Italian submarines in World War Two
Italian Commanders
Antonio Biondo
| Born | 23 Dec 1906 | Maglie (Lecce) |
| Ranks
Decorations
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Career information
SALPA (C.C. C.O.): from 15.12.1939 to 25.11.1940.Commands listed for Antonio Biondo
| Submarine | Type | Rank | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salpa (SP) | Coastal / Sea going | C.C. | 15 Dec 1939 | 25 Nov 1940 |
Ships hit by Antonio Biondo
No ships hit by this Commander.War patrols listed for Antonio Biondo
| Submarine | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Salpa (SP) | 6 Jun 1940 | 0713 | Taranto | 16 Jun 1940 | 0440 | Gallipoli | 1381 | Patrolled 10 or 15 miles South of Gavdo with the submarines Giuliani, Bagnolini and Tarantini, on a line 20 miles apart. Heard only H.E. | |
| Salpa (SP) | 16 Jun 1940 | 0940 | Gallipoli | 16 Jun 1940 | 1550 | Taranto | Passage Gallipoli-Taranto in company of the submarines Tarantini and Settimo, escorted by the destroyer Zeffiro. | |||
| 2. | Salpa (SP) | 27 Jun 1940 | 1201 | Taranto | 3 Jul 1940 | 1400 | Benghazi | 1398 | Sailed for 33°46'N, 23°10'E on a patrol line with submarines Anfitrite, Ondina and Uebi Scebeli, from a point 15 miles southwest of Gaudio to a point 40 miles northeast of Derna. On her way to the patrol line, she was damaged by bombs and forced to go to Benghazi. HMS Dainty claimed to have sunk her in 35°24'N, 24°10'E ca. 29th June 40. Biondo was severely reprimanded for lack of aggressiveness when encountering a target on 29th June 1940. | |
| 29 Jun 1940 | 0720-0820 0615 (e) | At 0640 hours, Salpa was proceeding in company with Uebi Scebeli to their respective patrol areas when a destroyer was sighted. Salpa immediately dived. At 0722 hours, Salpa heard three explosions probably at a distance of about 100 meters and another six at about 30 meters at 0726 hours, more followed until 0820 hours but they were distant. The submarine escaped without damage. | ||||||||
| 1 Jul 1940 | 1035-1500 1050 (e) | 33° 46'N, 23° 10'E (0) Approximately. | At 0930 hours, hydrophone effects were heard. At 1035 hours, a vessel passed above and dropped three depth charges, causing some damages to Salpa. She had been detected by HMS Hostile and HMAS Stuart in the area where a line of four Italian submarines had been deployed (following information from captured documents on the Uebi Scebeli). HMS Hostile located the submarine attacking at 1030 hours, but only using the thrower depth charges as the trap had jammed. HMAS Stuart attacked with a full pattern at 1050 hours. At 1050 hours, the vessel passed again and dropped about six depth charges, causing more damage, The submarine went down to 60 meters. Six more depth-charges were heard at 1500 hours and the submarine was forced to abort her patrol and go to Benghazi. British Naval intelligence believed the submarine was probably Uarsciek and that she was sunk | |||||||
| Salpa (SP) | 16 Jul 1940 | 1230 | Benghazi | 19 Jul 1940 | 1325 | Taranto | Passage Benghazi-Taranto. Return trip for repairs following damage by bombs on 29th June. Then repairs until 20th October 1940. | |||
| Salpa (SP) | 22 Jul 1940 | 1350 | Taranto | 24 Jul 1940 | 1610 | Pola | 494 | Passage Taranto-Pola. | ||
| Salpa (SP) | 21 Sep 1940 | 0840 | Pola | 21 Sep 1940 | 1818 | Pola | 56,2 | Exercises. | ||
| Salpa (SP) | 25 Sep 1940 | 0806 | Pola | 25 Sep 1940 | 1609 | Pola | 29,7 | Exercises. | ||
| Salpa (SP) | 29 Sep 1940 | 0725 | Pola | 29 Sep 1940 | 1258 | Pola | 36,2 | Exercises. | ||
| Salpa (SP) | 8 Oct 1940 | 1015 | Pola | 10 Oct 1940 | 1607 | Taranto | 520 | Passage Pola-Taranto. | ||
| Salpa (SP) | 12 Oct 1940 | 0931 | Taranto | 12 Oct 1940 | 1420 | Taranto | 21,8 | Exercises. | ||
| Salpa (SP) | 18 Oct 1940 | 0835 | Taranto | 18 Oct 1940 | 1511 | Taranto | 30 | Exercises. | ||
| Salpa (SP) | 20 Oct 1940 | 0900 | Taranto | 20 Oct 1940 | 1320 | Taranto | 20 | Exercises. | ||
| Salpa (SP) | 22 Oct 1940 | 0812 | Taranto | 22 Oct 1940 | 1750 | Taranto | 20,7 | Exercises. | ||
| 3. | Salpa (SP) | 24 Oct 1940 | 1736 | Taranto | 26 Oct 1940 | 2155 | Brindisi | 275 | Sailed for patrol off Cyrenaica, between 34°20'N and 34°55'N, 23°30'N and 24°40'E but turned back because weather damage and battery problems. Repairs until December 1940. | |
| 26 Oct 1940 | 1200 | (0) Off Santa Maria di Leuca. | At 1200 hours, a battleship of the ANDREA DORIA class was sighted at 7,000 metres and fired two rounds at Salpa, as the submarine had been slow to respond to her signals. This was indeed Andrea Doria on transfer from Pola to Taranto, who checked her fire when the submarine made the proper recognition signal. The bad weather had forced her destroyer escort to turn back as they could not maintain a speed of 15 knots. | |||||||
15 entries. 14 total patrol entries (3 marked as war patrols) and 3 events.