Italian submarines in World War Two
Naiade (NA)
Naiade
Type | Coastal / Sea going | |
Class | Sirena (21) | |
Laid down | 9 May 1931 | Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone |
Launched | 27 Mar 1933 | |
Commissioned | 14 Nov 1933 | |
End service | ||
Stricken | ||
Loss date | 14 Dec 1940 | |
Loss position | 32° 03'N, 25° 56'E | |
History | ||
Fate | Scuttled on 14th December 1940 north-east Bardia, Libya, in position 32°03'N, 25°56'E after being forced to surface by depth charges and being damaged by gunfire from the destroyers HMS Hereward and HMS Hyperion. |
Commands
Commander | Date from | Date to | Command notes |
---|---|---|---|
T.V. Luigi Baroni | 28 Oct 1939 | 5 Nov 1940 | |
T.V. Enzo Zanni | 6 Nov 1940 | 8 Nov 1940 | |
T.V. Pietro Notarbartolo di Villarosa | 9 Nov 1940 | 14 Dec 1940 |
Ships hit
Date | Commander | Ship hit | Type | GRT | Nat. | Loss type | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 12 Jun 1940 | T.V. Luigi Baroni | Orkanger | Tanker | 8,029 | Sunk |
Patrols and events
Commander | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baroni, Luigi | 5 Jun 1940 | 0810 | Tobruk | 5 Jun 1940 | 0945 | Tobruk | 3,7 | Exercises. | ||
1 | Baroni, Luigi | 9 Jun 1940 | 0545 | Tobruk | 15 Jun 1940 | 1200 | Tobruk | 893 | Sailed with Galatea and patrolled on Alexandria-Gaidero (Crete) route, 40 miles northwest of Alexandria. | |
12 Jun 1940 | 1336 | 31° 59'N, 29° 00'E | At 1336 hours, a convoy of pontoons escorted by a gunboat, were sighted steering 140° (toward Alexandria). Naiade opened fire at 1,800 metres, but broke off the attack due to wet ammunition and was forced to dive by machine-gun fire from the gunboat. | |||||||
12 Jun 1940 | 2157 2255 (e) | 31° 42'N, 28° 50'E | At 2145 hours, a large tanker was sighted at a range of 4,000 metres, steering 130° at 13 knots. Naiade closed on the surface. At 2157 hours, a torpedo (533mm) was fired from a bow tube at a distance of 1,200 metres. It hit and damaged the tanker. This was the Norwegian tanker Orkanger (8,029 GRT, built 1928) carrying 10,500 tons of fuel oil from Port Said to Malta. The Italian declaration of war had forced her to turn back and she had been ordered to Alexandria. Shortly after, the submarine reverted course and fired a stern torpedo (450mm) but it had an erratic course and missed. She reverted course again. At 2218 hours, a third torpedo (450mm) was fired from a bow tube at 500 metres. It hit and the tanker sank. Survivors confirmed that two torpedoes had hit the engine room about ten minutes apart. Four crew members were killed. Thirty-nine survivors (twenty-nine crew members and ten passengers, including Lt. Cdr. Crabbe, two stokers and nine military personnel) were picked up by the Spanish Tom who brought them back to Alexandria. | |||||||
Baroni, Luigi | 16 Jun 1940 | 0545 | Tobruk | 16 Jun 1940 | 1200 | Tobruk | 3,2 | Exercises. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 17 Jun 1940 | 1830 | Tobruk | 17 Jun 1940 | 0800/18? | Tobruk | 2 | Exercises. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 18 Jun 1940 | 1929 | Tobruk | 22 Jun 1940 | 0930 | Crotone | 580 | Passage Tobruk-Crotone, escorted out by the destroyer Aquilone. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 23 Jun 1940 | 0445 | Crotone | 23 Jun 1940 | 1720 | Taranto | 115 | Passage Crotone-Taranto. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 19 Jul 1940 | 1218 | Taranto | 19 Jul 1940 | 1735 | Taranto | 33 | Trials. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 25 Jul 1940 | 0433 | Taranto | 25 Jul 1940 | 1005 | Taranto | 37,1 | Trials. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 28 Jul 1940 | 0553 | Taranto | 28 Jul 1940 | 1605 | Taranto | 46,2 | Exercises. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 29 Jul 1940 | 1005 | Taranto | 29 Jul 1940 | 1130 | Taranto | 3 | Exercises. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 1 Aug 1940 | 1304 | Taranto | 1 Aug 1940 | 1825 | Taranto | 35,9 | Exercises. | ||
