 1942	0905	Naples	5 Aug 1942	1030	Cagliari		Passage Naples-Cagliari.
1	Priggione, Mario	11 Aug 1942	1726	Cagliari	17 Aug 1942	1137	Cagliari	?	Patrolled off northern Tunisia, between 37°20' N and 38°00' N and between 09°40' E and 10°00' E, operating against the PEDESTAL convoy.
		12 Aug 1942	1555	37° 35'N, 9° 50'E (0) Approximately.	At 1555 hours, a submarine was sighted.
		12 Aug 1942	1708	37° 35'N, 9° 50'E	At 1708 hours, an enemy force of three battleships who appeared to be American, several steamers and destroyers were sighted at at distances varying from 12,000 to 18,000 metres. Avorio attempted to close for an attack but two destroyers turned toward her. At 1725 hours, she submerged and, five minutes later, four depth charges exploded. The submarine escaped by diving to 100 meters and heard a total of 180 depth charges.
2	Priggione, Mario	18 Aug 1942	0027	Cagliari	19 Aug 1942	1323	Trapani	?	Patrolled off north coast of Tunisia, between 37°20' N and 37°50' N, and between 09°20' E and 10°20' E.
		18 Aug 1942	0255	38° 51'N, 9° 29'E	At 0255 hours, as Avorio was leaving Cagliari, a submarine was a sighted at a distance of 500 metres steering 050°. T.V. Mario Priggione prepared the two stern tubes but hesitated to attack as it could have been an Italian submarine and finally aborted. The submarine was HMS P 211 (Commander Ben Bryant, DSC, RN) (later to be named HMS Safari. Avorio was not noticed.
		18 Aug 1942	0600		At 0600 hours, an Italian tanker, believed to be Perseo, was sighted at a distance of 10,000 metres. Avorio closed and made repeated visual signals but the vessel escaped at full speed. The submarine finally closed to 4,500 meters and transmitted in clear a warning that she had sighted a submarine 38°51'40" N, 09°29'40" E [HMS P 211] but the vessel did not respond and appeared to be arming her stern gun. At 0647 hours, Avorio gave up and returned on her original course. Three hours later Perseo was torpedoed and sunk by HMS P 211.
	Priggione, Mario	22 Aug 1942	0515	Trapani	23 Aug 1942	0055	Cagliari		Passage Trapani-Cagliari.
	Priggione, Mario	25 Aug 1942	0825	Cagliari	25 Aug 1942	1115	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	28 Aug 1942	0630	Cagliari	28 Aug 1942	0840	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	5 Sep 1942	0750	Cagliari	5 Sep 1942	1110	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	13 Sep 1942	2100	Cagliari	15 Sep 1942	0800	Augusta		Passage Cagliari-Augusta.
	Priggione, Mario	26 Sep 1942	0830	Augusta	26 Sep 1942	1305	Augusta		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	3 Oct 1942	0855	Augusta	3 Oct 1942	1315	Augusta		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	15 Oct 1942	0840	Augusta	15 Oct 1942	1400	Augusta		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	22 Oct 1942	0900	Augusta	22 Oct 1942	1245	Augusta		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	5 Nov 1942	1630	Augusta	6 Nov 1942	1633	Trapani		Passage Augusta-Trapani.
3	Priggione, Mario	7 Nov 1942	1551	Trapani	8 Nov 1942	0200	Trapani		Sailed for patrol, but very quickly recalled for new instructions.
3b	Priggione, Mario	8 Nov 1942	0245	Trapani	13 Nov 1942	1630	Cagliari		Sailed for patrol off the north coast of Tunisia, between 37°18'N and 37°41'N, and between 09°54'E and 10°15'E and then ordered on 9th November to an area between 37°00'N and 37°20'N, and between 06°20'E and 06°40'E. Arrived at dawn on 9th November at the entrance of the Bay of Bone. Uneventful. The submarine heard H.E. but sighted nothing. Because she was leaking fuel, the submarine had to return to base.
