Italian submarines in World War Two
Domenico Millelire (MI)
Millelire
Type | Ocean going | |
Class | Balilla (1) | |
Laid down | 19 Jan 1925 | Odero-Terni-Orlando, Muggiano |
Launched | 19 Sep 1927 | |
Commissioned | 21 Aug 1928 | |
End service | 15 Apr 1941 | |
Stricken | ||
Loss date | ||
Loss position | ||
History | Disarmed on 15th April 1941. Converted to oil-carrying pontoon G.R.248. | |
Fate |
Commands
Commander | Date from | Date to | Command notes |
---|---|---|---|
C.C. Cesare Girosi | 20 Apr 1940 | 20 Jul 1940 | |
T.V. Giorgio Viani | 20 Jul 1940 | 27 Jul 1940 | |
C.C. Francesco De Rosa de Leo | 28 Jul 1940 | 31 Dec 1940 | |
C.C. Guido D'Alterio | 1 Jan 1941 | 31 Jan 1941 | |
T.V. Giorgio Viani | 1 Feb 1941 | 6 Mar 1941 |
Ships hit
No ships hit by this submarine.Patrols and events
Commander | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Girosi, Cesare | 10 Jun 1940 | 0523 | Pola | 10 Jun 1940 | 1612 | Pola | In Pola. | |||
Girosi, Cesare | 27 Jun 1940 | 0523 | Pola | 27 Jun 1940 | 1612 | Pola | 6,2 | Exercises. | ||
Girosi, Cesare | 1 Jul 1940 | 0832 | Pola | 1 Jul 1940 | 1523 | Pola | 43 | Exercises. | ||
Girosi, Cesare | 2 Jul 1940 | 1541 | Pola | 2 Jul 1940 | 2012 | Pola | 51,6 | Exercises. | ||
Girosi, Cesare | 9 Jul 1940 | 1541 | Pola | 9 Jul 1940 | 2012 | Pola | 41,1 | Exercises. | ||
Girosi, Cesare | 12 Jul 1940 | 0554 | Pola | 12 Jul 1940 | 1304 | Fiume | 59 | Passage Pola-Fiume. | ||
12 Jul 1940 | 0804 | (0) Off Fiume | Two torpedo wakes were sighted. The "attack" was most likely bogus as no enemy submarines were operating in the vicinity. | |||||||
Girosi, Cesare | 14 Jul 1940 | 0800 | Fiume | 14 Jul 1940 | 1339 | Fiume | 21,9 | Exercises. | ||
Girosi, Cesare | 16 Jul 1940 | 1400 | Fiume | 16 Jul 1940 | 1745 | Fiume | 18,3 | Exercises. | ||
Girosi, Cesare | 17 Jul 1940 | 0800 | Fiume | 17 Jul 1940 | 0920 | Fiume | 10,3 | Exercises. | ||
Girosi, Cesare | 18 Jul 1940 | 0700 | Fiume | 18 Jul 1940 | 1305 | Pola | 77 | Passage Fiume-Pola. | ||
Girosi, Cesare | 19 Jul 1940 | 0800 | Pola | 20 Jul 1940 | 1204 | Pola | 26 | Exercises. | ||
Viani, Giorgio | 20 Jul 1940 | Pola | 27 Jul 1940 | Pola | In Pola. | |||||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 30 Jul 1940 | 1320 | Pola | 30 Jul 1940 | 1825 | Pola | 28 | Exercises. | ||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 1 Aug 1940 | 0800 | Pola | 1 Aug 1940 | 1737 | Pola | 66 | Exercises. | ||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 6 Aug 1940 | 0205 | Pola | 7 Aug 1940 | 1300 | Brindisi | 407 | Passage Pola-Brindisi. | ||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 13 Aug 1940 | 0730 | Brindisi | 13 Aug 1940 | 1149 | Brindisi | 20 | Exercises. | ||
1 | De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 13 Aug 1940 | 1950 | Brindisi | 11 Sep 1940 | 0720 | Brindisi | 2196 | Patrolled in Kaso Strait, in 35°05'N, 26°40'E and sweeping from a point 14 miles east of Cape Vuthia (Skarpanto) to 215° - Kupho Island (Crete) - 12 miles. This was the longest patrol for an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean. | |
15 Aug 1940 | 1835 | (0) West of Crete. | The submarine heard three explosions believed to be aircraft bombs, followed by the noise of two destroyers, but was undamaged. No British aircraft or A/S vessel reported any action on this day. | |||||||
30 Aug 1940 | 1900 | 35° 05'N, 26° 40'E (0) Position approximate. | The submarine was the subject of an intense A/S search from a destroyer which did not drop any depth-charge and escaped by silent running. | |||||||
4 Sep 1940 | 1008-1015 | 35° 05'N, 26° 40'E (0) Position uncertain. | The submarine was bombed by aircraft, but escaped damage. The aircraft has not been identified. | |||||||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 22 Sep 1940 | 0530 | Brindisi | 23 Sep 1940 | 1220 | Pola | 367 | Passage Brindisi-Pola for a refit as Brindisi local works were already busy repairing other submarines. | ||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 28 Oct 1940 | 0710 | Pola | 28 Oct 1940 | 1530 | Pola | 70 | Exercises. | ||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 30 Oct 1940 | 0750 | Pola | 30 Oct 1940 | 1133 | Pola | 19 | Exercises. | ||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 5 Nov 1940 | 0400 | Pola | 6 Nov 1940 | 1425 | Brindisi | 388 | Passage Pola-Brindisi. | ||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 9 Nov 1940 | 0800 | Brindisi | 9 Nov 1940 | 1245 | Brindisi | 21 | Exercises. | ||
