Italian submarines in World War Two


Berillo (BE)
Berillo

TypeCoastal / Sea going 
ClassPerla (22) 
Laid down 14 Sep 1935 Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone
Launched14 Jun 1936
Commissioned5 Aug 1936
End service
Stricken
Loss date2 Oct 1940
Loss position33° 09'N, 26° 24'E
History
Fate Scuttled on 2nd October 1940 south of Crete in position 33°09'N, 26°24'E after being forced to surface after being depth charges by the destroyers HMS Hasty and HMS Havock.

Commands


CommanderDate fromDate toCommand notes
T.V. Camillo Milesi Ferretti4 Jan 19402 Oct 1940

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

 CommanderDateTimePortArr. dateArr. timeArr. portMilesDescription
Milesi Ferretti, Camillo8 Jun 19401951La Maddalena9 Jun 19401902La Spezia245,2Passage La Maddalena-La Spezia for refit.

Milesi Ferretti, Camillo8 Jul 19400950La Spezia8 Jul 19401340La SpeziaExercises.

Milesi Ferretti, Camillo10 Jul 19401500La Spezia10 Jul 1940?La SpeziaExercises.

1Milesi Ferretti, Camillo11 Jul 19402210La Spezia13 Jul 19401130La Spezia256Sailed for a patrol off Cape de Gata, Cape Falcon, Cape Ivi and Cape Palos on a barrage line with Faà di Bruno. Encountered extreme bad weather on her way out (Force 9) and was forced to turn back from cumulative defects.

2Milesi Ferretti, Camillo14 Jul 19400500La Spezia26 Jul 19400930La Spezia1785Patrolled off Gibraltar.
  25 Jul 19402100
(0) Approximately west of Sardinia.
At 2100 hours, the French transport Gouverneur Général Chanzy (4,226 GRT, built 1922) was stopped. She was carrying 1,100 passengers including 680 African troops from Marseilles to Algiers and was allowed to proceed.

Milesi Ferretti, Camillo11 Aug 19400935La Spezia11 Aug 19401440La SpeziaExercises.

Milesi Ferretti, Camillo16 Aug 19400815La Spezia16 Aug 19401500La SpeziaExercises with submarine Faà di Bruno and a tug, 5 miles south of Moneglia.

Milesi Ferretti, Camillo21 Aug 19401235La Spezia23 Aug 19401530MessinaPassage La Spezia-Messina.

Milesi Ferretti, Camillo24 Aug 19400825Messina24 Aug 19401510AugustaPassage Messina-Augusta.

3Milesi Ferretti, Camillo2 Sep 19401850Augusta5 Sep 19400753Augusta297,5Patrolled east of Malta. Uneventful.

4Milesi Ferretti, Camillo18 Sep 19401940Augusta2 Oct 19400715SunkPatrolled in Gulf of Sollum, between 31°50'N and 32°30'N, and between 25°25'E and 26°40'E, 30 miles north of Ras Uleima. Sunk off the Egyptian north coast by HM destroyers Havock and Hasty in 33°10'N, 26°12'E. Forty-five survivors were picked up, two killed.
  2 Oct 19400300+
0425C (e)
The patrol report is lost as Berillo did not return from her mission. The following is an approximate reconstruction:

At 0415C hours, the destroyers HMS Havock and HMS Hasty were travelling in company, when the former sighted a surfaced submarine at 2,000 yards. HMS Havock opened fire, apparently hitting the submarine aft as she submerged. The destroyer followed up with a pattern of depth charges set at medium depth.

This was Berillo. Her survivors related that the submarine fired a single torpedo from 800 metres, followed by another pair at the same distance. All three torpedoes were fired from the bow tubes and missed. The submarine went very deep and the depth charges exploded above her. HMS Hasty then joined the attack. In all, nine patterns were released, five from Hasty at 0431 (5), 0437.5 (5), 0446 (1), 0502 (5) and 0514 hours (4), and another 15 depth-charges from HMS Havock, for a total of 35 depth charges.

At 0546 hours, the submarine was sighted breaking surface about 800 yards from HMS Hasty who immediately opened fire, scoring two 4.7" direct hits, one putting the submarine's deck gun out of action. After 16 rounds, fire was checked as the crew was seen to abandoning ship as the submarine sank. HMS Havock also fired five salvoes and had expended a total of 4.7" rounds.

Two ratings had been killed. Five officers (including T.V. Camillo Milesi Ferretti) and forty ratings were picked up.

11 entries. 11 total patrol entries (4 marked as war patrols) and 2 events.

All Italian submarines