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R.Smg. Comandante CAPPELLINI |
By Cristiano D'Adamo |
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Operational Life |
1940 |
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The Cappellini was one of the two Marcellos of more recent construction and it differed from the previous series simply for the substitution of the diesel engines produced by CRDA with similar ones produced by FIAT. The Cappellini was one of the boats selected for the new Atlantic base of Bordeaux. It was considered, along with the Faa di Bruno, one of the vessels in better mechanical conditions since it was of more recent construction. At the same time, the Cappellini was one of the first vessels which, at the beginning of 1941 and following damage inflicted after a patrol, utilized the new naval shipyard established in Bordeaux. The Cappellini left Cagliari (Sardinia) on June 6th, 1940 a day after the Finzi and under the command of C.C. Cristiano Masi and moved off the Island of Madera. The night of the 14th, near Cape Negro (Point Almina), the vessel was sighted by the British trawler “Atlantic Ranger”, but, following a crash dive, it was able to run away. Around 00:30 AM on the 15th, while it was near Point Alpina, the vessel was once again sighted by enemy units. One of them, the destroyer “Vidette”, was targeted with the launch of a torpedo which failed to reach the ship. Once again, following quick maneuvering, the vessel was able to elude the enemy ships, but sighted by yet another unit, the Cappellini had to seek refuge in the Spanish port of Ceuta, from which, at a later day, was able to escape reaching a Spezia. These first attempts to cross the Strait of Gibraltar gave proof that the security measures implemented by the British were quite effective. Thanks to the Cappellini’s visit in Ceuta, it was possible to document the organization of the British screen which, effectively, were divided into six areas each patrolled by light units. Furthermore, the Cappellini help testing Spanish flexibility in regards to Article XII of the 13th Convention of the Hague (1907). The articles of this treaty limited the stay of a military vessel in a neutral port to only 24 hours, unless breakdowns would not allow it to leave. Thanks to Spanish compliancy, the Cappellini falsified the various breakdowns, thus allowing for the tight British surveillance to be relaxed, and at the same time rising support within Franco’s government. Finally, it should be mentioned that not a single Italian submarine was lost during the crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar, while the German allies considered this forced route a near suicide, especially after the tragic experiences of WW I with the loss of U.104 (April 11th, 1918), and U.61 (May 11th, 1918). |
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At the end of the first war patrol, C.C. Salvatore Todaro, one of the more shining heroes of the Italian Navy, replaced C.C. Masi. The submarine left La Spezia on September 29th, 1940 to complete the crossing of the strait (Gibraltar) on the 5th of October, but this time submerged. As it happened with other vessels, the Cappellini also experienced a sudden loss of depth which brought the boat down to 140 meters, far exceeding the maximum certified depth. |
 
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After the crossing, the Cappellini moved on to its previously assigned area of patrol where, the night of October 15th, it intercepted the armed steamship
Kabalo, part of convoy OB.223. The ship was sunk with the deck gun since the three torpedoes launched failed to reach the target, probably due to the rough sea.
After the sinking, Captain Todaro decided to take the ship’s life boat in tow to bring it closer to land, but when the boat began to sink, he transferred the ship’s crew aboard the submarine. The 26 shipwrecked sailors were housed in the cunning tower and, after three days at sea, were disembarked on the Island of Santa Maria in the Azores. This is an interesting episode because it generated the admiration of the international press, but surely not that of the Germans and the Italian high command; as it will be soon discovered, this war could not be fought by heroes and gentlemen. |
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The Kabalo was a Belgian steamship built in 1917 by the Cammel Laird & Co. of Birkenhead and was previously known as the “War Myrtle” (1919) and Caledonier (1927). The displacement listed by the Italian authorities (5,186 t.) is slightly higher than the one indicated by the “Lloyd’s Register of Shipping” which lists 5,051 t. The ship belonged to the “Compagnie Maritime Belge” of Antwerp. The sinking took place in position 31° 59’N 31° 21’W, one crewmember was lost and the remaining 42 were rescued. Completed its patron, the vessel began the return voyage to Bordeaux which was reached on November 5th, 1940.