2 | De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 14 Nov 1940 | 1145 | Brindisi | 22 Nov 1940 | 1150 | Brindisi | 568,7 | Patrolled in Otranto Strait, within 5 miles from 39°51'N, 19°09'E on an East/West axis. | |
17 Nov 1940 | 0530 | 39° 50'N, 19° 06'E (0) 13 miles west of Othonoi (Fano) Island (off Straits of Otranto) | At 0525 hours, a lookout sighted a submarine at a range of 2,500 metres, slowly proceeding on a northerly course, bearing 30° to port. Five minutes later, the range had closed to 1,500 metres and a 533mm torpedo was fired from a bow tube, followed shortly by a second one. Both missed. This was probably the Hellenic submarine Proteus. C.C. De Rosa de Leo was criticised for failing to make use of his gun and letting the enemy submarine escape. | |||||||
17 Nov 1940 | 1840 | 39° 51'N, 19° 09'E (0) Exact position uncertain. Near Othonoi (Fano) Island (off Straits of Otranto) | Domenico Millelire had just surfaced when a small submarine was sighted at a range of 1,000 metres, proceeding on the surface on a south by southwest course. Because of the rough seas, only machine-guns were manned and, before any action could be taken, the enemy had disappeared. | |||||||
De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 5 Dec 1940 | 1500 | Brindisi | 5 Dec 1940 | 1545 | Brindisi | 1 | Docked? | ||
3 | De Rosa de Leo, Francesco | 13 Dec 1940 | 0000 | Brindisi | 17 Dec 1940 | 1320 | Brindisi | 529 | Patrolled west of Fano Island, between 40°00'N and 40°20'N, and between 19°20'E and the Albanian coast. Uneventful. | |
D'Alterio, Guido | 6 Jan 1941 | 0855 | Brindisi | 6 Jan 1941 | 1140 | Brindisi | 16 | Exercises. | ||
D'Alterio, Guido | 6 Jan 1941 | 2340 | Brindisi | 7 Jan 1941 | 1457 | Taranto | 173 | Passage Brindisi-Taranto. | ||
D'Alterio, Guido | 10 Jan 1941 | 0835 | Taranto | 10 Jan 1941 | 1620 | Taranto | 1316 | Exercises with the submarines Ondina and Speri. | ||
4 | D'Alterio, Guido | 20 Jan 1941 | 0725 | Taranto | 30 Jan 1941 | 1345 | Brindisi | 1143 | Patrolled south of Otranto Srait within 10 miles from 39°10'N, 19°20'E. Uneventful except for H.E. and distant explosions. | |
Viani, Giorgio | 18 Feb 1941 | 0900 | Brindisi | 18 Feb 1941 | 1240 | Brindisi | 24 | Exercises. | ||
Viani, Giorgio | 6 Mar 1941 | 0845 | Brindisi | 6 Mar 1941 | 2115 | Taranto | 166,5 | Passage Brindisi-Taranto. | ||
15 May 1941 | Taranto | 15 May 1941 | Taranto | Disarmed and used as floating oil depot. | ||||||
5 | 13 Sep 1942 | 0600 | Taranto | 14 Sep 1942 | 1135 | Navarino | Towed by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the destroyer Castelfidardo, she carried 443 tons of oil and 247 tons of petrol. | |||
5b | 15 Sep 1942 | 0520 | Navarino | 17 Sep 1942 | 1000 | Tobruk | Towed by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the torpedo boat Castelfidardo for passage Navarino to Tobruk. Later towed to Taranto where she remained until the armistice. | |||
16 Sep 1942 | 0109-0342 | 33° 58'N, 22° 55'E | Transformed as an oil depot, she was being towed to Navarino by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the torpedo-boat Castelfidardo when they came under attack from Wellington bombers, which fired flares but do not appear to have dropped bombs. | |||||||
23 Sep 1942 | 23 Sep 1942 | Renamed as G.R. 248 (G.R. stood for Gallegiante Rifornimento or oil pontoon). | ||||||||
11 Oct 1942 | 1400 | Tobruk | 13 Oct 1942 | 0230 | Navarino | Passage Tobruk-Navarino as oil-carrying pontoon, towed by destroyer Saetta, with the steamer Col Di Lana (the latter going to Piraeus) and escorted by the destroyer Freccia and the torpedo boats Lupo and Antares (and later Lira). | ||||
12 Oct 1942 | 0020-0139 | 32° 44'N, 23° 46'E | While being towed by the destroyer Saetta, in company with Col Di Lana (the latter going to Piraeus) and escorted by the destroyer Freccia and the torpedo-boats Lupo and Antares, the convoy came under air attack. Domenico Millelire was undamaged, but Antares was hit by a bomb and had casualties. | |||||||
18 Oct 1942 | 0835 | Navarino | 19 Oct 1942 | 1435 | Taranto | Passage Navarino-Taranto, towed by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the torpedo boat Lira. | ||||
5 Dec 1942 | 0746 | Messina | 6 Dec 1942 | 0735 | Palermo | Passage Messina-Palermo towed by the tugs Portoferraio and Luni, escorted by the torpedo boat Castelfidardo. | ||||
1 Mar 1943 | Palermo | 1 Mar 1943 | Palermo | Reported at Palermo as pontoon G.S.R. 248. This is probably an error and should read G.R. 248. |
42 entries. 39 total patrol entries (5 marked as war patrols) and 8 events.