As for Mediterranean actions, Italian submarines had their greatest success and when they, in conjunction with other Italian naval and air units, and also with some German participation, attacked the convoy known as PEDESTAL in August 1942 which was being used to supply Malta. Great success was achieved by these attacks - the British losing 9 out of 14 merchant ships.

British warship losses were HMS EAGLE, stink by the German submarine the cruiser HMS MANCHESTER sunk by the Italian motor torpedo boats, and the cruisers HMS CAIRO and NIGERIA which had been attacked by the Italian submarine AXUM. The CAIRO was so seriously damaged, it had to be sunk by its own side. The NIGERIA went limping back to Gibraltar.

All in all. considering their technical limitations and the small number of boats employed, the Italian submarine arm had not done so badly, sinking several million tons of shipping throughout WW II.

But these triumphs did not come cheap. Sixty-six Italian submarines were sunk in action during the conflict. This also includes the period of co-belligerency that lasted from September 8, 1943 to May 8 1945 when Italy surrendered, joined the Allied side and declared war on Germany.

Under the terms of the Peace Treaty signed on February 10, 1947, the Italian Navy was forbidden to have aircraft carriers, submarines and motor torpedo boats, and was severely limited in tonnage to 67,500 tons.

Only the submarines VORTICE and GLADA remained in service and were renamed V1 and V2 Yet these vessels could not be used as submarines, and were kept stationery at all times.

Officially they were used as battery recharging vessels. Unofficially, the Italians wanted to keep them at least for the value of their hulls and as a basis for future construction.

When the relevant clauses of the Peace Treaty expired in 1951, these two vessels began to be modified and the submarine arm became active again. By the 1950's and 60's the submarine fleet drew primarily through the acquisition of ex-American boats that were transferred under military assistance agreements They include:

USS BARB -- ENRICO TAZZOLI in 1954
USS DACE --.LEONARDO DA VINCI in 1951
USS BESUGO -- FRANCESCO MOROSINI in 1967,
USS CAPITAINE -- ALFREDO CAPPELLINI in 1967 and the former Italian submarine PIETRO CALVI was seized by the Germans on the building ways 9 September 1943 and renamed UIT-7; launched by the Kriegsmarine 13 January 1945, damaged 16 March 1945 in an air raid, thereafter scuttled at Monfalcone and reclaimed by the Italian Navy in 1945, refurbished, modernized and subsequently re-entered Italian service as BARIO.