Porfido (PO)
Porfido

Type	Coastal / Sea going
Class	Platino 1 (24)
Laid down	9 Nov 1940	Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone
Launched	23 Aug 1941
Commissioned	24 Jan 1942
End service
Stricken
Loss date	6 Dec 1942
Loss position	38° 10'N, 8° 35'E
History
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk on 6th December 1942 about 90 nautical miles north-north-east off Bone, Algeria in position 38°10'N, 08°35'E by the submarine HMS Tigris.

Commands

Commander	Date from	Date to	Command notes
C.C. Benedetto Luchetti	24 Jan 1942	28 Feb 1942
T.V. Lodovico Grion	28 Feb 1942	18 May 1942
C.C. Emilio Gariazzo	19 May 1942	25 Jun 1942
T.V. Giovanni Lorenzotti	26 Jun 1942	6 Dec 1942

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

	Commander	Date	Time	Port	Arr. date	Arr. time	Arr. port	Miles	Description
		20 Dec 1941	1000	Monfalcone	20 Dec 1941	1730	Monfalcone		Trials.
		22 Dec 1941	1000	Monfalcone	22 Dec 1941	1740	Pola		Passage Monfalcone-Pola.
		23 Dec 1941	1005	Pola	23 Dec 1941	1700	Pola		Exercises, escorted by auxiliary Trau.
		26 Dec 1941	0830	Pola	26 Dec 1941	1530	Pola		Exercises, escorted by the auxiliary San Giorgio.
		27 Dec 1941	1000	Pola	27 Dec 1941	1510	Monfalcone		Passage Pola-Monfalcone.
	Luchetti, Benedetto	24 Jan 1942		Monfalcone	28 Feb 1942		Monfalcone		In Monfalcone. Change in command.
	Grion, Lodovico	8 Apr 1942	0923	Monfalcone	8 Apr 1942	1244	Monfalcone	20	Exercises.
	Grion, Lodovico	11 Apr 1942	0906	Monfalcone	11 Apr 1942	1558	Monfalcone	8	Exercises.
	Grion, Lodovico	21 Apr 1942	0822	Monfalcone	21 Apr 1942	1530	Pola	70	Passage Monfalcone-Pola.
	Grion, Lodovico	22 Apr 1942	1401	Monfalcone	22 Apr 1942	1715	Pola	2	Changed anchorage to refuel.
	Grion, Lodovico	25 Apr 1942	1110	Pola	25 Apr 1942	1610	Pola	8	Exercises.
1	Grion, Lodovico	29 Apr 1942	0822	Pola	29 Apr 1942	1505	Pola	17	Hydrophone watch.
	Grion, Lodovico	2 May 1942	0825	Pola	2 May 1942	1352	Monfalcone	71	Passage Pola-Monfalcone.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	29 May 1942	0840	Monfalcone	29 May 1942	1224	Monfalcone	26	Exercises.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	3 Jun 1942	0806	Monfalcone	3 Jun 1942	1111	Monfalcone	18	Exercises.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	5 Jun 1942	0717	Monfalcone	5 Jun 1942	1235	Venezia	69	Passage Monfalcone-Venezia.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	6 Jun 1942	0928	Monfalcone	6 Jun 1942	1251	Monfalcone	8,5	Exercises, escorted by the auxiliary Salvore.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	10 Jun 1942	0935	Venezia	10 Jun 1942	1659	Pola	72	Passage Venezia-Pola.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	12 Jun 1942	0543	Pola	12 Jun 1942	2110	Pola	143	Exercises.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	13 Jun 1942	0840	Pola	13 Jun 1942	1716	Pola	5	Exercises.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	15 Jun 1942	0809	Pola	15 Jun 1942	1700	Pola	12	Exercises.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	17 Jun 1942	0825	Pola	17 Jun 1942	1950	Monfalcone	71	Passage Pola-Monfalcone.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	2 Jul 1942	0849	Monfalcone	2 Jul 1942	1920	Susa (Fiume)	130	Passage Monfalcone-Susa.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	4 Jul 1942	0853	Susa (Fiume)	4 Jul 1942	1831	Susa (Fiume)	32	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	6 Jul 1942	0850	Susa (Fiume)	6 Jul 1942	1840	Susa (Fiume)	32	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	7 Jul 1942	0853	Susa (Fiume)	7 Jul 1942	1815	Susa (Fiume)	32	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	9 Jul 1942	0855	Susa (Fiume)	9 Jul 1942	1748	Susa (Fiume)	42	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	10 Jul 1942	0801	Susa (Fiume)	10 Jul 1942	1209	Susa (Fiume)	28	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	13 Jul 1942	1116	Susa (Fiume)	14 Jul 1942	0231	Susa (Fiume)	70	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	14 Jul 1942	1135	Susa (Fiume)	14 Jul 1942	1526	Susa (Fiume)		Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	14 Jul 1942	2144	Susa (Fiume)	15 Jul 1942	0210	Susa (Fiume)	51	Exercises [mileage includes morning sortie].
