Italian Submarine Aradam

Italian submarine ''Aradam'' was an built in the 1930s, serving in the Regia Marina during World War II. She was named after the Amba Aradam mountain in Ethiopia.

Design and description

The ''Adua''-class submarines were essentially repeats of the preceding . They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of .Chesneau, pp. 309–10

For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the ''Adua'' class had a range of at , submerged, they had a range of at .Bagnasco, p. 154

The boats were armed with six internal torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern. They were also armed with one deck gun for combat on the surface. The light anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two pairs of machine guns.

Construction and career

''Aradam'' was built at the CRDA shipyard, in Monfalcone. She was laid down on 14 February 1936, launched on 18 October of the same year, and commissioned on 16 January 1937. On March 6, 1937, she was assigned to 23rd Submarine Squadron in Naples.''Aradam'' at Monfalcone Naval Museum
/ref> During the next three years ''Aradam'' conducted several training missions between Tobruk, Benghazi and the Dodecanese.

At the time of Italy's entrance into World War II, she was assigned to the 71st Squadron (VII Submarine Group) based in Cagliari. Her commander at the time was captain Giuseppe Bianchini. On June 10, 1940, she was sent to patrol an area between Sardinia and the island of La Galite. She returned to the base on June 14 without encountering any enemies.

Her second war mission was to attack a French convoy for North Africa in the Gulf of Lion. On June 21 she observed an increased aircraft activity in the area, which indicated an approaching convoy. On June 23 at 3:12 ''Aradam'' sighted a fast moving ship in the position , and unsuccessfully attacked her.

In July and August 1940, ''Aradam'' carried out two missions off Gibraltar.

In October 1940, she was sent to patrol off La Galite first and then transferred to the area about 60 miles north of Cap de Fer. Then when patrolling 45 miles west of La Galite, On October 27, 1940, she sighted a destroyer and had to dive and move away.

In the afternoon of November 9, 1940 ''Aradam'' left Cagliari and to patrol off La Galite along with four other submarines (including and ) as a screen to British Operation "Coat". She returned from this mission without any sightings.

On November 14, 1940, she returned to the sea (together with and ) to screen British Operation "White" (transfer of 14 aircraft to Malta from Force-H aircraft carrier).

In January 1941, patrolled 40 miles east of the island of La Galite. In the afternoon of January 9 she detected a ship conducting anti-submarine activity in the area, and moved away.

In April 1941 she patrolled off Cyrenaica and Egypt.

Between the end of July and the beginning of August, ''Aradam'' was sent with three other submarines to an area southwest of Sardinia to screen British Operation "Style", but she failed to see any enemy ships.

In September 1941, during British Operation "Halberd" she was deployed together with three other submarines in a defensive ambush to the east of Balearic Islands but British ships did not pass in this area. ''Aradam'' then moved further south and in fact on 29 September 1941, sighted a formation of British ships, but she failed to get involved.

In October 1941, she again was on mission sixty miles east of the island of La Galite.

In November 1941, she operated 45 miles northeast of Tunis.

In December 1941, she was deployed off La Galite again.

In January 1942 she was patrolling south of Malta

In February 1942, she patrolled off Algeria, detecting the noises of enemy ships (on February 10), but was unable to locate the convoy.

In March 1942, she patrolled off Cape Bougaroun.

On April 6, 1942, at 03:12 ''Aradam'' (under command of captain Oscar Gran), sailing east of Kélibia, sighted a large ship, later identified as , navigating westward in the direction of Cape Bon, and launched a torpedo at 03:17 from about 500 meters in the position .

The seriously damaged destroyer, tried to go towards the coast, but a detonation of her ammunition depot broke her in two, while ''Aradam'' observed the events.

According to other sources, stopped at 4:15 in the position , perhaps to avoid the torpedo and was not hit, but was demolished by her crew once they realized the destroyer had run aground and could not be dislodged. According to a third version, ''Aradam'' torpedoed and destroyed s wreck.

In May 1942 she operated north of Cape Blanc.

In mid-June 1942 ''Aradam'' was sent together with four other submarines, including '' Ascianghi'' and '' Dessiè'' to patrol off Cape Blanc and later between Malta, Pantelleria and Lampedusa in an attempt to intercept British convoy as part of the Operation "Harpoon". However, the submarine did not sight any enemy ships.

On November 8, 1942 Operation Torch was launched: more than 500 British and American vessels escorted by 350 warships began landing 107,000 troops on the coasts of Algeria and Morocco, thus opening the second front in North Africa. Together with many other Italian and German submarines ''Aradam'' was immediately dispatched to the southern Mediterranean. On November 16, 1942 ''Aradam'' (under command of Carlo Forni) at night entered the Bay of Bona and found a convoy of three transport with three escorts. She fired two torpedoes, but missed. Then at 5:06 she launched two more torpedoes but missed again. ''Aradam'' then shelled the ships with her deck gun hitting and slightly damaging one of the transports before diving to evade the escorts.Giorgerini, p. 342-343

From December 1942 through February 1943 she went on several missions patrolling off Cyrenaica.

In March 1943 ''Aradam'' patrolled in the Gulf of Sirte.

In May 1943, she patrolled west of Sardinia.

On April 10, 1943, she was at La Maddalena when the base was bombed by 84 US B 24 Liberator aircraft who sunk smaller boats and heavy cruiser Trieste, but ''Aradam'' was not hit but had two crew members wounded.

After Italy signed Armistice of Cassibile surrendering to Allies the submarine was undergoing maintenance in Genoa. ''Aradam'' was also being converted to an SLC boat. Since she could not leave, her crew scuttled her to avoid capture.

''Aradam'' was refloated by the Germans but repairs were never finished. On September 4, 1944, she was hit by bombs and sank in the port of Genoa during an Allied air attack.

References

Notes

Sources

*
*
*
*

External links

Regia Marina
The Italian Navy in World War II

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aradam
Adua-class submarines
World War II submarines of Italy
Lost submarines of Italy
Maritime incidents in September 1944
World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
1936 ships
Ships built by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico
Ships built in Monfalcone
Submarines sunk by aircraft