Italian submarines in World War Two
Italian Commanders
Romeo Romei
| Born | 14 Aug 1906 | Castelnuovo (Cattaro, Montenegro) | |
| Died | 31 Mar 1941 | (34) | Killed in action |
| Ranks
Decorations
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Career information
PIER CAPPONI (T.V. C.O.): from 04.05.1940 to 20.09.1940.LUCIANO MANARA (T.V. C.O.): from 21.09.1940 to 14.10.1940.
Promoted to C.C. on 15.10.1940.
PIER CAPPONI (C.C. C.O.): from 14.10.1940 to 31.03.1941 (sunk, Romei was killed).
Commands listed for Romeo Romei
| Submarine | Type | Rank | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pier Capponi (CP) | Ocean going | T.V. | 4 May 1940 | 20 Sep 1940 |
| Luciana Manara (MR) | Ocean going | T.V. | 21 Sep 1940 | 14 Oct 1940 |
| Pier Capponi (CP) | Ocean going | T.V. | 14 Oct 1940 | 31 Mar 1941 |
Ships hit by Romeo Romei
| Date | Submarine | Ship hit | Type | GRT | Nat. | Loss type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 22 Jun 1940 | Pier Capponi | Elgö | Cargo ship | 1,888 |  | Sunk |
War patrols listed for Romeo Romei
| Submarine | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 3 Jun 1940 | 1045 | Augusta | 3 Jun 1940 | 1625 | Messina | 67 | Passage Augusta-Messina. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 10 Jun 1940 | 1923 | Messina | 10 Jun 1940 | 2020 | Messina | 7 | Exercises. | ||
| 1. | Pier Capponi (CP) | 17 Jun 1940 | 1825 | Messina | 26 Jun 1940 | 0900 | Messina | 1114 | Sailed via north coast of Sicily for patrol between Pantelleria and Tunisian coast and northeast of Cefalù. | |
| 20 Jun 1940 | 0045 | 37° 05'N, 11° 40'E (0) Approximately. 15-20 miles from Cape Bon. | An unknown submarine was sighted on the port side; Pier Capponi turned away to prepare the torpedo tubes for an attack, but contact was lost. This was probably the French salvage vessel Monge which arrived at Bizerta at 0500 hours on the 20th, after a patrol in the Gulf of Gabès. | |||||||
| 22 Jun 1940 | 0132 2200/21 (e) | 36° 59'N, 11° 12'E | The submarine first sighted a freighter from a distance of 6,000 metres on a SSE course at 0035 hours and turned toward her while increasing speed. At 0058 hours, the distance had decreased to 2,500 metres. Pier Capponi was now proceeding at 15 knots to gain a favourable attack position and at 0132 hours a torpedo (533mm) was fired from a bow tube at a range of 1,000 metres. It missed. The target was the Swedish Elgö (1888 GRT, built 1918) on passage Tunis to Sfax with general cargo (asphalt, etc.). | |||||||
| 22 Jun 1940 | 0135 0002-0015 (e) | 36° 59'N, 11° 12'E | The submarine fired twenty-three rounds with her deck gun, scoring several hits. | |||||||
| 22 Jun 1940 | 0145 0015 (e) | 36° 59'N, 11° 12'E | The submarine fired a second torpedo (533mm) from a bow tube at a range of 1,000 metres, it missed. | |||||||
| 22 Jun 1940 | 0150 | 36° 59'N, 11° 12'E | A stern shot (533mm) was now fired from 900 metres. A hit was claimed, but was not confirmed from Swedish sources. | |||||||
| 22 Jun 1940 | 0201 | 36° 59'N, 11° 12'E | A fourth torpedo (450mm) was fired from a bow tube from a distance of 700-800 metres, which hit the target squarely and she sank in three minutes. One crew member was killed and three were wounded, the twenty-one survivors reached the Tunisian coast. | |||||||
| 25 Jun 1940 | 2225 | 38° 10'N, 14° 18'E | An unidentified vessel was seen and later believed to be an enemy submarine. Pier Capponi turned away for a stern shot (533mm), which was fired from 500-1,000 metres. It missed. The "submarine" was probably a Sicilian fishing vessel as no enemy submarine operated in the area. | |||||||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 4 Jul 1940 | 1140 | Messina | 4 Jul 1940 | 1900 | Augusta | 67 | Passage Messina-Augusta. | ||
| 2. | Pier Capponi (CP) | 5 Jul 1940 | 0200 | Augusta | 13 Jul 1940 | 1447 | Messina | 955,3 | Patrolled southeast of Malta. | |