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	16 Jul 1942	1130	Susa (Fiume)	16 Jul 1942	1359	Susa (Fiume)		Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	16 Jul 1942	2117	Susa (Fiume)	17 Jul 1942	0030	Susa (Fiume)	51	Exercises [mileage includes morning sortie].
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	17 Jul 1942	1400	Susa (Fiume)	17 Jul 1942	1830	Susa (Fiume)	29	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	18 Jul 1942	0805	Susa (Fiume)	18 Jul 1942	0901	Fiume	4	Passage Susa-Fiume for docking.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	19 Jul 1942	0830	Susa (Fiume)	19 Jul 1942	0903	Fiume	4	Undocked and passage Fiume-Susa.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	20 Jul 1942	1042	Susa (Fiume)	20 Jul 1942	1730	Susa (Fiume)	36,5	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	22 Jul 1942	1144	Susa (Fiume)	22 Jul 1942	1750	Susa (Fiume)		Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	22 Jul 1942	2217	Susa (Fiume)	23 Jul 1942	0130	Susa (Fiume)	42,5	Exercises [mileage includes morning sortie].
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	24 Jul 1942	0815	Susa (Fiume)	24 Jul 1942	1752	Susa (Fiume)		Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	24 Jul 1942	2045	Susa (Fiume)	25 Jul 1942	0104	Susa (Fiume)	49	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	27 Jul 1942	0744	Susa (Fiume)	27 Jul 1942	1804	Susa (Fiume)	61	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	29 Jul 1942	0636	Susa (Fiume)	29 Jul 1942	1345	Susa (Fiume)		Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	29 Jul 1942	2317	Susa (Fiume)	30 Jul 1942	0106	Susa (Fiume)	52	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	30 Jul 1942	0300	Susa (Fiume)	31 Jul 1942	1617	Susa (Fiume)	86	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	4 Aug 1942	1735	Susa (Fiume)	8 Aug 1942	1454	Messina	714	Passage Susa-Messina. Armed with four G7e torpedoes in her forward tubes. Escorted until 1830 hours on the 4th by the torpedo boat Insidioso.
		5 Aug 1942	1015 1045 (e)	42° 42'N, 15° 35'E	At 1015 hours, an enemy submarine was sighted at a distance of 1,500 metres. This was HMS Traveller (Lieutenant M.B. St. John, RN) who fired two torpedoes from 2,300 yards (they missed) and opened fire with her 4" gun, firing 26 rounds. Porfido escaped by diving after the first two rounds were fired.
		6 Aug 1942	0805+	40° 04'N, 18° 50'E	At 0805 hours, in heavy seas, an Italian minesweeper collided slightly with the submarine. Porfido was holed in the bunker no.4 and lost some fuel.
		7 Aug 1942	0637C (e)		At 0637C hours, HMS Traveller (Lieutenant M.B. St. John, RN) sighted a submarine of the FOCA class steering 000° at 15 knots. Three torpedoes were fired from her stern tubes (her last torpedoes) at a range of 3,000 yards but the enemy submarine changed course and they missed. Porfido was in the general area, but there is no evidence she was the submarine attacked. She was submerged at that time and would have proceeded southward. In any case, she did not observe any attack.
