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Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci (1939)

Coordinates: 42°16′0″N 15°40′0″W / 42.26667°N 15.66667°W / 42.26667; -15.66667
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Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci (1939), available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 29 November 202514 sources
Leonardo da Vinci (submarine)
Company typeSubmarine
IndustryNaval military vessel
FoundedSeptember 1939; 87 years ago (1939-09)
Headquarters
Monfalcone
,
Italy
ProductsMarconi-class submarine


{{Infobox ship characteristics
Hide header= Header caption= Ship class= Marconi-class submarine[1][2] Ship displacement=*1,175 long tons (1,194 t) standard
  • 1,465 long tons (1,489 t) full load
 Ship length=76.5 m (251 ft) Ship beam=6.81 m (22.3 ft) Ship draught=4.72 m (15.5 ft) Ship draft= Ship propulsion=*Diesel engines, 3,600 hp (2,685 kW) (surfaced)
  • Electric motors 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) (submerged)
  • 2 shafts
 Ship speed=*17.8 knots (33.0 km/h; 20.5 mph) surfaced
  • 8.2 kn (15.2 km/h; 9.4 mph) submerged
 Ship range= Ship endurance= Ship test depth= Ship boats= Ship capacity= Ship complement= 57 Ship time to activate= Ship troops= Ship sensors= Ship EW= Ship armament=*1 × 100 mm (4 in) / 47 caliber gun

Leonardo da Vinci was a Marconi-class submarine serving in the Regia Marina during World War II. Active in the Atlantic theater from September 1940 until it was lost in May 1943, it gained distinction as the most successful non-German submarine of the conflict.[3][4]

Construction

Constructed at the CRDA shipyard located in Monfalcone, near Trieste, renowned as Italy’s premier submarine manufacturing facility, Leonardo da Vinci was one of six vessels belonging to the Marconi class laid down between 1938 and 1939. Launched in September 1939, this submarine was engineered for extended oceanic missions, suitable for deployment across both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Service history

Following Italy's entry into World War II in June 1940, the submarine Leonardo da Vinci was sent to the Atlantic, specifically to Bordeaux in occupied France, where it joined the Italian submarine flotilla known as BETASOM. After successfully navigating the hazardous Straits of Gibraltar—a passage notorious for several Axis submarine losses—she reached Bordeaux in October 1940.

During her service, Leonardo da Vinci completed 11 combat patrols and was credited with sinking 17 vessels totaling 120,243 GRT. Among these was the 21,500-ton ocean liner RMS Empress of Canada. This made her the most effective Italian submarine throughout World War II, with her commander, Lt. Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia, recognized as Italy's top submarine ace.

In July 1942, Leonardo da Vinci was designated for a special mission targeting harbors along the eastern coast of the United States. To facilitate this, she underwent modifications to carry a CA-class midget submarine. Trials with this new apparatus were conducted during the autumn months. However, due to necessary adjustments to the CA craft, the operation was postponed and Leonardo da Vinci resumed her Atlantic patrols.

Planned attack on New York Harbor

The submarine was intended to participate in a covert assault on New York Harbor. Initiated in July 1942 by Junio Valerio Borghese, the plan involved dispatching Leonardo da Vinci from the BETASOM base in Bordeaux to the entrance of the Hudson River. She would carry a CA-class midget submarine along with a team of divers equipped with 28 explosive devices.[5] Upon arriving at the target area, the divers were to deploy the CA-class into the harbor and place charges ranging from 20 to 100 kg beneath moored ships.[6]

Initial tests conducted in August 1942 indicated that Leonardo da Vinci could successfully launch and recover the CA-class submarine.[7] Nevertheless, actual recovery of the midget sub was considered highly unlikely; it was anticipated that after completing their sabotage tasks, the divers would have to destroy their vehicle.[7]

The mission was deferred following the sinking of Leonardo da Vinci and ultimately abandoned after Italy signed the armistice four months later.[8]

Final patrol

In March 1943, Leonardo da Vinci embarked on her concluding and most fruitful mission in the South Atlantic. On 14 March, she successfully sank the Empress of Canada while it was en route to Takoradi, West Africa. This vessel was transporting Italian prisoners of war along with Polish and Greek refugees; out of approximately 1,800 people aboard, 392 lost their lives.[9] Five days later, on 19 March, Leonardo da Vinci torpedoed and destroyed the British cargo ship SS Lulworth Hill, weighing 7,628 tons, in the South Atlantic.[10] One survivor was rescued and taken aboard by the submarine;[11] two additional men endured a harrowing 50-day survival period on a life raft.[12]