| 11 Jul 1940 | 2340 | 36° 30'N, 14° 55'E | At 2330 hours, the submarine sighted three large enemy ships escorted by four destroyers, steering 140° at 20 knots. Range was closed to 1,500 metres and at 2340 hours, two torpedoes (533mm) were fired from No. 3 and No. 4 bow tubes, angled at 25° and 30° to starboard, at three seconds interval, at a battleship of the MALAYA class. They missed. At 0137 hours, the submarine surfaced and made an enemy report. British records do not show the presence of a squadron in this area at this time. The battle fleet was much farther to the east on its way to Alexandria. | |||||||
| 12 Jul 1940 | 0640 AM (e) | (0) SE of Malta. | Shortly after 0600 hours, the submarine sighted a minesweeper coming from the west and made a recognition signal, but the reponse was repeatedly by the same signal. The range had closed to 100 metres; it was now clear the vessel was British and Pier Capponi opened fire with her Breda machine guns. In fact, there were two armed trawlers in the vicinity, HMT Coral and HMT Jade and they opened fire on the submarine which was hit by one round on the stern while a machine gun round pierced the conning tower (later it was found to be completely flooded when the submarine reached the bottom at 97 metres). | |||||||
| 12 Jul 1940 | 0640+ | (0) SE of Malta. | As the submarine was moving away on the surface at full speed, she fired a torpedo (450mm) from a stern tube set at a depth of one metre to discourage the pursuit. The trawler kept on firing. At 0659 hours, the coastal battery at Point Delimara opened a very accurate fire forcing the submarine to submerge. At 0840 hours, the hydrophones indicated that the enemy had abandoned the chase. | |||||||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 5 Aug 1940 | 1140 | Messina | 5 Aug 1940 | 2027 | Messina | 85,5 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 7 Aug 1940 | 0820 | Messina | 7 Aug 1940 | 1035 | Messina | 20 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 10 Aug 1940 | 0800 | Messina | 10 Aug 1940 | 1032 | Messina | 18 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 11 Aug 1940 | 0710 | Messina | 11 Aug 1940 | 1030 | Messina | 17 | Exercises. | ||
| 3. | Pier Capponi (CP) | 30 Aug 1940 | 2245 | Messina | 4 Sep 1940 | 1500 | Messina | 722,5 | Patrolled near Malta. Patrol plagued by defects. | |
| 1 Sep 1940 | 2245 | (0) Near Malta. | As the submarine was charging her batteries, a two-funneled destroyer was sighted at 1,200 metres. Perhaps it belonged to Force F from Gibraltar (operation HATS), which was detached to Alexandria. The attack was aborted when the destroyer turned toward the submarine, which had to take evasive action, but no depth charges were dropped. | |||||||
| Luciana Manara (MR) | 23 Sep 1940 | 0800 | Trapani | 23 Sep 1940 | 1200 | Trapani | 28 | Exercises. | ||
| Luciana Manara (MR) | 3 Oct 1940 | 1430 | Trapani | 4 Oct 1940 | 1000 | Trapani | 206 | Passage Trapani-Naples. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 16 Oct 1940 | 1035 | Messina | 16 Oct 1940 | 1845 | Messina | 72,5 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 20 Oct 1940 | 0835 | Messina | 20 Oct 1940 | 1553 | Messina | 75,2 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 22 Oct 1940 | 0845 | Messina | 22 Oct 1940 | 1900 | Messina | 85,3 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 24 Oct 1940 | 0845 | Messina | 24 Oct 1940 | 1711 | Messina | 72 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 25 Oct 1940 | 1515 | Messina | 25 Oct 1940 | 1701 | Messina | 20 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 5 Nov 1940 | 0825 | Messina | 5 Nov 1940 | 1655 | Messina | 72 | Exercises. | ||
| 4. | Pier Capponi (CP) | 8 Nov 1940 | 1700 | Messina | 10 Nov 1940 | 1602 | Augusta | Patrolled south-east of Malta in 35°30'N, 15°20'E. | ||
