R.Smg. ALESSANDRO MALASPINA
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by Cristiano D'Adamo
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The "MARCONI" Class |
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Detailed operational records |
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Map of the Sinking
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Personnel lost aboard the Mapaspina |
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Operational Life
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1940
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The submarine Malaspina was one of the six boats of the
Marconi class. It was
named after Alessandro Malaspina, the world-famous Italian navigator. Laid
down in 1939 by the shipyard OTO of Muggiano, near La Spezia, the vessel was
delivered to the Navy on June 20th, 1940, a few days after the beginning of
the war. Following a relatively short period for the usual shake down, the
boat was assigned to the submarine base of La Spezia.
On July 29th, the Malaspina left La Spezia for a patrol into the Atlantic.
Under the command of Commander Mario Leoni, the submarine crossed the Strait
of Gibraltar the night of September 3rd, while proceeding at the maximum
speed of 16 knots, and at 3:35 AM the crew sighted in the clear and
luminescent night the menacing silhouette of an enemy destroyer. The captain
gave the order to dive and, slowly the large vessel disappeared under the
surface to meet, and fortunately avoid, a tragic destiny. Commander Leoni
described these tense moments in his mission report:
“The submarine, as usual, for the first 30 to 40 seconds remained
horizontal, dove one or two meters,and thereafter began going down by the
bow. When the bow was down 10°, in leveling the aft planes, it is
discovered that they are locked in a down 20° position. The forward planes
are then set full up and at a depth of 20 meters I give orders to blow the
emergency tank.
The submarine goes down quickly by the bow up to 35° and in a few seconds
reaches the depth of 25 meters. After we passed the 15° down by the bow, I
order the tanks closed and air to the ballast tanks (except the aft
ballast tank), full blown.
The submarine, in seven or eight seconds, thus before the tank valves were
closed, reaches a depth of 70 meters.
The opening of the air valves and the leveling of the two reserve air
systems is done rapidly, but with great difficulties because personnel in
the control room has fallen, since the beginning of the maneuver, near the
forward passageway, while I am gripped to the controls of the hydraulic
system, but cannot reach the telegraphs to order the engine stopped.
Although we keep pumping air into the tanks, ballast tanks and emergency
tank, the submarine keeps going down quickly remaining 35° down by the
bow.
Reached 130 meters, the descend slows down, but it does not stop. At a
depth of 147 meters at the main gage (152 meters at the center of the hull
and 165 meters forward) the submarine stops, and still 35° down by the bow
remains at this depth for about 10 seconds and then begins to rise, first
slowly and then rapidly.”
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After surviving this ordeal and having successfully crossed the strait, the
boat began its patrol and, on August 12th, intercepted the British tanker
“British Fame”, a unit dispersed from convoy OB193 from Liverpool. The
sinking took place in position 37° 44’ N, 22° 56’ W. Three of the crew
members perished, one was captured as a prisoner of war, and the remaining
45 survived. According to Walter Ghetti, author of “Storia della Marina
italiana”, Commander Leoni towed the surviving crew of the British vessel
closer to land. This modern motor tanker, built in 1936 by the shipyards
Swan, Hunter, & Wigham Richardson of Sunderland, belonged to the British
Tanker Company of London.
Eventually, the Malaspina reached Bordeaux on September 4th, at 8:00 PM
(Rome Standard Time). During this first patrol, the second in command was
Lieutenant Oreste Odorici, while the navigation officer was sub-lieutenant
Giovanni Volterra.
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R.Smg. Alessandro Malaspina
(Photo Turrini)
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On the last day of September, the Malaspina was visited by Admiral
Doenitz as part of his inspection of the newly established Italian base of
Bordeaux. Soon after, the boat would be again at sea for another patrol.
This patrol is eloquently narrated by the U.S.M.M. (Historical Division of
the Italian Navy) in the book “I sommergibili negli oceani”:
“The Malaspina (Commander Mario Leoni) left Bordeaux in the afternoon
of October 9th and on the 18th of the same month reached the patrol area
west of Scotland where it intercepted a discovery signal radioed by a
German submarine. Having immediately changed course to approach the
convoy, the boat continued for 30 hours, reaching position 59 25 N, 30 10
W without sighting the convoy, which meantime had dispersed.
The night of the 20th, the Malaspina attacked a ship of about 3,400 t. The
first torpedo was deflected by the waves, and of a second launch of three
torpedoes, one reached the target. The Malaspina began firing with the
deck gun, but it soon had to interrupt due to the darkness of the night,
which did not allow the crew to locate their hits, while it gave the ship,
which had the advantage of better stability and a higher position, the
possibility of closing their hits to the cunning tower. Contact with the
merchant ship, lost after a heavy squall, was later never re-established.
