Italian submarines in World War Two


Murena (UIT-16)
Murena

TypeSea going 
ClassTritone (type I) (26) 
Laid down 1 Apr 1942 Odero-Terni-Orlando, Muggiano
Launched11 Apr 1943
Commissioned25 Aug 1943
End service
Stricken
Loss date9 Sep 1943
Loss position44° 05'N, 9° 50'E
History Scuttled at La Spezia on 9th September 1943 to prevent her capture by the Germans. Raised and renamed UIT-16 but repairs never completed. Destroyed in an air raid at Genoa on 4th September 1944.
Fate

Commands


CommanderDate fromDate toCommand notes

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

 CommanderDateTimePortArr. dateArr. timeArr. portMilesDescription
11 Apr 1943La Spezia11 Apr 19430930La SpeziaLaunched.

14 May 1943La Spezia14 May 1943La SpeziaTrials? Diverted by MAS 525 as she was on a collision course with Sparide.

16 Jun 19431710La Spezia16 Jun 19431820La SpeziaExercises.

21 Jun 19430945La Spezia21 Jun 19431600La SpeziaTrials.

2 Jul 19430930La Spezia2 Jul 19432050La SpeziaTrials.

5 Jul 19430925La Spezia5 Jul 19431725La SpeziaTrials.

11 Jul 19430935La Spezia11 Jul 19431655La SpeziaTrials.

24 Jul 1943La Spezia24 Jul 1943La SpeziaCarried human torpedoes to attack Gibraltar. This was actually misinformation, to hide the use of Olterra.

25 Aug 1943La Spezia25 Aug 1943Entered service.

6 Sep 19430855La Spezia6 Sep 19431845La SpeziaTrials.

9 Sep 1943La Spezia9 Sep 1943ScuttledScuttled after Armistice. One killed. Refloated by Germans and became UIT-16. In December 1943, she was being repaired by OTO works Muggiano, La Spezia. In May 1944, she was moved to Genoa with Grongo and Sparide. On 28th May 1944, she was ready to carry out human torpedoes.
  9 Sep 1943
(0) La Spezia harbour.
At the time of the Armistice, Murena could not sail to join the Allies and was scuttled by her crew. The engineer officer was trapped and drowned and 2° Capo Palombaro Ario Lazzari [who had participated in the attack on Gibraltar in May 1943] from the 10th MAS recovered the body. The submarine was later raised at towed to Genoa and became the German UIT-16.

16 Mar 194416 Mar 1944Reported operational.

7 Aug 1944La Spezia9 Aug 1944GenoaPassage La Spezia-Genoa (Note: it is not clear why the passage took so long, dates may be incorrect?). It is also reported that she was moved to Genoa with Grongo and Sparide in May 1944.

4 Sep 1944Genoa4 Sep 1944SunkSunk by RAF raid. Also reported as damaged in air raid. On 23rd August 1944, the Germans had requested training crews for Grongo, Murena and Sparide.
  4 Sep 1944
(0) Genoa harbour
During an air raid by Allied aircraft, UIT-16 (ex-Murena) was bombed and sunk.

14 entries. 14 total patrol entries (0 marked as war patrols) and 2 events.

All Italian submarines