2 | Baroni, Luigi | 3 Aug 1940 | 2300 | Taranto | 22 Aug 1940 | 1200 | Taranto | 1229 | Patrolled south of Crete, between 33°20'N and 34°00'N, and between 24°35'E and 25°35'E. | |
6 Aug 1940 | 1945 | 36° 18'N, 19° 45'E (0) West of Crete. | At 1945 hours, A Sunderland aircraft was observed from periscope depth flying toward Malta. | |||||||
8 Aug 1940 | 2010 | (0) West of Crete. | At 2010 hours, a submarine steering about 130° was sighted and Naiade manoeuvered for a bow shot. The attack was aborted as the nationality could not be ascertained. | |||||||
15 Aug 1940 | 1500 approx. | (0) South of Crete. | From about 1500 hours, Naiade was subject of an intense A/S search by four destroyers and depth-charged. She escaped by going down to 70 meters and later moved 40 miles north of her position to escape further attacks. | |||||||
Baroni, Luigi | 28 Aug 1940 | 0330 | Taranto | 30 Aug 1940 | 0800 | Pola | Passage Taranto-Pola. | |||
Baroni, Luigi | 31 Aug 1940 | 0540 | Pola | 31 Aug 1940 | 1405 | Pola | Trials. | |||
Baroni, Luigi | 1 Sep 1940 | 0555 | Pola | 1 Sep 1940 | 1335 | Monfalcone | 600 | Passage Pola-Monfalcone. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 2 Sep 1940 | Monfalcone | 2 Sep 1940 | Monfalcone | Exercises. | |||||
Baroni, Luigi | 23 Oct 1940 | 0910 | Monfalcone | 23 Oct 1940 | 1500 | Monfalcone | 22 | Exercises. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 25 Oct 1940 | 0910 | Monfalcone | 25 Oct 1940 | 1605 | Monfalcone | 32 | Exercises. | ||
Baroni, Luigi | 29 Oct 1940 | 1040 | Monfalcone | 29 Oct 1940 | 1805 | Pola | 72 | Passage Monfalcone-Pola. | ||
Zanni, Enzo | 6 Nov 1940 | 1149 | Pola | 8 Nov 1940 | 1518 | Taranto | 516 | Passage Pola-Taranto. | ||
Notarbartolo di Villarosa, Pietro | 9 Nov 1940 | 0935 | Taranto | 9 Nov 1940 | 1520 | Taranto | Exercises. | |||
Notarbartolo di Villarosa, Pietro | 17 Nov 1940 | 0935 | Taranto | 17 Nov 1940 | 1520 | Taranto | Exercises. | |||
Notarbartolo di Villarosa, Pietro | 22 Nov 1940 | 0705 | Taranto | 27 Nov 1940 | 1603 | Leros | 770 | Passage Taranto-Leros. | ||
26 Nov 1940 | 0325 | (0) North of Crete. | At 0325 hours, an enemy torpedo-boat followed by two others were sighted at 4,000 metres. The last vessel turned toward the submarine. Naiade dived to 60 meters but was not attacked. | |||||||
Notarbartolo di Villarosa, Pietro | 5 Dec 1940 | 1730 | Leros | 5 Dec 1940 | 2127 | Leros | Exercises. | |||
3 | Notarbartolo di Villarosa, Pietro | 7 Dec 1940 | 1735 or 1800/9 | Leros | 14 Dec 1940 | 1821-1850 | Sunk | Sailed for a patrol off Alexandria, between 32°20'N and the Egyptian coast, and between 25°25'E and 26°00'E, on a patrol line with Narvalo and Neghelli. Then to a position 20 or 45 miles from Sidi Barrani. Sunk off Bardia by the destroyers HMS Hereward and HMS Hyperion. | ||
14 Dec 1940 | 1821 (e) | (e) 32° 03'N, 25° 56'E | T.V. Notarbartolo di Villarosa had intercepted Neghelli's signal or the torpedoing of a cruiser. Naiade was surfaced when an unidentified vessel was seen at a range of 1,500 metres, causing her to dive to 40 metres. She was straddled by four depth charges and damaged. The submarine tried to escape by going down to 125 metres. At 1821C hours, the destroyers HMS Hereward and HMS Hyperion of the 2nd Flotilla were on A/S search for the submarine that had torpedoed the antiaircraft cruiser HMS Coventry the previous evening (this was Neghelli). HMS Hyperion obtained an ASDIC contact bearing 015° at 1,300 yards. At 1825C hours, HMS Hyperion dropped four depth charges then lost contact but the submarine surfaced ten minutes later. This was Naiade who immediately came under the combined gunfire of 4.7" gun and 0.5" machine-guns from both destroyers. Her crew abandoned ship, firing was checked and two whalers lowered from HMS Hyperion proceeded to pick up survivors. One rating was missing. Five officers and forty-one ratings survived and were sent to PoW camps. |
28 entries. 25 total patrol entries (3 marked as war patrols) and 7 events.