On October 31st, at 13:15 in position 57 17 Nm 23 25 W with heavy sea and
marine fog, the Malaspina sighted during a brief clearing a convoy of 7
ships at a speed of 12 knots on course due SW with the escort of two
destroyers, one of which, placing itself constantly between the convoy and
the submarine, forced the boat first to go away and then submerge. Thus,
the boat lost contact with the convoy.
On November 4th, at 13:10 in position 51 00 N, 20 $) W, having left the
patrol area two days ahead of schedule due to limited range, the boat
sighted another convoy of 17 ships, on course due SSE, speed 8 knots, all
vessels of limited displacement escorted by an auxiliary cruiser
positioned at the end of the convoy. The submarine, which had kept
uninterrupted contact, attempted around sunset to close distance, but the
auxiliary cruiser, probably having sighted the submarine, maneuvered
several times to remain in between, forcing the submarine to go away until
darkness, when the opportunity of the Malspina to reestablish contact
vanished.
On November 5th, at 7:10 at about 800 miles from the Gironde, near the
20th meridian, where at the time the largest part of the British traffic
was routed, the Malaspina sited an auxiliary cruiser, a converted liner of
great displacement on due course NW and which, having sighted the
submarine, changed course to intercept the vessel at a speed of 20 knots.
At about 5,000 meters, the cruiser opened fire, forcing the submarine to
dive. Lost contact, and after two quick reappearances of the cruisers in
between squalls, the Malaspina gave up the chase and moved on toward
Bordeaux where it arrived in the afternoon of November 9th.”
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1941
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After a brief period for refitting, the Malaspina was again at sea on
January 5th, 1941, assigned to the same operational area west of Scotland.
On the 13th, the boat reached the assigned area where it continued the
patrol until the 24th without detecting any traffic. Following orders from
Betasom, Commander Leoni moved to a new area to the south where, within 2
days from its arrival, the crew sighted a destroyer which, due to the poor
beta, could not be attacked. Again, in the morning of the 28th, Commander
Leoni had the opportunity to attack another enemy vessel, this time an
auxiliary cruiser moving at about 16 knots, but the distance to the target
was too great to conduct a favorable attack. The 30th of January, the
Malaspina left the patrol area, reaching Le Verdon February 28th. At the end
of this patrol, Commander Leoni left the Malaspina to take command of the
destroyer Malocello, while Lieutenant Giuliano Prini replaced him.
Another unsuccessful patrol took place from the 23rd of April to early June
as part of the Da Vinci patrol group. This time, despite having sighted a
large convoy of over 20 ships west of Ireland, the boat failed to conduct an
attack. As with other Italian submarines, operations in the North Atlantic
were becoming less and less productive. According to the documentation
provided by the U.S.M.M., on the night of May 3rd the Malaspina attacked,
hitting with one torpedo the British liner Lycaon that, despite some
substantial damage, was able to take advantage of the frequent squalls to
elude the hunter. On the 20th, the Malaspina was attacked by an airplane,
followed by three destroyers, which hunted the boat for over 9 hours making
any offensive maneuver improbable and certainly impossible. This would be
the last patrol north, as the following one took place off Gibraltar and
produced two successes.
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After having left Bordeaux on June 27th, following a very brief period of
rest, the Malaspina was sent west of Gibraltar. On July 3rd, the crew
sighted a destroyer, which could not be attacked due to unfavorable
kinematics conditions. A few days later, on the 14th, Captain Prini hunted
down the Greek merchant ship Nikiklis of 3,576 t. 105 miles southwest of the
Azores. This older ship, built in 1921 by the Burger Shipyard as the
Lingedijk belonged to the Maraitis Lines of Athens. Of the 28 crewmembers,
17 survived.
Only three days later, Captain Prini scored another success, this time the
British merchant ship Guelma of 4,402 t. Belonging to “La Tunisienne
Steamship Co”, the Guelma was built in 1928 by the Rhead Shipyard. The
sinking took place in position 30° 44’ N, 17° 33’ W and all 41 crewmembers
were rescued. After a few additional days on patrol, the Malaspina returned
to base for another period of refitting, this time lasting until September.
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On September 18th, 1941 Captain Romolo Polacchini, who since April had
replaced Captain Also Cocchia as the Chief of Staff of Betasom, took over
the command of the Italian Atlantic submarine forces from vice-admiral
Angelo Parona, who, in the meantime, had been called to command a naval
division. It is during this period that the Morosini was assigned to a new
mission, along with the Da Vinci, Morosini and Torelli, west of the Strait
of Gibraltar, a patrol area just visited during the previous mission and
mode adapted to the characteristics of the Italian vessels. Thus, on
September 7th, the Morosini sailed from Bordeaux still under the command of
Lieutenant Prini. The official records indicate that the boat was due back
to port in late October, but never arrived. On November 18th, the Italian
authorities declared it lost at sea in unknown circumstances.
