The ''Liuzzi'' class was a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

of four submarines built by Tosi in

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

for the Royal Italian Navy ( it, Regia Marina). The submarines were built in 1939 and began their

Second World War 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 opposi ...

service in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

, where ''Liuzzi'' was sunk. The three surviving boats were transferred to the

BETASOM BETASOM (an Italian language acronym of ''Bordeaux Sommergibile'' or ''Sommergibili'') was a submarine base established at Bordeaux, France by the Italian '' Regia Marina Italiana'' during World War II. From this base, Italian submarines participa ...

Atlantic submarine base at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

in 1940. After ''Tarantini'' was sunk, ''Bagnolini'' and ''Giuliani'' were selected for conversion to " transport submarines" in order to exchange rare or irreplaceable trade goods with Japan. Cargo capacity of 160 tons reduced reserve buoyancy from between 20 and 25% to between 3.5 and 6%; and armament was reduced to defensive

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

s. They submarines saw action in the

during which they collectively sunk 5 freighters and 1

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...

and were eventually either sunk or captured.

Ships

''Console Generale Liuzzi''

was launched 17 September 1939. Two weeks after the Italian declaration of war, ''Liuzzi'' was sunk by

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

destroyers south of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

on 27 June 1940.

''Alpino Bagnolini''

''Bagnolini'' ( pennant number BI) was launched 28 October 1939 and completed on 22 December 1939. ''Bagnolini'' was at sea when Italy declared war, and torpedoed the cruiser south of Crete on 12 June 1940. A second Mediterranean war patrol was unsuccessful. ''Bagnolini'' sailed on 9 September 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 13 September for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 30 September. En route ''Bagnolini'' torpedoed the neutral Spanish freighter ''Gabo Tortosa''. ''Bagnolini'' sank a single ship on its first

patrol before being damaged by anti-submarine patrols. A July 1941 patrol off Gibraltar and a patrol off the Azores from 18 January to 22 February 1942 were unsuccessful; and three patrols to the South Atlantic from 24 April to 28 June, from 15 September to 7 November 1942, and from 14 February to 13 April 1943 were similarly unproductive. After conversion to a German transport submarine, ''Bagnolini'' sailed as ''UIT-22'' on 26 January 1944 and was sunk off the Cape of Good Hope by No. 262 Squadron RAF

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wi ...

s on 11 March.Brice pp. 145–149

''Reginaldo Giuliani''

''Giuliani'' (pennant number GN) was launched 3 December 1939. After two unsuccessful Mediterranean war patrols, ''Giuliani'' sailed on 29 August 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 September for an Atlantic patrol to Bordeaux on 30 September. After an unsuccessful BETASOM patrol in November, ''Giuliani'' sailed on 16 March 1941 to serve as a training submarine at

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

to instruct Italian officers in attack techniques and methodologies employed by the Germans. From April 1941 to April 1942 training courses of two to five weeks including

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

cruises of ten to twenty days were completed by seven Italian crews. ''Giuliani'' returned to Bordeaux on 23 May 1942. ''Giuliani'' sank three ships during a patrol off the

Cape Verde Islands , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

from 24 June to 3 September 1942. ''Giuliani'' remained in the Spanish port of

Santander, Cantabria Santander () is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. It is a port city located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao with a population of 172,000 (2017). It is believed ...

until 8 November 1942 repairing damage inflicted by

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North Ea ...

s on 1 September and No. 304 Squadron's

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

on 2 September. After return to France and conversion to a transport submarine, ''Giuliani'' sailed on 16 May 1943 with 130 tonnes of mercury and reached

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

on 1 August 1943.Brice pp. 131–133 When Italy surrendered on 8 September 1943 ''Giuliani'' was seized by Germany in Singapore and renamed ''UIT-23''. ''UIT-23'' sailed for France on 15 February 1944 with 135 tonnes of

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...

and 70 tonnes of

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

, and was torpedoed three days later by . There were 14 survivors from the crew of forty.

''Capitano Tarantini''

''Tarantini'' (pennant number TT) was launched 7 January 1940 and was on patrol in the Mediterranean when Italy declared war. ''Tarantini'' sank one ship on its second Mediterranean war patrol, but then had two unsuccessful patrols. ''Tarantini'' sailed on 31 August 1940 and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 September for an Atlantic patrol to

on 5 October. ''Tarantini'' began its first

patrol on 11 November and was torpedoed by in the Gironde estuary while returning to base on 15 December 1940. Five of the crew were rescued.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Brice, Martin ''Axis Blockade Runners of World War II'' (1981) Naval Institute Press * Erminio Bagnasco, ''Submarines of World War Two'', Cassell & Co, London. 1977 * Kafka, Roger & Pepperburg, Roy L. ''Warships of the World'' Cornell Maritime Press (1946)