4	Priggione, Mario	16 Nov 1942	1817	Cagliari	26 Nov 1942	0940	Cagliari	?	Sailed for patrol between 37°40' N and 38°00' N, and between 07°40' E and 08°00' E. On the evening of the 19th, she made a reconnaissance of Bone. On 20th November, she was moved to an area between 37°20' N and the Algerian coast, and between 07°20' E and 07°40' E.On the evening of 23rd November, she made a reconnaissance of the Bay of Bougie.
		17 Nov 1942	0625		At 0625 hours, a submarine was observed to be diving. Avorio also submerged at 0649 hours.
		19 Nov 1942	0221	37° 15'N, 7° 39'E	At 0221 hours, a corvette was sighted at a range of 5,000 metres. T.V. Mario Priggione did not try to attack the enemy vessel, fearing the presence of other enemy warships.
		22 Nov 1942	0234-0317		At 0234 hours, the Italian submarine Argo was encountered and recognition signals were exchanged. This was followed by vocal exchange between the two commanders.
		24 Nov 1942	0154	36° 42'N, 5° 11'E	At 0116 hours, a dark shadow was sighted at a distance of 800 metres at the limit of a rain squall. At 0147 hours, the submarine surfaced to close and recognised the vessel to be a one-funnel destroyer with two guns forward. At 0154 hours, three torpedoes (a fourth misfired) were fired from bow tubes at a range of 600 metres and Avorio dived. After 40 seconds, almost simultaneous explosions were heard. The submarine surfaced at 0342 hours with nothing on the horizon. Allied records have not confirmed this attack.
	Priggione, Mario	10 Dec 1942	1350	Cagliari	10 Dec 1942	1635	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	11 Dec 1942	1020	Cagliari	11 Dec 1942	1245	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	13 Dec 1942	1415	Cagliari	13 Dec 1942	1655	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	14 Dec 1942		Cagliari	14 Dec 1942		Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	22 Dec 1942	1355	Cagliari	22 Dec 1942	1620	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	23 Dec 1942	0905	Cagliari	23 Dec 1942	1015	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	30 Dec 1942	0840	Cagliari	30 Dec 1942	1050	Cagliari		Exercises.
5	Priggione, Mario	2 Jan 1943	1210	Cagliari	2 Jan 1943	1505	Cagliari		Sailed for patrol between 37°30' N and the Algerian coast, and between 06°40' E and 07°00' E but was very quickly recalled.
5b	Priggione, Mario	4 Jan 1943	0418	Cagliari	11 Jan 1943	0750	Cagliari	?	Sailed for patrol between 37°40' N and 38°00' N, and between 09°20' E and 09°40' E. On 7th January, she was ordered to an area between 37°20' N and the Algerian coast, and between 04°20' E and 04°40' E.
		9 Jan 1943	2347 0016/10 (e)	37° 43'N, 4° 45'E	At 2347 hours, Avorio was steering 090°, when an aircraft, believed to be a Liberator, illuminated her with a projector (Leigh Light) and dropped four bombs. The submarine crash-dived, but the diesel exhaust pipe could not be immediately shut and a quantity of water entered the submarine and the dive was not stopped before a depth of 97 metres had been reached. The submarine had to surface again, but the aircraft with the projector was sighted just above her at a height of 50 metres, forcing her to crash-dive again. It was noticed that the torpedo cap of tube no. 6 (stern) was not shut properly but this had not caused a leak even though the submarine had reached a depth of 100 metres . However, it was difficult to keep the boat down at a safe depth and Avorio had to surface again. Some 30 tons of water had entered the submarine and it was not possible to start the dielsels, so electric motors had to be used. The aircraft was still circling around. At about 0010 hours on 10th January the aircraft returned, still using its projector and, dropped four bombs. The nearest fell 10 metres from the submarine, starboard aft of the forward hydroplanes. The bomber was observed to fire with its stern gun but the burst fell short of Avorio who was firing back with her three machine-guns and apparently hit the projector. The submarine was slightly damaged and had to abort her mission. The attack was made by Wellington 'W' (HX.531) of 179 Squadron, piloted by Flight Sergeant A.D.S. Martin. It had detected the submarine by radar at a range of 11 miles. It was steering 090° at 4 knots. The bomber attacked at 0016 hours, dropping four Mark XI Torpex depth charges from a height of 300 feet set at shallow depth and two flame floats.
