Italian submarines in World War Two
Italian Commanders
Raffaele Amicarelli
| Born | 12 Jun 1910 | Lucera (Foggia) |
| Ranks
Decorations
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Career information
COBALTO (T.V. C.O.): from 26.02.1942 to 12.08.1942 (sunk, Amicarelli survived).Commands listed for Raffaele Amicarelli
| Submarine | Type | Rank | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobalto (CB) | Coastal / Sea going | T.V. | 26 Feb 1942 | 12 Aug 1942 |
Ships hit by Raffaele Amicarelli
No ships hit by this Commander.War patrols listed for Raffaele Amicarelli
| Submarine | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobalto (CB) | 18 Mar 1942 | La Spezia | 18 Mar 1942 | La Spezia | 5 | Entered service. | ||||
| Cobalto (CB) | 17 Apr 1942 | 0916 | La Spezia | 17 Apr 1942 | 1119 | La Spezia | 5 | Trials. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 17 Apr 1942 | 1452 | La Spezia | 17 Apr 1942 | 1710 | La Spezia | 3 | Entered dock. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 22 Apr 1942 | 1425 | La Spezia | 22 Apr 1942 | 1634 | La Spezia | 2 | Left dock and exercises. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 18 May 1942 | 0835 | La Spezia | 18 May 1942 | 1714 | La Spezia | 43 | Trials and exercises with the submarine Nichelio escorted by MAS 509. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 20 May 1942 | 0800 | La Spezia | 20 May 1942 | 1742 | La Spezia | 54 | Exercises with the submarine Rismondo. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 22 May 1942 | 0800 | La Spezia | 22 May 1942 | 1705 | La Spezia | 51 | Trials and exercises. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 23 May 1942 | 0838 | La Spezia | 23 May 1942 | 1450 | La Spezia | 45 | Trials and exercises escorted by MAS 567. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 23 May 1942 | 1900 | La Spezia | 23 May 1942 | 1931 | La Spezia | 2 | Entered dock. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 11 Jun 1942 | 1340 | La Spezia | 11 Jun 1942 | 1425 | La Spezia | 1 | Left dock. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 15 Jun 1942 | 0856 | La Spezia | 15 Jun 1942 | 1738 | La Spezia | 57 | Trials and exercises. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 16 Jun 1942 | 1449 | La Spezia | 16 Jun 1942 | 1850 | La Spezia | 4 | Gyrocompass tests. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 17 Jun 1942 | 0945 | Cagliari | 17 Jun 1942 | 1638 | La Spezia | 4 | Gyrocompass tests. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 19 Jun 1942 | 0844 | La Spezia | 19 Jun 1942 | 1833 | La Spezia | 55 | Trials and exercises. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 22 Jun 1942 | 0755 | La Spezia | 22 Jun 1942 | 1723 | La Spezia | 57 | Exercises. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 24 Jun 1942 | 2017 | La Spezia | 25 Jun 1942 | 0042 | La Spezia | 32 | Exercises. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 28 Jun 1942 | 1102 | La Spezia | 29 Jun 1942 | 2110 | Cagliari | 356 | Passage La Spezia-Cagliari. | ||
| Cobalto (CB) | 6 Jul 1942 | 0825 | Cagliari | 6 Jul 1942 | 1753 | Cagliari | 54 | Exercises. | ||
| 1. | Cobalto (CB) | 15 Jul 1942 | 0225 | Cagliari | 30 Jul 1942 | 0944 | Cagliari | 1656 | Patrolled off Bizerta, in zone K.1 between Cani Rocks and La Galite. Was armed with G7e torpedoes. | |
| 15 Jul 1942 | 1705 | At 1705 hours, Cobalto was informed of a cruiser sighted at 1600 hours, in 37°15' N, 08°35' E, on an easterly course at 25 knots. At that time, the submarine was 30 miles to the NE of this position. The submarine altered course to intercept until sighting an aircraft at 1906 hours. | ||||||||
| 17 Jul 1942 | 1906 | At 1906 hours, an aircraft was seen and the submarine dived. | ||||||||
| 19 Jul 1942 | 1025 | (0) Off Cape Ras El Ahmar (Tunisia). | At 1025 hours, a vessel was sighted at a distance of 14,000 metres and initially believed to be a cruiser. The submarine readied three torpedo tubes (with G7e torpedoes) for attack but, upon closing, it was realised this was the wreck of HMS Havock and the attack aborted. | |||||||
| 21 Jul 1942 | 0240 | 37° 41'N, 9° 37'E | At 0240 hours, The Italian steamer Perseo (4,857 GRT, built 1921) was sighted. Cobalto turned away. | |||||||
| 26 Jul 1942 | 1702 | 37° 42'N, 9° 30'E | At 1702 hours, an Italian steamer Agata (2,282 GRT, built 1901). At 1924 hours,Cobalto closed to attack at a distance of 800 meters, but turned away upon identifying the ship. | |||||||
| 2. | Cobalto (CB) | 11 Aug 1942 | 1800 | Cagliari | 12 Aug 1942 | 1654 or 1702 | Sunk | 110 | Sailed for patrol between 37°20'N and 38°00'N, and between 09°40'E and 10°00'E. Sunk north off Bizerta by the British destroyers HMS Pathfinder and HMS Ithuriel in 37°41'N, 10°00'E or 37°39'N, 10°00'E. Of her crew of five officers and thirty-nine ratings, one officer and one rating were killed. | |
| 12 Aug 1942 | 1619 (e) | (0) 37.39N, 10.00E | At 1619 hours, the destroyer HMS Pathfinder was stationed on the port bow of Force F (the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable and other ships of the PEDESTAL convoy), when she obtained an ASDIC contact at range of 1,500 metres. At 1623 hours, she dropped a pattern of ten depth charges set at 50 and 140 feet. This was Cobalto and she went down to 180 meters to escape, with water pouring in her stern section so she was brought up again. At 1643 hours, the destroyer HMS Ithuriel, who was stationed about 6 miles astern of HMS Pathfinder, sighted a periscope and then, for about 10 seconds, the conning tower broke surface. She was about 1,500 yards away and raced toward it at 24 knots and obtained an ASDIC echo at 900 yards. Speed was reduced to 18 knots and five depth charges dropped set at 50 feet. HMS Ithuriel was about to make a second run, when the submarine surfaced with a heavy list at 1,200 yards. The submarine's gun crew could not man their weapon and the stern tubes had been damaged. The destroyer opened fire at a range of 1,000 yards, scoring two 4.7" hits on the conning tower. The U-boat was being abandoned as HMS Ithuriel rammed her at 12 knots. The destroyer only gave the submarine a glancing blow and was herself damaged in the process. She came back astern and put a boarding party aboard the submarine, but it sank before they could get inside. Cobalto had a crew of five officers and thirty-nine ratings. One officer and one rating were killed. T.V. Raffaele Amicarelli and the remainder were picked up. | |||||||
24 entries. 20 total patrol entries (2 marked as war patrols) and 6 events.