During April 1943, four ships were sunk by Leonardo da Vinci in the Indian Ocean near Durban.[13]

Demise

Following the final sinking at April’s end, Leonardo da Vinci set course back to base. On 22 May 1943, off the Spanish coastline, her captain made a critical error by transmitting a signal indicating a route toward Bordeaux.[13] The submarine’s location was pinpointed via direction-finding techniques. On 23 May, the destroyer HMS Active and frigate HMS Ness, both convoy escorts for WS-30 and KMF-15 respectively, launched an intense depth charge assault that resulted in sinking the submarine approximately 300 miles (480 km) west of Vigo at an estimated coordinate of 42°16′0″N 15°40′0″W / 42.26667°N 15.66667°W / 42.26667; -15.66667.[14] No crew members survived.

Achievements

Vessels destroyed by da Vinci[13]
Patrol Date Ship Flag Tonnage Details
4th 28 June 1941 Auris United Kingdom 8,030 Tanker; crew of 59 with 27 survivors
6th 28 February 1942 Everasma Latvia 3,644 Freighter from Convoy TAW 12 sunk at 16°00′N 49°00′W / 16.000°N 49.000°W / 16.000; -49.000; fifteen survivors. (Refer to Latvian Mercantile Marine during World War II#Latvian Mercantile Marine during WWII)
7th 2 June 1942 Reine Marie Stewart Template:Country data Panama 1,087 Schooner type vessel
7th 7 June 1942 Chile Denmark 6,956 Freighter; thirty-nine survivors from forty-four crew members
7th 10 June 1942 Alioth Netherlands 5,483 Freighter; eight survivors out of thirty-six crewmen
7th 13 June 1942 Clan Macquarrie United Kingdom align="right" 6,471 align="left" One fatality among ninety crew members; collier vessel


Notes

  1. ↑ Conway p 306
  2. ↑ Bagnasco p161
  3. ↑ Clay Blair, Hitler's U-boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942, p.740
  4. ↑ The US Navy's top submarine, USS Tang (SS-306), sank 116,454 GRT, while the Royal Navy's leading submarine, Template:HMS Upholder (P37), accounted for 93,031 GRT of enemy shipping.
  5. ↑ Giorgerini, Giorgio. (2002). Uomini sul fondo : storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi. Mondadori, Cles, tipografo trentino. Milano: Mondadori. pp. 374–375. ISBN 8804505370. OCLC 801321615.
  6. ↑ Giorgerini, Giorgio. (2007). Attacco dal mare : storia dei mezzi d'assalto della marina italiana (1st ed.). Milano: Mondadori. pp. 107, 114. ISBN 9788804512431. OCLC 127107202.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Raiola, Giulio; de Risio, Carlo (1969). Obiettivo America, in Storia Illustrata.
  8. ↑ Giancarlo, Pertegato (2001-09-23). "Attacco a New York: nel '43 Borghese voleva minare un grattacielo". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  9. ↑ Associated Press, “400 Lives Lost In Sinking of Liner Year Ago”, The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Saturday 19 February 1944, Volume 50, page 2.
  10. ↑ Piccinotti, Andrea (2000–2006). "Sommergibili Classe Marconi". La storia della Regia Marina Italiana nella seconda guerra mondiale. Andrea Piccinotti. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  11. ↑ Allen, Tony (9 May 2008). "SS Lulworth Hill (+1943)". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  12. ↑ "What Cares the Sea?" by Kenneth Cooke, published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Christiano D'Adamo. "Regia Marina Italiana – Boats – Leonardo da Vinci".
  14. ↑ "WRECKsite – Leonardo da Vinci".

Bibliography

  • Erminio Bagnasco, World War Two Submarines, Cassell & Co, London, 1977 ISBN 1-85409-532-3
  • Clay Blair, Hitler's U-Boat Campaign: The Hunters 1939-1942, Cassell, 1996 ISBN 0-304-35260-8
  • Robert Gardiner and Roger Chesneau (eds.), Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, Conway Maritime Press, London, 1980 ISBN 0-85177-146-7
  • Paul Kemp, Underwater Warriors, 1997 ISBN 1-85409-455-6
  • Giorgio Giorgerini, Men Below the Surface: History of Italian Submarines from Origins to Present, Mondadori, 2002 ISBN 978-88-04-50537-2
  • Thomas Zolandez, "Question 32/53", Warship International, December 2017, vol. LIV, no. 4, pp. 280–281, ISSN 0043-0374

External links

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