Italian submarines in World War Two

Italian Commanders


Vittorio Barra

Born  4 Nov 1918Salerno

Ranks

  S.T.V.Sottotenente di Vascello
  T.V.Tenente di Vascello

Decorations

17 Dec 1942 Medaglia di bronzo al valore militare
5 Mar 1944 Croce di guerra al valore militare
3 May 1944 Croce di guerra al valore militare
28 Feb 1946 Croce di guerra al valore militare

Career information

AXUM (S.T.V. First Officer): from 14.04.1941 to June 1942+.
Promoted T.V. on ?
AXUM (T.V. C.O.): from 10.05.1943 to 18.11.1943?
SQUALO (T.V. C.O.): from 19.11.1943 to 15.01.1944.

Commands listed for Vittorio Barra


Submarine Type Rank From To
Axum (AX)Coastal / Sea goingT.V.10 May 194318 Nov 1943
Squalo (SQ)Ocean goingT.V.19 Nov 194315 Jan 1944

Ships hit by Vittorio Barra

No ships hit by this Commander.

War patrols listed for Vittorio Barra

 SubmarineDateTimePortArr. dateArr. timeArr. portMilesDescription
Axum (AX)27 Jun 19430945Genoa27 Jun 19431822La Spezia20Trials after refit.

Axum (AX)1 Jul 19431345Genoa1 Jul 19431925La Spezia46Passage Genoa-La Spezia.

Axum (AX)7 Jul 19430701La Spezia7 Jul 19431605La Spezia64Exercises.

Axum (AX)9 Jul 19431331La Spezia9 Jul 19431924La Spezia32Exercises.

Axum (AX)10 Jul 19431515La Spezia10 Jul 19432130La Spezia40Exercises.

Axum (AX)12 Jul 19431355La Spezia13 Jul 19430335La Spezia107Exercises.

Axum (AX)13 Jul 19431557La Spezia14 Jul 19430205La Spezia74Exercises.

Axum (AX)15 Jul 19431055La Spezia16 Jul 19430247La Spezia122Exercises.

Axum (AX)17 Jul 19431524La Spezia18 Jul 19430120La Spezia80Exercises.

Axum (AX)19 Jul 19431056La Spezia19 Jul 19431859La Spezia20Gyrocompass tests.

Axum (AX)21 Jul 19430054La Spezia22 Jul 19430638La Madddalena286Passage La Spezia-La Maddalena.
  21 Jul 19431330-1337
(0) 0° - Cape Cavallo (Corsica) - 5 miles
At 1330 hours, a torpedo track was sighted, followed by three at 1333 and two at 1337 hours. All were avoided. This was an attack by HMS Templar (Lieutenant D.J. Beckley, DSO, RN), who had sighted Axum at a distance of 4,000 yards, on course 210°. The British submarine had actually fired seven torpedoes in three attacks (one, four and two torpedoes) from a range of 1,500 to 3,000 yards.

Axum took avoiding action and sighted a periscope at close range, but could not fire her stern torpedoes as they would be activated only after 500 meters. It had been a close shave.

Axum (AX)26 Jul 19430000La Madddalena27 Jul 19430757La Spezia297Passage La Maddalena-La Spezia.
  26 Jul 19431330-143041° 54'N, 7° 50'EAt 1300 hours, a convoy of four ships was sighted. The submarine was hunted ineffectively and fifteen depth charges were dropped. Recognising the Italian flag, Axum surfaced, made the recognition signal and the vessels parted company.

These were the Italian destroyer Orsa with a German UJ-boat, escorting the French Ville De Bastia (1,336 GRT, built 1920) and Ville D'Ajaccio (2,444 GRT, built 1929) on passage from Marseilles to Ajaccio.

Axum (AX)28 Jul 19430721La Spezia28 Jul 19431343Genoa46Passage La Spezia-Genoa.

Axum (AX)16 Aug 19430900Genoa16 Aug 19431115Genoa20Trials after refit.

Axum (AX)17 Aug 19430801Genoa17 Aug 19431420La Spezia50Passage Genoa-La Spezia.

Axum (AX)18 Aug 19431900La Spezia19 Aug 19430505Portoferraio80Passage La Spezia-Portoferraio.

Axum (AX)29 Aug 19430130Portoferraio30 Aug 19431034Naples292,5Passage Portoferraio-Naples.

Axum (AX)7 Sep 19430907Naples7 Sep 19431102PozzuoliPassage Naples-Pozzuoli.

Axum (AX)8 Sep 19431545Pozzuoli8 Sep 19432218Gaeta60Passage Pozzuoli-Gaeta (mileage estimated from 7th September).

Axum (AX)9 Sep 19430240Gaeta10 Sep 19432013GiannutriPassage Gaeta-Giannutri (an island southeast of Giglio Island). The submarine came under MG fire off Nettunia.

Axum (AX)11 Sep 19430930Giannutri11 Sep 19431938PortoferraioPassage Giannutri-Portoferraio.

Axum (AX)12 Sep 19430930Portoferraio13 Sep 19430715PalermoPassage Portoferraio-Palermo to surrender.

Axum (AX)19 Sep 19430936Palermo21 Sep 19431004MaltaPassage Palermo-Malta with the submarine H.4, escorted by the torpedo boats Fabrizi and Carini and the tug Liscanera.

Axum (AX)2 Oct 19431330Malta2 Oct 19431517 La Valetta (Malta)Change of moorings Malta-Valetta.

Axum (AX)9 Oct 19431615 La Valetta (Malta)11 Oct 19431610Taranto?Passage Valetta (Malta)-Taranto.

Axum (AX)28 Oct 19430805?Taranto28 Oct 19431648?TarantoExercises with torpedo boats Indomito and Orione and the tug Ercole.

Axum (AX)2 Nov 19431245?Taranto2 Nov 19432301?TarantoExercises with torpedo boats Indomito and Sirio and the tug Ercole.

Squalo (SQ)19 Nov 19431622Malta20 Nov 19430930Augusta108Passage Malta-Augusta with the submarines Brin, Settembrini and Bandiera, escorted by the Corvette Chimera (also Jalea and H.2?).

Squalo (SQ)23 Nov 19430645Augusta24 Nov 19431200Naples265Passage Augusta-Naples with submarine Bandiera, escorted by HMS Paladin.

Squalo (SQ)1 Dec 19430930Naples1 Dec 19431535Naples32Passage Naples-Castellamare di Stabbia, arrived at 1145 hours but could not dock because of bad weather and turned back at 1320 hours.

Squalo (SQ)2 Dec 19431210Naples2 Dec 19431440Castellamare di Stabbia12Passage Naples-Castellamare di Stabbia.

Squalo (SQ)5 Dec 19431430Castellammare di Stabia7 Dec 19431620Taranto449Passage Castellammare di Stabia-Taranto with the submarines Vortice, Platino and Onice, escorted by the corvettes Gru and Minerva.

Squalo (SQ)12 Jan 19440940Taranto12 Jan 19441517Taranto41,2Exercises.

33 entries. 33 total patrol entries (0 marked as war patrols) and 2 events.

Italian Commanders

Italian Submarines