Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia (30 August 1912 – 23 May 1943) was an officer in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Royal Navy (''

Regia Marina The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' ch ...

''), and was the highest-scoring Italian submarine captain of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

World War II

During the war, Gazzana-Priaroggia served on several submarines, most famously on the '' Enrico Tazzoli'' (as second-in-command of the fellow submarine ace

Carlo Fecia di Cossato Carlo Fecia di Cossato (25 September 1908 – 27 August 1944) was an officer in the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy), in command of submarines and torpedo boats during World War II. He was credited with the confirmed sinking of 23 enemy ships (16 ...

); then he was appointed commander of the ''Archimede'' and finally of . He was responsible for sinking 120,243 GRT (''Bruttoregistertonnen'', or BRT). With a higher score than Britain's

Malcolm David Wanklyn Lieutenant Commander Malcolm David Wanklyn, (28 June 1911 – missing in action 14 April 1942) was a Royal Navy commander and one of the most successful submariners in the Western Allied navies during the Second World War. Wanklyn and his c ...

in , or America's

Richard O'Kane Richard Hetherington O'Kane (February 2, 1911 – February 16, 1994) was a United States Navy submarine commander in World War II, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for commanding in the Pacific War against Japan to the most successful record of ...

in (both later sunk), Gazzana-Priaroggia and ''Leonardo da Vinci'' were the most successful non-German submariner and submarine in the conflict.Blair p.740 On 23 May 1943, Gazzana-Priaroggia, returning from his last successful patrol (for which he had earned a battlefield promotion to the rank of ''Capitano di corvetta''), died alongside his crew when the ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was sunk by the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

and the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

west of

Cape Finisterre Cape Finisterre (, also ; gl, Cabo Fisterra, italic=no ; es, Cabo Finisterre, italic=no ) is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain. In Roman times it was believed to be an end of the known world. The name Finisterre, like ...

. He was posthumously awarded the Medaglia d'oro al valor militare and

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (german: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. The Knight' ...

Legacy

Two submarines have been named after him. The USS ''Pickerel'' which was transferred from the US Navy in 1972 and a ''Sauro''-class submarine.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Blair, Clay, ''Hitler's U-boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942''.

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

1996. * 1912 births 1943 deaths Regia Marina personnel Italian military personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the Gold Medal of Military Valor Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Submarine commanders Military personnel from Milan Captains who went down with the ship {{Italy-mil-bio-stub