The fate of the Malaspina remained uncertain for several decades until, in
March 2004, Dr. Axel Niestlè and Eric Zimmerman published a report crediting
the loss of this submarine to an attack by a Sunderland. Part of this report
reads:
“In some post-war publications the destruction of Malaspina is
attributed to the attack of the destroyer HMS Vimy on 21 September 1941
while escorting convoy HG 73 enroute from Gibraltar to Liverpool. However
this attack was actually directed against the Italian submarine Luigi
Torelli, which suffered serious damage in the action, forcing the boat to
return to base. Likewise, Malaspina was credited by the German U-boat
Command and Betasom Command with a successful attack against convoy HG-73
in position BE 7648 (44.09’N / 21.45’W) on 24 September 1941. However,
this credit was based entirely on the observation of a German
reconnaissance aircraft of KG 40, which had sighted a convoy in the above
given position and then noted two sinking steamers and another on fire at
1410 and 1425 hours. As there were no reported successes by either German
or Italian submarines it was decided that the Malaspina must have been
responsible. This decision was made despite the fact that there had been
no signal from the boat made since her departure from Bordeaux and that
also signals sent to her had gone unheeded. Moreover, there is no report
of any Allied ships being lost or damaged in this area on that date.
A thorough examination of all Allied A/S-attacks during September 1941 in
the Bay of Biscay and within the boundaries of the initial operational
area assigned to Malaspina nevertheless revealed a very promising attack
by Sunderland “U” of 10 Squadron RAAF on 10 September 1941 in position
46º23’N / 11º22’W. At 1200 hours, the aircraft sighted a fully surfaced
submarine 1000 yards away on the port bow, running on course 260º and
estimated speed of 8 knots. As the aircraft was at 1000 feet at the time
of sighting and too close to make a direct attack, a turn was made to
starboard and height lost to 50 feet. As the turn commenced the submarine
submerged bow first. The aircraft closed and attacked down line of the
submerging wash with the blue green shape of the submarine hull still
visible when the Mk VII depth charges, set to explode at 50 and 100 feet,
were released. The first depth charge was estimated to have been a direct
hit between the conning tower and the stern and the second depth charge is
thought to have been a hit forward of the conning tower. The third depth
charge hung up and the fourth fell approximately 140 feet ahead of the
submarine. After the attack the Sunderland climbed to 500 feet and turned
to investigate a large red-brown patch approximately 100 yards from the
position of the explosions. The front gunner observed what might have been
the under wash of the submarine attacked but the observer stated that from
the port midships position he distinctly saw the submarine stationary
underwater partly in the brown patch. A second attack was made thereafter
with the one remaining depth charge, which, however, failed to explode. A
film of oil was observed on the surface three minutes after the first
explosions. The aircraft then circled over the position for 20 minutes.
The submarine, which was thought to be a German ocean going U-boat, was
camouflaged with purple, green, and gray paint. No forward gun was visible
and no members of the crew were seen. Afterwards the Sunderland carried
out a search in the attack area until 1525 hours when the Prudent Limit of
Endurance was reached and course was set back to base. 48 hours after this
attack and within 35 miles of the position other aircraft investigating
the area saw a large oil patch. Also oil bubbles two feet in diameter were
gushing to the surface at the location but no air bubbles were seen.
From the description of the attack it is very likely that the boat
attacked must have suffered at least serious damage if not sunk. From
relevant German and Italian documents it is known that none of the Axis
submarines transiting through the Bay of Biscay on 10 September 1941 and
returning to base thereafter reported being attacked by aircraft this day
at or anywhere near the position of attack. In addition, none of the
German U-boats then at sea and lost thereafter could have been the target
of the attack. The only boat in question was the outbound Malaspina, which
could have reached the position of attack at the time given.
Based on the foregoing information it is proposed to amend the loss of the
Italian submarine Alessandro Malaspina in the way that it was sunk on 10
September 1941 by depth charges from Sunderland “U” (serial # W3986) of 10
Squadron RAAF, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Athol Galway Hope Wearne, in
position 46º23’N / 11º22’W.”
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Considering that the location of the attack was 435 miles from Bordeaux, and
that the estimated speed of the vessel (8 knots) was the accurate cruising
speed, it is reasonable to accept the findings of these two researchers as
accurate and therefore the official Italian records should be
emended. |
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The report of Dr. Axel Niestlè and Mr. Eric Zimmerman is copyrighted
and reproduced with permission of the authors. |
