Italian submarines in World War Two
FR 111 (ex-Phoque)
FR 111
| Type | Ocean going | |
| Class | Requin (36) | |
| Laid down | 21 May 1924 | Arsenal de Brest (Brest, France) |
| Launched | 16 Mar 1926 | |
| Commissioned | 20 Jan 1943 | |
| End service | ||
| Stricken | ||
| Loss date | 28 Feb 1943 | |
| Loss position | 36° 52'N, 15° 11'E | |
| History | French submarine Phoque. Captured by the Italians while disarmed at Bizerta on 8th December 1942. Sunk on 28th February 1943 in 220° - Cape Murro di Porco - 10 miles (Sicily) by rockets from Spitfires of 185 and 245 Squadrons (RAF). | |
| Fate | ||
Commands
| Commander | Date from | Date to | Command notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| C.C. Antonio De Giacomo | 31 Dec 1942 | 12 Jan 1943 | |
| T.V. Giovanni Celeste | 1 Feb 1943 | 28 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bizerta | Bizerta | Captured by the Germans at Bizerta in December 1942. Allocated to Italian Navy. | ||||||||
| De Giacomo, Antonio | 31 Dec 1942 | 1100 | Bizerta | 31 Dec 1942 | 1100 | Bizerta | The submarine was taken over by an Italian crew. | |||
| De Giacomo, Antonio | 2 Jan 1943 | 0700 | Bizerta | 2 Jan 1943 | Bizerta | Trials. | ||||
| De Giacomo, Antonio | 6 Jan 1943 | 1305 | Ferryville | 7 Jan 1943 | 2330 | Palermo | 215 | Passage Bizerta-Palermo with ex-Saphir and German Ruhr, escorted by the torpedo boat Animoso and Groppo. | ||
| De Giacomo, Antonio | 11 Jan 1943 | 0830 | Palermo | 12 Jan 1943 | 1130 | Naples | 180 | Passage Palermo-Naples with ex-Saphir, towed by Luni and Ursus escorted by the torpedo boat Groppo. Converted to transport submarine at Castellammare di Stabia. The external tubes and the deck gun were removed. | ||
| Celeste, Giovanni | 1 Feb 1943 | 0915 | Naples | 1 Feb 1943 | Time??? | Naples | Trials. | |||
| Celeste, Giovanni | 9 Feb 1943 | Time??? | Naples | 1 Feb 1943 | 1750 | Naples | Exercises. | |||
| Celeste, Giovanni | 12 Feb 1943 | 0940 | Naples | 12 Feb 1943 | 1325 | Naples | Exercises. | |||
| Celeste, Giovanni | 14 Feb 1943 | 0836 | Naples | 14 Feb 1943 | 1545 | Naples | Exercises. | |||
| Celeste, Giovanni | 23 Feb 1943 | 0155 | Naples | 24 Feb 1943 | 0637 | Augusta | Passage Naples-Augusta. | |||
| Celeste, Giovanni | 26 Feb 1943 | PM | Augusta | 26 Feb 1943 | Augusta | Trials. | ||||
| 1 | Celeste, Giovanni | 27 Feb 1943 | 1551 | Augusta | 28 Feb 1943 | 1445 | Sunk | She was carrying 38.3 tons of stores (28 tons of ammunition and 10.3 tons of petrol) to Lampedusa, via 37°00'N, 13°00'E. At 0745 hours on the 28th, the submarine informed MARICOSOM that she had defects and wished to turn back. This was accepted by MARICOSOM's 1041/28 signal. Sunk between Cape Passero and Cape Murro di Porco by enemy fighter bombers. | ||
| 28 Feb 1943 | 1445 1435 (e) | (0) 10 miles SW of Cape Murro di Porco | At 1145 hours, FR.111 was attacked by enemy bombers and sunk. These were actually eleven Spitfire fighter bombers (six of 185 and five of 249 Squadrons with two escorting fighters from each squadron) returning from a raid on Cassabillo Power Station (9 miles SW of Syracuse). They reported attacking a U-boat with MG and cannon fire, five miles east of Avola. The submarine replied briefly with a machine gun and reported attacked by four aircraft. The submarine was machine-gunned with all the personnel on deck killed or wounded and sank. An Italian seaplane picked up two survivors and Germans forces another twenty-five (including two wounded and a corpse). Five officers and eighteen ratings were killed. One Spitfire was slightly damaged by flying fragments from the submarine. | |||||||
12 entries. 12 total patrol entries (1 marked as war patrols) and 1 events.