		10 Jan 1943	0310		At 0310 hours, the repatriation ships Giulio Cesare and Duilio were sighted at a distance of 1,000 metres. Avorio turned away.
		10 Jan 1943	1035	38° 35'N, 6° 20'E	At 1035 hours, a Sunderland was sighted at a range of 1,000 metres. Avorio crash-dived but the acid vapours caused by the damages incurred on 9th January forced the submarine to emerge at 1750 hours and continue her return passage on the surface.
	Priggione, Mario	14 Jan 1943	0847	Cagliari	14 Jan 1943	1056	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	15 Jan 1943	0835	Cagliari	15 Jan 1943	1102	Cagliari		Exercises.
6	Priggione, Mario	20 Jan 1943	0220	Cagliari	24 Jan 1943	0815	Cagliari	?	Patrolled off Bougie.
		21 Jan 1943	2350		At 2350 hours, a submarine was sighted at a distance of 3,000 metres. Avorio dived
		23 Jan 1943	0350	37° 27'N, 6° 08'E (0) Approximately.	At 0350 hours, a submarine was sighted at 5,000 metres. Avorio dived.
	Priggione, Mario	28 Jan 1943	1345	Cagliari	28 Jan 1943	1606	Cagliari		Exercises.
	Priggione, Mario	30 Jan 1943	1404	Cagliari	30 Jan 1943	1655	Cagliari		Exercises.
7	Fiorentini, Leone	6 Feb 1943	1340	Cagliari	9 Feb 1943	0510	Sunk		Sailed for patrol between 37°40'N and the African coast and between 06°20'E and 06°40'E. Sunk off Bougie by HMCS Regina. One officer and twenty-six ratings were picked up, twenty were killed or missing (three officers including Fiorentini, the First Lieutenant and seventeen ratings). At 2320/8, the submarine sighted Regina, who was escorting stragglers of the M.K.S.8 convoy, when she was only 600 meters away. Avorio crash-dived but was depth-charged at 2323 and forced to surface. After a brief attempt at resistance (only a few MG rounds could be fired), she was abandoned. A tug took her in tow, but she sank at 0510 in 37°13'N, 06°41'E.
		8 Feb 1943	0015A		At 0015A hours, the minesweeper HMS Rothesay escorting LSTs, attacked a U-boat. This was believed to have been Avorio.
		8 Feb 1943	2310	(e) 37° 13'N, 6° 41'E	At 2310 hours, the corvette HMCS Regina, escorting a convoy, detected a submarine by radar at a range of 6,200 yards. She closed the range but briefly lost contact as the submarine submerged and regained it by ASDIC at 2317 hours when she was only 600 metres distant. This was Avorio and she had crash-dived. At 2323 hours, Regina dropped a pattern of ten depth charges set at shallow depth. The submarine was then observed trying to escape on the surface and the corvette opened fire with two bridge oerlikons soon joined by the 4" gun. The submarine replied with a twin Breda machine-gun but was soon silenced and abandoned. At 0345 hours on the 9th, the tug Jaunty took her in tow but she sank at 0510 hours. One officer and twenty-six ratings were picked up. Twenty were killed or missing: three officers including T.V. Leone Fiorentin and the First Officer and seventeen ratings. A number of documents were recovered from this submarine which helped British Intelligence have a pretty accurate view of Italian submarine operations in January 1943.

80 entries. 71 total patrol entries (7 marked as war patrols) and 15 events.

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