|
HISTORY
Italian submarine Scirè was an Adua-class submarine, built in 1930s
which served during World War II in the Regia Marina. It was named
after a northern region of Ethiopia, at the time part of Italian
East Africa.
Design and description
The Adua-class submarines were essentially repeats of the preceding
Perla class. They displaced 680 metric tons (670 long tons) surfaced
and 844 metric tons (831 long tons) submerged. The submarines were
60.18 meters (197 ft 5 in) long, had a beam of 6.45 meters (21 ft 2
in) and a draft of 4.7 meters (15 ft 5 in).
For surface running, the boats were powered by two
600-brake-horsepower (447 kW) diesel engines, each driving one
propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a
400-horsepower (298 kW) electric motor. They could reach 14 knots
(26 km/h; 16 mph) on the surface and 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph)
underwater. On the surface, the Adua class had a range of 3,180
nautical miles (5,890 km; 3,660 mi) at 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1
mph), submerged, they had a range of 74 nmi (137 km; 85 mi) at 4
knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph).
The boats were armed with six internal 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo
tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern. They were also armed
with one 100 mm (4 in) deck gun for combat on the surface. The light
anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two pairs of 13.2 mm
(0.52 in) machine guns.
Construction and career
Scirè was launched on 6 January 1938 in OTO's shipyard in La Spezia
and commissioned on 25 April 1938. At the beginning of the war, she
was assigned to 15th Squadron (I Submarine Group) based at La Spezia
and was under command of Adriano Pini. On July 10, 1940, while on
patrol in the western Mediterranean, French cargo ship SS Cheik
(1058 GRT) was torpedoed and sunk by Scirè 54nm from the Asmare
Light, north of Sardinia.
In the summer of 1940 Scirè underwent a series of modifications
converting her to a SLC boat. The size of the tower was reduced, her
deck gun was removed, and 3 watertight cylinders were mounted on her
deck instead to accommodate maiali. These cylinders, each weighing
2.8 tons, could hold up depths down to 90 meters. On September 24,
1940 Scirè, under command of captain Junio Valerio Borghese, sailed
from La Spezia for her first special mission to be performed in
Gibraltar. In the evening of September 29, upon reaching the Strait
of Gibraltar, Sciré received an order from Supermarina to suspend
the mission and return to the base as Force H had left the
Mediterranean to operate in the Atlantic.
In 1940 Scire made it first foray into the Bay of Gibraltar intent
on sabotage of the British ships in Gibraltar Harbour with three
manned torpedoes. None of the three were successful with the most
daring getting stuck 100 metres from HMS Barham. The crew were
forced to withdraw and the explosion of the torpedo's only
achievement was to tip off the defenders of Gibraltar Harbour. They
organised for boats to drop small charges into the water each night
that would have proved fatal to any diver in range of the shock
wave.
Scirè entered the Bay of Gibraltar again in September 1941 with
better results than the previous time. On September 20, 1941 three
tankers were attacked and Fiona Shell (2444 GRT, 1892) was sunk
whilst other two ships, RFA Denbydale (2145 GRT) and MS Durham
(10893 GRT) were damaged. The Italians decided to create a permanent
base in Spain eventually converting a ship called Olterra that was
moored off Algeciras into a permanent base for naval sabotage.
Scirè accomplished many missions inside enemy waters. Among these,
the most important was carried out on 3 December 1941. Scirè left La
Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes. At the island of Leros in
the Aegean Sea, it secretly loaded six crew for them: Luigi Durand
de la Penne and Emilio Bianchi (maiale 221), Vincenzo Martellotta
and Mario Marino (maiale 222), Antonio Marceglia and Spartaco
Schergat (maiale 223). On 19 December, Scirè reached Alexandria in
Egypt, and its manned torpedoes entered the harbour and sank in
shallow waters the British battleships HMS Valiant, Queen Elizabeth
and damaged the tanker Sagona and the destroyer Jervis. All six
torpedo-riders were captured and the battleships returned to service
after several months of repairs.
During one of these missions, on 10 August 1942, Scirè sank, damaged
by depth charges dropped by the British naval trawler Islay in Haifa
bay, about 11 kilometres (5.9 nmi) from the harbour. Islay was
captained by Lieutenant Commander John Ross of North Shields, Tyne
and Wear who was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for
his actions.
The wreck of Scirè, lying at a depth of 32 metres (105 ft), became a
popular diving site and Shayetet 13 training location. In 1984 a
joint Italian-Israeli Navy ceremony was performed, in which the
forward section was removed from the submarine and sent to Italy to
become part of a memorial.
|