2	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	17 Aug 1942	0245	Messina	19 Aug 1942	1205	Trapani	506	Sailed escorted by A.S.66 until 0810 hours on the 18th, and patrolled off Tunisia between 37°20'N and 37°50'N and between 09°20'E and 10°20'E to intercept an enemy convoy [PEDESTAL]. On her return was met at 0815 hours on the 19th by the minesweeper R.D.19 and escorted to Trapani.
		18 Aug 1942	0035		At 0035 hours, a vessel was sighted on a southerly course. Porfido closed to 600 meters and was ready to fire two torpedoes from the forward tubes, when the ship was recognised as Italian and the attack was broken off.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	22 Aug 1942	0055	Trapani	22 Aug 1942	2003	Cagliari	216	Passage Trapani-Caglliari.
3	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	27 Aug 1942	0215	Cagliari	8 Sep 1942	0920	Cagliari	1570	Patrolled between between 38°40'N and 39°00'N, 00°20'E and 01°00'E. Sighted only Spanish and French ships.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	16 Sep 1942	1329	Cagliari	16 Sep 1942	1936	Cagliari	44	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	23 Sep 1942	0758	Cagliari	23 Sep 1942	1323	Cagliari	36	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	30 Sep 1942	0804	Cagliari	30 Sep 1942	1735	Cagliari	92	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	3 Oct 1942	1345	Cagliari	3 Oct 1942	1819	Cagliari	31	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	5 Oct 1942	0800	Cagliari	5 Oct 1942	1232	Cagliari	34,5	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	15 Oct 1942	0800	Cagliari	15 Oct 1942	1225	Cagliari	33	Exercises.
	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	22 Oct 1942	0820	Cagliari	22 Oct 1942	1230	Cagliari	34	Exercises.
4	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	29 Oct 1942	0225	Cagliari	31 Oct 1942	0640	Cagliari	267	Patrolled off La Galite, between 37°20'N and 37°40'N, and between 08°30'E and 08°50'E, but recalled at 2000 hours on the 30th. Uneventful.
5	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	7 Nov 1942	0350	Cagliari	19 Nov 1942	1330	Cagliari	?	Patrolled off Philippeville, between 37°25'N and 37°35'N, and between 07°00'E and 07°30'E.
		8 Nov 1942	0926		At 0926 hours, an aircraft was seen and the submarine dived and heard bomb explosions.
		8 Nov 1942	1550		At 1550 hours, a vessel was sighted at distance of 8,000 metres. It was thought to be a German 6,000-ton ship.
		8 Nov 1942	1820		At 1820 hours, an Italian submarine was sighted at a distance of 8,000 metres and exchanged recognition signals.
		9 Nov 1942	0534	37° 12'N, 4° 42'E	At 0534 hours, two MTBs were sighted and the submarine dived.
		9 Nov 1942	2040	37° 12'N, 4° 41'E	At 2040 hours, a destroyer or corvette was sighted at a distance of 800 metres. Porfido dived.
6	Lorenzotti, Giovanni	2 Dec 1942	2025	Cagliari	6 Dec 1942	0147	Sunk		Sailed for patrol between 37°00'N and 37°20'N, and between 05°00'E and 05°20'E (Grid 2124) and was to have returned on 22nd December (the patrol was later shortened to 13th December, but by then the submarine had been sunk). Sunk off Galita Island by the British submarine HMS Tigris. Four survivors. Five officers (including T.V. Lorenzotti) and thirty-nine ratings killed.
		6 Dec 1942	0146.5		At 0143 hours, Lieutenant R. G. Sampson, officer of the watch of HMS Tigris (Lieutenant Commander G.R. Colvin) sighted a vessel broad on the port bow and immediately recognised it to be a submarine head-on. At 0146.5 hours, two torpedoes were fired at a range of 600 yards. One hit and sank the submarine. This was Porfido. G.M. Ermanno Devescovi and three ratings survived and were picked by the British submarine. T.V. Giovanni Lorenzotti, four officers and thirty-nine ratings perished.

65 entries. 59 total patrol entries (6 marked as war patrols) and 10 events.

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