Italian submarine ''Neghelli'' was an built for the

Royal Italian Navy The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' ch ...

(''Regia Marina'') during the 1930s. It was named after a town of Negele in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

Design and description

The ''Adua''-class submarines were essentially repeats of the preceding . They

displaced Displaced may refer to: * Forced displacement Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNH ...

surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy * Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy ** Laser beam * Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...

of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a ves ...

of .Chesneau, pp. 309–10 For surface running, the boats were powered by two

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

. When submerged each propeller was driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate forc ...

. 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 tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...

s, four in the bow and two in the stern. They were also armed with one

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...

for combat on the surface. The light anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two pairs of machine guns.

Construction and career

''Neghelli'' was launched on 7 November 1937 in

OTO Oto, Ōtō, or OTO may refer to: People *Oto (name), including a list of people with the name *The Otoe tribe (also spelled Oto), a Native American people Places *Oto, Spain, a village in the Valle de Broto, in Huesca, Aragon * Otorohanga, a tow ...

's shipyard in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest ci ...

and commissioned on 28 February 1938. After an endurance training in the

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited ...

, ''Neghelli'' was assigned to

Leros Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight f ...

. In May of 1940 she was reassigned to 15th Squadron (I Submarine Group) based at

. Her commander at the time was Carlo Ferracuti. At the outbreak of hostilities she immediately was sent on a mission to the west part of the

Gulf of Genoa The Gulf of Genoa (''Golfo di Genova'') is the northernmost part of the Ligurian Sea. This Italian gulf is about wide from the city of Imperia in the west to La Spezia in the east. The largest city on its coast is Genoa, which has an important p ...

and returned on 14 June 1940 without encountering any enemy traffic. On 1 August 1940 ''Neghelli'' together with , , , (later replaced by ), and was sent to form a barrier north of Cape Bougaroun following departure from Gibraltar of the British Force H. There were ongoing British operations "Crush" and "Hurry" in progress at this time. Italian submarines stayed on patrol until 9 August, however, Force H passed north of the area patrolled by Italian submarines, and they were not able to detect it. On 5 August 1940 at approximately 18:50 ''Neghelli'', while located west of

Asinara Asinara is an Italian island of in area. The name is Italian for "donkey-inhabited", but it is thought to derive from the Latin "sinuaria", and meaning sinus-shaped. The island is virtually uninhabited. The census of population of 2001 lists o ...

, was attacked by an enemy submarine. ''Neghelli'' managed to avoid two torpedoes by maneuvering. In December 1940 she was sent on a new mission to patrol an area 45 miles north of

Marsa Matruh Mersa Matruh ( ar, مرسى مطروح, translit=Marsā Maṭrūḥ, ), also transliterated as ''Marsa Matruh'', is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located west of Alexandria and east of Sallum on the main highwa ...

until Christmas. Two more submarines, and , were also deployed in the same area to intercept British naval forces sent to attack Italian ports on the coast of

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

. On 13 December 1940, at 20:22 while patrolling on the surface in an area 45 miles north of

in the position , she sighted a British cruiser thought to be . ''Neghelli'' closed in and at 20:36 fired a spread of four torpedoes, stayed on the surface to observe the results. One torpedo hit the target, which turned out to be . The cruiser opened fire in the direction of the submarine, forcing her to dive and move away. was damaged and was forced to return to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

for repairs which lasted until 20 January 1941 and didn't return to action until late March 1941. ''Neghellis heroics were reported in the war bulletin no. 191 of 15 December 1940, claiming the sinking of the British cruiser. Captain Ferracuti was decorated with a

Silver Medal of Military Valor The Silver Medal of Military Valor ( it, Medaglia d'argento al valor militare) is an Italian medal for gallantry. Italian medals for valor were first instituted by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia on 21 May 1793, with a gold medal, and, below it, ...

for this attack. On 14 January 1941 ''Neghelli'' departed from

for an offensive mission targeting traffic in and out of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Sar ...

. No news were heard from her since the departure. From the British documents released after the war, it appears that on 19 January 1941 ''Neghelli'' first attacked Greek destroyer ''Psara'' early in the morning, then at 11:53 she attacked British convoy AS-12 heading from

. Convoy AS-12 was composed of steamers ''Clan Cumming'', ''Clan MacDonald'' and ''Empire Song'' escorted by the anti-aircraft cruiser , destroyers , , and . One of ''Neghelli'' 's torpedoes struck the steamer ''Clan Cumming'' (7264 GRT) in the position , near the San Giorgio island, causing serious damage and forcing her to return to

escorted by . The remaining destroyers counterattacked with depth charges, and finally was able to hit the submarine, which sank with all hands 40 miles northeast of

Falkonera Falkonera ( el, Φαλκονέρα) or Gerakoulia (Γερακούλια), anciently known as Hierakia (Ἱεράκια), is a small uninhabited Greek island in the southwestern Aegean Sea, between the island of Milos and the Peloponnese. Althou ...

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neghelli Adua-class submarines World War II submarines of Italy Lost submarines of Italy Maritime incidents in January 1941 World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea 1937 ships Ships built by OTO Melara Ships built in La Spezia Submarines lost with all hands Submarines sunk by British warships