(continued from KTB #111; begun in KTB #109)

On June 10, 1940 Italy entered the Second World War by declaring war on England and France, and Mussolini ordered 'All points offensive". Within hours of the declaration, Italian planes attacked Malta, the Suez Canal, Corsica and southern France.

At sea, the Italian Navy scored its first success of the war when the submarine BAGNOLINI sank the British light cruiser HMS CALYPSO in the vicinity of Crete on June 11, 1940. It was a success which heartened all Italian Navy men, especially submarine personnel. The future looked very promising at this point. This was followed by the sinking of the destroyer HMS ESCORT in the Western Mediterranean by the submarine MARCONI on July 8.

It would be impossible to list in this short article, all of the activities and successes of Italian submarines during World War II. Keep in mind though, that this was a very active fleet and Italian subs saw action not only in the Mediterranean but also in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They generally passed through the Pacific as blockade runners, bringing much needed technical devices to the Japanese, and returned to their base in Bordeaux (France) with raw materials such as rubber, tin and whale oil. Italian subs were also active in the Red Sea.

Here are some of the more dramatic and important actions. At the start of the second World War, most of the Italian fleet was concentrated in the Mediterranean. Yet a small fleet was stationed in the Red Sea. The fleet consisted of several destroyers, eight submarines and one gunboat.

One of these subs, the TORRICELLI, was soon to become a legend by its extraordinary feats. On June 17, 1940 TORRICELLI experienced serious difficulties with its air conditioning system which almost poisoned the entire crew. The ship then rested on the bottom of the Red Sea in 170 feet of water until the problem with the system was repaired two days later. Rising to periscope depth after the repairs were completed, the Skipper, Salvatore Pelosi, saw that he was surrounded by a large British force which consisted of a gunboat, two submarine chasers and four destroyers. He then gave the order to submerge, but it was too late as he had already been detected. A torrent of depth charges then ensued. This went on until nightfall, by which time the British sailed away, having given up. TORRICELLI then surfaced into the clear, silent night. Up above, the black sky was covered with numerous stars but there was no sign of the enemy.

Pelosi now made the startling decision to get revenge for the furious depth charging. He decided to seek out and destroy the British ships that had attacked him earlier. He intended to fight it out on the surface, using his ship's deck gun and machine guns. The odds were heavily stacked against him. His ship carried a single 100mm gun and two machine guns. The British had among them, eighteen 120mm guns, four 102mm guns, and 100 machine guns.

On June 23, Pelosi found his targets!

(continued on KTB #113)