Italian submarines in World War Two
Italian Commanders
Giorgio Bernabò
| Born | 25 Dec 1906 | La Spezia |
| Ranks
Decorations |
Career information
ZOEA (C.C. C.O): from 01.06.1940 to 18.12.1940.From 20.12.1941, served at MARISTAT (stato maggiore della Marina or Naval Headquarters).
Commands listed for Giorgio Bernabò
| Submarine | Type | Rank | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoea (ZE) | Minelaying | C.C. | 1 Jun 1940 | 18 Dec 1940 |
Ships hit by Giorgio Bernabò
No ships hit by this Commander.War patrols listed for Giorgio Bernabò
| Submarine | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoea (ZE) | 9 Jun 1940 | 1037 | La Spezia | 9 Jun 1940 | 1055 | La Spezia | 2 | Moved from the Arsenal to Le Grazie. | ||
| Zoea (ZE) | 12 Jun 1940 | 0800 | La Spezia | 12 Jun 1940 | 1400 | La Spezia | Exercises with the submarine Iride. | |||
| Zoea (ZE) | 14 Jun 1940 | 2120 | La Spezia | 16 Jun 1940 | 1210 | Naples | 335,5 | Passage La Spezia-Naples. | ||
| 1. | Zoea (ZE) | 18 Jun 1940 | 1645 | Naples | 21 Jun 1940 | 1300 | Tobruk | 805 | Supply mission to Tobruk (49 tons of ammunition in 1,225 boxes). | |
| 2. | Zoea (ZE) | 22 Jun 1940 | 2027 | Tobruk | 24 Jun 1940 | 2215 | Taranto | 616 | Return trip from supply mission to Tobruk. | |
| 3. | Zoea (ZE) | 29 Jun 1940 | 2300 | Taranto | 17 Jul 1940 | 1320 | Taranto | 2223 | Minelaying mission off Ras El Kenayis, in 31°17.5'N, 27°52'E to 31°18'N, 27°53.52'E between Mersa Matruh and El Alamein, then patrolled from point 34°22'N, 26°20'E on axis 290°-110°. | |
| 30 Jun 1940 | 0615 | 39° 50'N, 18° 00'E (0) Approximately. | At 0615 hours, the torpedo-boat Pallade was sighted and exchanged recognition signals. | |||||||
| 30 Jun 1940 | 0720 | (0) Off Cape Santa Maria di Leuca. | At 0720 hours, the torpedo boat Pallade was again sighted, this time in company with a submarine (doubtful). | |||||||
| 4 Jul 1940 | 0814-0822 | 31° 17'N, 27° 52'E | At 0814 hours, Zoea began laying mines. This should have been a line of 36 mines from 31°17.5' N, 27°52' E to 31°18' N, 27°53.52' E. At 0822 hours, after the 8th mine had been laid an explosion occurred and the minelaying was stopped. A later examination concluded that it was probably not one of the submarine's mines but an enemy one or an aircraft bomb. It would take the accident that occurred with Atropo and the disappearance of Foca in October 1940, for Italian submarine minelaying operations to be withheld indefinitely. | |||||||
| 8 Jul 1940 | 0634 0640 (e) | 34° 22'N, 26° 20'E | At 0550 hours, hydrophone effects were heard, but an examination through the periscope revealed nothing. At 0630 hours, the submarine surfaced to have a better look but sighted a large aircraft and had to crash-dive. She had reached a depth of 10-12 metres when two bombs exploded at 0634 hours. They caused some damage to the hull in the bow section, but Zoea continued her patrol. This was a Swordfish (Lieutenant (A) P.S. Touchbourne, RN) from 824 Squadron (HMS Eagle) flying at an altitude of 2,000 feet. A submarine similar to the ARGO class was sighted at a distance of 5-6 mile. It had a heavily camouflaged conning tower and was steering 035°. The aircraft dropped six 100 lb bombs of which only four exploded. | |||||||
| Zoea (ZE) | 24 Aug 1940 | 0850 | Taranto | 24 Aug 1940 | 1545 | Taranto | 51 | Exercises. | ||
| Zoea (ZE) | 28 Aug 1940 | 0801 | Taranto | 28 Aug 1940 | 1152 | Taranto | 28 | Exercises. | ||
| Zoea (ZE) | 3 Sep 1940 | 0804 | Taranto | 3 Sep 1940 | 1154 | Taranto | 33 | Exercises. | ||
| 4. | Zoea (ZE) | 22 Sep 1940 | 2150 | Taranto | 23 Sep 1940 | 1004 | Taranto | 80,5 | Defensive patrol (hydrophone watch). | |
| Zoea (ZE) | 27 Sep 1940 | 0650 | Taranto | 27 Sep 1940 | 1255 | Taranto | 24 | Exercises. | ||
| 5. | Zoea (ZE) | 7 Oct 1940 | 1809 | Taranto | 22 Oct 1940 | 1715 | Taranto | 2374 | Minelaying mission through (1) 34°00'N, 23°30'E and (2) 33°30'N, 30°00'E to lay a minefield off Jaffa. Captain A.N. Bencivenni came along to check the mines. | |
| 10 Oct 1940 | 1230 | 33° 50'N, 25° 24'E | At 1230 hours, Zoea was on her way to her minelaying mission, when she received a signal informing her of a large vessel in the Grid square between 33°40' N and 33°50' N and 23°40' E and 24°00' E, steering 105° at 13 knots. The submarine steered 180°, proceeding on the surface for 20 minutes to intercept then dived to listen with the hydrophones, but nothing was detected. | |||||||
| 14 Oct 1940 | 2029-2151 | 32° 00'N, 34° 33'E | Between 2029 and 2151 hours, Zoea laid a minefield of 20 mines off Jaffa. (1) 32°00.5' N, 34°33.8' E to 32°32' N, 34°34' E (8 mines) (2) 31°59' N, 34°34.4' E to 31°58.5' N, 34°34.5' E (6 mines). (3) 31°58.3' N, 34°34.7' E to 31°58' N, 34°35' E (6 mines). One of the mines may have damaged the Hellenic destroyer Spetsai at 0315 hours, on 21st February 1943, in 32°10.5' N, 34°30' E. | |||||||
| 21 Oct 1940 | 2030 | 38° 40'N, 17° 43'E | At 2030 hours, two lookouts reported sighting a submarine submerging at a distance of 500 metres. This was HMS Parthian (Lieutenant Commander M.G. Rimington, RN). At 2025 hours, a submarine was sighted 20° on the port bow at a distance of 500 yards, steering 360°. HMS Parthian was steering 130° and attempted to ram, but missed her opponent's stern by only a few yards. The officer of the watch was certain the submarine was British. | |||||||
| Zoea (ZE) | 24 Oct 1940 | 0818 | Taranto | 24 Oct 1940 | 1130 | Taranto | 19 | Exercises. | ||
| Zoea (ZE) | 12 Dec 1940 | 0835 | Taranto | 12 Dec 1940 | 1555 | Taranto | 25 | Exercises. | ||
| Zoea (ZE) | 18 Dec 1940 | 0840 | Taranto | 18 Dec 1940 | 1710 | Taranto | 18 | Exercises. | ||
20 entries. 15 total patrol entries (5 marked as war patrols) and 7 events.