After a period of repairs and maintenance, the Cappellini left Le Verdon on December 22nd 1940. The boat had been chosen for a mission in the eastern Atlantic after radical transformations that had included the reduction of the casings of the periscopes and the increase of the ammunitions for the guns. Moreover, the range of the boat had been increased with the stowage of provisions for approximately two months, and the transformation of a double hull into an additional diesel fuel tank. |
1941 |
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| On the 5th, in the area between the Canaries Islands and the African coast, it intercepted the British steamboat “Shakespeare of 5.029 t., an isolated ship from convoy OB.262. The steamboat was sunk after a duel with the gun in which the artillerymen of the Shakespeare hit the forward gun of the Cappellini causing the death of sergeant Ferruccio Azzolin. |
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| The Shakespeare was built in the 1926 by the R Duncan & Co. shipyard of Port Glasgow and it belonged to the "Shakespeare Shipping Co. Ltd." The position of the sinking was 18° 05' N 21° 11' W; 20 crewmembers died, and the remaining 22, in great part hurt, were rescued by the Cappellini and then left on one of the Islands of Cabo Verde. This was another example of the humanitarian spirit of commander Todaro and of his sense of chevaliery. |
 
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| The Cappellini continued the cruise in the zone of Cabo Verde, and then moved off Freetown, where the morning of January 14th attacked with two torpedoes the troop transport ship Eumaeus of 7,472 t. which was eventually sunk with the gun. This was an auxiliary cruiser (armed ship) in service to the British. Built in the 1921 by the "Calendon Shipbuilding & Engineering" of Dundee (Scotland), the ship belonged to the "Ocean Shipping Co." The sinking was given in position 08° 55' N 15° 03' W (118 miles for 285° from Cape Sierra Leon). During the battle, which lasted more than two hours, the Cappellini experienced several breakdowns. First the ammunition lifts stopped, forcing the movement of projectiles by hand, then the aft gun lost the brakes recoils. During the battle lost their lives sergeant Francisco Moccia and common Giuseppe Bastino, and also the T.G.N. Danilo Stiepovich to whom was awarded the Gold Medal (M.O.M.). The records of the Lloyds list 23 British fallen and 63 survivors, but the war log of the Cappellini clearly describes a "swarming" of troops getting away from the ship. In facts, this was a troop transport ship directed to Egypt. |
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At the end of the engagement, and probably called by the S.O.S. launched by the ship, and airplane appeared in the area launching two bombs against the Cappellini. Because of a fault with the flooding valves, the boat submerged very slowly, thus offering an optimal target; the damage was extensive. The trim tanks were damaged, so were the main electric motors, the batteries, and other systems, forcing Commander Todaro to seek shelter in the nearby Spanish port of the Luz, in Gran Canaria. The Cappellini moored the night of January 20th, and with the acquiescence of the Spanish authorities, the boat received the necessary repairs and disembarked a wounded. The vessel left the 23rd, and after a week the Cappellini was again in Bordeaux (to be accurate in Pauillac), after 39 days at sea and over 7,600 miles of patrol. The forth mission began April 16, 1941 with destination the northern Atlantic as part of the group Da Vinci which included the submarines Da Vinci, Cappellini, Torelli and Malaspina. On the 21st, commander Todaro, in spite of the failure of one of the two thermal engines, lead an attack against two large passengers ships of the type "ACCRA". After having launched the torpedoes, the boat had to submerge and then endure the hunt of the escort vessels, including an attempted ramming, artillery fire, and the launch of depth charges. |
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The Accra type was of British production and built by the "Harland & Wolff", company with shipyards in Belfast, Greenock, Glasgow, and Irvine. In addition to the Accra there was the Apapa. The first was sunk by U 34 on July 26th, 1940 while the second one was sunk by a German Kondor on November 15th, 1940. Belonging to the same company there was the Adda, similar but much smaller, also lost during the war, and more precisely on June 8th, 1941 victim of U 107. The Cappellini continued in vain the search for enemy traffic and eventually it left the area of operations the 11th, returning to base on May 20th. The fifth mission was to some extent short: the Cappellini left Bordeaux June 29th, 1941 with destination a sector to the West of the Strait of Gibraltar, but due to serious breakdowns, it had to abandon mission and re-enter to base on July 6th. At the end of this short mission, while the boat entered the shipyard, Commander Todaro departed leaving the command to T.V. Aldo Lenzi. Todaro would join the famous Xa MAS dying, as a gentleman and hero, during a mission in the small port of La Galite (December 14th, 1942) killed by airplane straifing while a group under his commando was preparing to force the port of Bona. In should be mentioned that, due to the change of commanders, several boats had delays in being deployed their area of operations while the officers and the crews were becoming familiar which each other in short practice missions. The Cappellini was not immune; in fact it seems that although ready well before May 1942, if had not been for the change of commander. The sixth mission took the boat in waters south and southeast off the Azores Islands along with the submarines Morosini and of Da Vinci. Commander Polacchini (Commanding Officer of Betasom) , for the occasion, wanted to experience a new system of patrol that called for the positioning of the boats at approximately 40 miles from one another. The three boats, therefore, assumed a wedge-like formation, with the central unit proceeding approximately 120 miles ahead to the others two. The idea was to act in close collaboration and have the boat closer to the contact take action. After departure, on November 17, 1941 the boats continued the patrol operation until the 29th, when B.d.U. requested the transfer of the boats to another sector. December 2nd, the Da Vinci, experiencing mechanical failures, had to abandon mission while the Cappellini intercepted the British steamboat Miguel de Larringa of 5.230 t. The submarine war logs lists the torpedoing in position 35° 34' W 29° 52' W, but the documents of the Lloyds do not confirm this sinking, therefore it must be assumed that, perhaps, the ship was only damaged. Completed the mission, the Cappellini returned to Bordeaux on December 29th, 1941 to remain at the shipyard for several months due to the precarious conditions of the boat. At this time, and after only a single war mission, T.V. Aldo Lenzi relinquished the command of the submarine to T.V. Marco Revedin. In spite of the continuous damages, in many cases due to enemy attacks, the Italian submarines’ armaments worked well, with the torpedoes functioning 60% of the time (the analysis reflect the total launch of 109 weapons). |
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English version edited by Laura K. Yost |
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