Italian submarines in World War Two
Evangelista Torricelli (TL)
Torricelli
| Type | Ocean going | |
| Class | Brin 2 (15) | |
| Laid down | 23 Dec 1937 | Cantieri Navale Tosi di Taranto, Taranto |
| Launched | 26 Mar 1939 | |
| Commissioned | 7 May 1939 | |
| End service | ||
| Stricken | ||
| Loss date | 23 Jun 1940 | |
| Loss position | 12° 35'N, 43° 15'E | |
| History | ||
| Fate | Scuttled to prevent capture in the Bab el Mendep Strait in position 12°34.7'N, 43°15'E after being damaged by gunfire from the destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Khartoum, HMS Kingston and the British sloop HMS Shoreham. | |
Commands
| Commander | Date from | Date to | Command notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| C.C. Salvatore Pelosi | 12 Apr 1940 | 23 Jun 1940 |
Ships hit
| Date | Commander | Ship hit | Type | GRT | Nat. | Loss type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 23 Jun 1940 | C.C. Salvatore Pelosi | HMS Khartoum | Destroyer | 1,720 |  | Damaged? |
Patrols and events
| Commander | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pelosi, Salvatore | 14 Jun 1940 | 1700 | Massawa | 23 Jun 1940 | Sunk | Sailed for patrol off Djibouti. Sunk in the Red Sea by the destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Kingston, HMS Khartoum and the sloop HMS Shoreham. | ||
| 21 Jun 1940 | 1109 (e) | (e) 12° 35'N, 43° 15'E (0) 202° - Ras Bir - 10.5 miles | At 1109 hours, the destroyer HMS Kingston obtained an ASDIC contact. At 1123 hours, HMS Khartoum had also obtained an echo and attacked with two patterns of depth charges, but then contact was lost. The submarine was Evangelista Torricelli. She had dived to 50 metres, but could not avoid some damage to her port hydroplane. The radio, echo sounding gear and compasses were rendered inoperative. | ||||||
| 23 Jun 1940 | 0300 (GMT) (e) | (e) 32° 34'N, 43° 15'E (0) 246° - Perim High Light - 11 miles | HM destroyers Kandahar, Kingston, Khartoum and the sloop Shoreham hunted the submarine. HMS Kingston sighted a submarine near Dimeila. Torricelli dived and attempted to escape but was depth-charged and forced to the surface. She opened fire at two "gunboats" from a range of 6,000 metres but range closed rapidly to 400 metres and her rudder was disabled and Pelosi was wounded and ordered the submarine to be abandoned. The action had lasted 36 minutes, eight were killed and fifty-three survivors were picked up (including seven officers, Pelosi was awarded the Medaglia d'Oro). The sloop Shoreham was damaged by gunfire and HMS Khartoum may have been hit by splinters but this was denied by her crew. A few hours later, Khartoum arrived at Perim and at 1150/23 June was the victim of the explosion of a torpedo air vessel and sank at 1245 hours (one killed and three seriously wounded). Although a board of enquiry concluded that her loss was accidental, doubt will remain. | ||||||
2 entries. 1 total patrol entries (1 marked as war patrols) and 2 events.