Fisalia was a coastal submarine of the Argonaut-class (650 tons displacement on the surface and 800 tons submerged). The boat completed 7 patrols and 8 transfer missions during the war, covering a total of 6,181 miles on the surface and 2,190 miles submerged, as well as 46 training sorties.
Brief and Partial Chronology
November 20th, 1929
Setting up in the Cantieri Riuniti dell’Adriatico in Monfalcone (construction number 226).
May 2nd, 1931
Fisalia was launch at the Cantieri Riuniti dell’Adriatico in Monfalcone.
Fisalia ready for launch
(From “I sommergibili di Monfalcone” by Alessandro Turrini, Rivista Marittima n. 11 – November 1998)
June 4th, 1932
Entry into service. For a few months he remained in the Upper Adriatic, especially in Pula.
Fisalia in Taranto, October 31st, 1932
(Giorgio Parodi Collection)
1933
Fisalia completed a long training cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean together with the boat of the same class Salpa and Argonauta (in the Dodecanese, with stops in Libya on the way back), then, under the command of Lieutenant Giorgio Bernabò, it was deployed to Messina (III Submarine Group) and assigned to training tasks in the metropolitan ports for the next four years, carrying out several training cruises.
February 1937
The command of Fisalia was assumed by the Lieutenant Commander Francesco Dell’Anno.
August 17th through 29th, 1937
Fisalia clandestinely participated to the Spanish Civil War with an unsuccessful 12-day mission. Setting sail from Messina on August 17th, Fisalia (still under the command of Lieutenant Bernabò) patrolled a sector north of Pantelleria, between Cape Lilybaeum and Cape Bon. During the mission, the boat began 22 attack maneuvers, but did not complete any of them, due to uncertainty about the identity of the targets. Fisalia returned to Messina on the 29th. At the end of this mission, it was deployed to Tobruk.
Fisalia in Messina
(Maurizio Brescia Collection)
December 26th, 1937
Lieutenant Carlo Todaro (29 years old, from Trapani) took command of Fisalia.
October 18th, 1938
Lieutenant Todaro handed over command of Fisalia to Lieutenant Girolamo Acunto.
June 10th, 1940
Upon Italy’s entry into the World War II, Fisalia was part of the LXI Submarine Squadron (VI Grupsom, based in Tobruk), along with the class leader Argonauta and the submarines Naiade, Sirena and Smeraldo.
June 12th, 1940
Fisalia (Lieutenant Girolamo Acunto) was sent off the coast of Alexandria for offensive patrol. He remained in the area for only two days, during which time he sighted a merchant ship, which he attacked but failed to hit.
June 15th, 1940
On his way back to Tobruk, Fisalia was attacked by a submarine with a torpedo, but avoided it with a quick maneuver. (TN The submarine in question was H.M.S. Rosqual, Lieutenant Commander Ronald Hugh Dewhurst)
July 12th, 1940
Still under the command of Lieutenant Acunto, Fisalia sailed for a mission north of the Gulf of Sollum, but on reaching the assigned sector it was located by three escort ships and subjected to violent anti-submarine attacks. With various apparatuses seriously damaged, it has to go back to base.
July 13th, 1940
Fisalia arrived in Tobruk. Once repaired, it carries out new offensive patrols, all of which were unsuccessful.
October 14th, 1940
The boat was reassigned to the Submarine School in Pula.
October 14th,1940 through March 10th, 1941
Fisalia completed 46 training sorties for the Submarine School in Pula.
After 10 March, the boat carried out various offensive missions in Egyptian waters.
March 15th through 26th, 1941
Fisalia was sent to patrol the waters of the Otranto Channel to protect traffic between Italy and Albania.
April 22nd, 1941
Fisalia was sent on patrol in the waters of Cyrenaica, where it sighted a large cruiser off the Egyptian coast, but was unable to get into a favorable position to launch torpedoes (i.e., to reduce the distances sufficiently).
May 20th, 1941
Fisalia was sent to lie in wait in the waters between Crete, Alexandria and Sollum, along with the submarines Uarsciek, Topazio, Adua, Tricheco, Malachite, Squalo, Smeraldo, Dessiè, and Sirena, in support of the German invasion of Crete.
According to an unverifiable source, twice during this mission Fisalia was spotted by several enemy destroyers and subjected to heavy hunts with depth charges (hundreds) that lasted for several hours.
