The ''Liuzzi'' class was a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

of four

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s built by Tosi in

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

for the

Royal Italian Navy The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to ''Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origins ...

(). The submarines were built in 1939 and began their

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

service in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, where ''Liuzzi'' was sunk. The three surviving boats were transferred to the

BETASOM BETASOM (an Italian language acronym of ''Bordeaux Sommergibile'' or ''Sommergibili'') was a submarine base established at Bordeaux, France by the '' Regia Marina'' during the Second World War. From this base, Italian submarines participated in t ...

Atlantic submarine base at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

in 1940. After ''Tarantini'' was sunk, ''Bagnolini'' and ''Giuliani'' were selected for conversion to " transport submarines" in order to exchange rare or irreplaceable trade goods with Japan. Cargo capacity of 160 tons reduced reserve buoyancy from between 20 and 25% to between 3.5 and 6%; and armament was reduced to defensive machine guns. The submarines saw action in the

during which they collectively sunk 5 freighters and 1

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

and were eventually either sunk or captured.

Ships

''Console Generale Liuzzi''

was launched 17 September 1939. Two weeks after the Italian declaration of war, ''Liuzzi'' was sunk by

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s south of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

on 27 June 1940.

''Alpino Bagnolini''

''Bagnolini'' (

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

BI) was launched 28 October 1939 and completed on 22 December 1939. ''Bagnolini'' was at sea when Italy declared war, and torpedoed the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

south of Crete on 12 June 1940. A second Mediterranean war patrol was unsuccessful. ''Bagnolini'' sailed on 9 September 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 13 September for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 30 September. En route ''Bagnolini'' torpedoed the neutral Spanish freighter ''Gabo Tortosa''. ''Bagnolini'' sank a single ship on its first

patrol before being damaged by anti-submarine patrols. A July 1941 patrol off Gibraltar and a patrol off the Azores from 18 January to 22 February 1942 were unsuccessful; and three patrols to the South Atlantic from 24 April to 28 June, from 15 September to 7 November 1942, and from 14 February to 13 April 1943 were similarly unproductive. After conversion to a German transport submarine, ''Bagnolini'' sailed as ''UIT-22'' on 26 January 1944 and was sunk off the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

No. 262 Squadron RAF No. 262 Squadron RAF was an anti-submarine patrol squadron of the Royal Air Force between 1942 and 1945. History The squadron was officially formed on 29 September 1942Halley 1988, p. 328.Jefford 2001, p. 82. at RAF Hednesford, although this wa ...

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the OA- ...

s on 11 March.Brice pp. 145–149

''Reginaldo Giuliani''

''Giuliani'' (pennant number GN) was launched 3 December 1939. After two unsuccessful Mediterranean war patrols, ''Giuliani'' sailed on 29 August 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 September for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 30 September. After an unsuccessful BETASOM patrol in November, ''Giuliani'' sailed on 16 March 1941 to serve as a training submarine at

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

to instruct Italian officers in attack techniques and methodologies employed by the Germans. From April 1941 to April 1942 training courses of two to five weeks including

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

cruises of ten to twenty days were completed by seven Italian crews. ''Giuliani'' returned to Bordeaux on 23 May 1942. ''Giuliani'' sank three ships during a patrol off the

Cape Verde Islands Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

from 24 June to 3 September 1942. ''Giuliani'' remained in the Spanish port of

Santander, Cantabria Santander ( , ; ) is the capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. It has a population of 172,000 (2017). It is a port city located in the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Cantabrian Sea. It is believed to ha ...

until 8 November 1942 repairing damage inflicted by

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat Maritime patrol aircraft, patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of ...

s on 1 September and No. 304 Squadron's

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

on 2 September. After return to France and conversion to a transport submarine, ''Giuliani'' sailed on 16 May 1943 with 130 tonnes of mercury and reached

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

on 1 August 1943.Brice pp. 131–133 When Italy surrendered on 8 September 1943 ''Giuliani'' was seized by Germany in Singapore and renamed ''UIT-23''. ''UIT-23'' sailed for France on 15 February 1944 with 135 tonnes of

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

and 70 tonnes of

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

, and was torpedoed three days later by . There were 14 survivors from the crew of forty. One survivor was picked up by the ''Tally-Ho'', the others were saved by a German

Arado Ar 196 The Arado Ar 196 is a shipboard reconnaissance low-wing monoplane aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Arado. It was the standard observation floatplane of the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German Navy) throughout the Second ...

floatplane operating out of

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

, which transferred the survivors on its floats in several trips.

''Capitano Tarantini''

''Tarantini'' (pennant number TT) was launched 7 January 1940 and was on patrol in the Mediterranean when Italy declared war. ''Tarantini'' sank one ship on its second Mediterranean war patrol, but then had two unsuccessful patrols. ''Tarantini'' sailed on 31 August 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 September for an Atlantic patrol to

on 5 October. ''Tarantini'' began its first

patrol on 11 November and was torpedoed by in the Gironde estuary while returning to base on 15 December 1940. Five of the crew were rescued.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Brice, Martin ''Axis Blockade Runners of World War II'' (1981) Naval Institute Press * * Erminio Bagnasco, ''Submarines of World War Two'', Cassell & Co, London. 1977 * Kafka, Roger & Pepperburg, Roy L. ''Warships of the World'' Cornell Maritime Press (1946)