| 10 Nov 1940 | 0009 0010 (e) | 35° 28'N, 15° 18'E (e) 35° 13'N, 15° 25'E | At 2354 hours on 9th November, an enemy formation was sighted which appeared to include two battleships similar to HMS Royal Sovereign and HMS Ramillies and an aircraft carrier, light cruisers and several destroyers. These were actually the battleships HMS Warspite and HMS Valiant with the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious escorted by the destroyers HMS Decoy and HMS Defender steering 300°. At 0009 hours on the 10th, three torpedoes (533mm) were fired from the bow tubes at a distance of 4,000 metres (the fourth bow tube had a 450mm torpedo with a range of only 2,000 metres and was thus not fired). Two hits were claimed but in fact all torpedoes missed. HMS Illustrious was on her way to launch the famous raid on Taranto on the night of 11/12th November. The same formation was also attacked at 1325 hours on the 10th by S.79 torpedo-bombers without result. As a battleship believed to be HMS Ramillies was later reported to enter Malta to refuel, the Regia Marina interpreted it that she was indeed torpedoed and damaged and Romei was awarded the Medaglia d'Oro. | |||||||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 11 Nov 1940 | 0841 | Augusta | 11 Nov 1940 | 1441 | Messina | 470,4 | Passage Augusta-Messina [mileage from 8th November]. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 29 Nov 1940 | 1148 | Messina | 30 Nov 1940 | 0941 | Naples | 242 | Passage Messina-Naples. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 26 Jan 1941 | 0915 | Naples | 26 Jan 1941 | 1710 | Naples | 42 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 28 Jan 1941 | 0900 | Naples | 28 Jan 1941 | 1542 | Naples | 43 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 30 Jan 1941 | 0845 | Naples | 30 Jan 1941 | 1500 | Naples | 40 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 31 Jan 1941 | 1120 | Naples | 31 Jan 1941 | 1647 | Naples | 45 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 5 Feb 1941 | 0915 | Naples | 5 Feb 1941 | 1551 | Naples | 28 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 6 Feb 1941 | 1950 | Naples | 7 Feb 1941 | 1210 | Naples | 96 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 9 Feb 1941 | 1600 | Naples | 10 Feb 1941 | 1000 | Messina | 186,5 | Passage Naples-Messina. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 16 Feb 1941 | 0807 | Messina | 16 Feb 1941 | 1522 | Messina | 71,5 | Exercises. | ||
| 5. | Pier Capponi (CP) | 23 Feb 1941 | 1331 | Messina | 23 Feb 1941 | 1759 | Messina | 45 | Defensive patrol off Messina. Returned because of defects. | |
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 2 Mar 1941 | 0840 | Messina | 2 Mar 1941 | 1820 | Messina | 90 | Exercises. | ||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 6 Mar 1941 | 1145 | Messina | 6 Mar 1941 | 1500 | Messina | 30 | Exercises. | ||
| 6. | Pier Capponi (CP) | 7 Mar 1941 | 1338 | Messina | 11 Mar 1941 | 1600 | Messina | 692 | Sailed for patrol east of Malta but returned because of defects. | |
| 9 Mar 1941 | 1208 | (0) East of Malta. | The submarine heard explosions. H.E. believed these to be from three destroyers conducting an A/S search. The enemy destroyers dropped depth-charges, but they were far from the submarine. More explosions were heard at 0725 hours on the 10th, but the submarine escaped by diving deep. | |||||||
| Pier Capponi (CP) | 31 Mar 1941 | 1040 | Messina | 31 Mar 1941 | 1402 (UK) | Sunk with all hands | 40 | Sunk while on passage to La Spezia (was due at 0700 hours on 2nd April) by HMS Rorqual 17 miles south of Stromboli. Romei was posthumously awarded the Medaglia D'Oro. | ||
| 31 Mar 1941 | 1402 (e) | (e) 38° 32'N, 15° 19'E | Pier Capponi was on passage from Messina to La Spezia when she was observed proceeding on the surface by the submarine HMS Rorqual (Cdr. R.H. Dewhurst, DSO, RN). Five torpedoes were fired from a distance of 1,000 yards and the Italian submarine was hit by two of them and blew up. Five officers and thirty-three ratings perished, there were no survivors. She was due at La Spezia at 0700 hours on 2nd April. When she failed to arrive, the torpedo-boat Simone Schiaffino and seaplanes carried out a search from Messina, with no result. | |||||||
42 entries. 34 total patrol entries (6 marked as war patrols) and 14 events.