The Sinking
On the morning of September 23rd, 1941, Fisalia, still under the command of Girolamo Acunto (who had just been promoted to Lieutenant Commander), sailed from Leros for a patrol between Jaffa and Haifa. After the departure, however, Fisalia was never heard from again.
It was later learned, from British sources, that on September 28th the British corvette H.M.S. Hyacinth (Lieutenant Commander Frank Clifford Hopkins; according to one version the ship was conducting an anti-submarine patrol off Jaffa, according to another it acted instead in defense of a convoy) had located Fisalia submerged 25 miles northwest of Jaffa and had sunk it with a precise and lethal launch of depth charges in position 32°19′ N and 34°17′ E . All crewmembers – 5 officers, 14 non-commissioned officers, 27 non-commissioned officers and sailors – still rest in their “iron coffin”.
H.M.S. Hyacinth was a Flower-class corvette. In 1943 it was transferred to Greece
According to an unverifiable source, the wreck of Fisalia was located 27 miles off the Israeli coast, at a great depth.
Original Italian text by Lorenzo Colombo adapted and translated by Cristiano D’Adamo
Operational Records
| Type | Patrols (Med.) | Patrols (Other) | NM Surface | NM Sub. | Days at Sea | NM/Day | Average Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Submarine – Coastal | 2 | 2 | 6955 | 1149 | 73 | 111.01 | 4.63 |
Actions
| Date | Time | Captain | Area | Coordinates | Convoy | Weapon | Result | Ship | Type | Tonns | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06/12/1940 | T.V. Girolamo Acunto | Mediterranean | Off Alexandria | Torpedo | Failed | Unknown | Ship | Unknown |
Crew Members Lost
| Last Name | First Name | Rank | Italian Rank | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acunto | Girolamo | Lieutenant Commander | Capitano di Corvetta | 9/28/1941 |
| Antonante | Michele | Chief 3rd Class | Capo di 3a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Ardetti | Antonio | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Baggi | Luigi | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Barbieri | Osvaldo | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Basile | Bartolo | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Battain | Mario | Chief 2nd Class | Capo di 2a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Bobbio | Giovanni | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Bossio | Alberto | Lieutenant | Tenente di Vascello | 9/28/1941 |
| Bozzotta | Salvatore | Chief 2nd Class | Capo di 2a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Briga | Antonio | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Brunetti | Raffaello | Ensign | Guardiamarina | 9/28/1941 |
| Bruno | Vinicio | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Bruzzo | Renato | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Cum | Giovanni | Chief 2nd Class | Capo di 2a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| De Palma | Alfredo | Chief 2nd Class | Capo di 2a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Dell’Angelo | Albino | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Di Pasquale | Vittorio | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Esposito | Simone | Chief 2nd Class | Capo di 2a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Faggion | Guido | Sergeant | Sergente | 9/28/1941 |
| Ferraro | Valerio | Sublieutenant | Sottotenente di Vascello | 9/28/1941 |
| Fiorentino | Antonio | Sergeant | Sergente | 9/28/1941 |
| Furlan | Ferdinando | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Gragnani | Rodolfo | Sublieutenant G.N. | Tenente G.N. | 9/28/1941 |
| Lampani | Renato | Chief 1st Class | Capo di 1a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Lerici | Federico | Chief 2nd Class | Capo di 2a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Lo Forti | Rosario | Sergeant | Sergente | 9/28/1941 |
| Lotti | Vasco | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Manta | Oronzo | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Marconi | Rodolfo | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Marino | Antonino | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Mattera | Luigi | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Miceli | Antonino | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Molfino | Giacomo | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Morgera | Francesco | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Piscelli | Salvatore | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Provera | Adriano | Chief 2nd Class | Capo di 2a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Puce | Giuseppe | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Ruccia | Vito | Chief 1st Class | Capo di 1a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Sirletti | Emilio | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Spina | Carlo | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Staiano | Alberto | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Tanfani | Ezio | Chief 2nd Class | Capo di 2a Classe | 9/28/1941 |
| Tosini | Livio | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |
| Zacchini | Alceo | Naval Rating | Comune | 9/28/1941 |
| Zanello | Gildo | Junior Chief | Sottocapo | 9/28/1941 |