Italian submarine Luigi Torelli - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Luigi Torelli was a of the Italian navy

Regia Marina

The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...

during World War II. The vessel operated in the Atlantic from late-summer 1940 until mid-1943, then was sent to the Far East. After Italy’s surrender in 1943, the Torelli was taken over by the German Navy then, in the waning months of the war, the Japanese Imperial Navy. It was one of only two ships to serve in all three Axis navies.

Construction

Luigi Torelli was built at the Oto

Oto Melara

Oto Melara is an Italian defence company with factories in Brescia and La Spezia. It was founded in 1905 as a joint venture of Vickers and Terni. During World War I, Vickers Terni produced many weapons with calibre 40 mm and upwards. In 1929 the company was renamed Odero Terni Orlando with the...

shipyard in La Spezia

La Spezia

La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...

, Italy. One of six boats of the Marconi class submarine, which were laid down in 1938-39, Luigi Torelli was launched in January 1940. Designed as an ocean-going vessel, she was intended for operations both in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic.

Service history

When Italy entered World War II in June 1940 the Luigi Torelli was still completing its training and shakedown period. Afterward, it conducted a short reconnaissance mission in the Gulf of Genoa

Gulf of Genoa

The Gulf of Genoa is the northernmost part of the Ligurian Sea. The width of the gulf is about 125 km, from the city of Imperia in the west to La Spezia in the east. The largest city on the its coast is Genoa, which has an important port....

, and was then dispatched to the Atlantic to Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

in occupied France to serve in the Italian submarine flotilla there.

Between 11–29 September 1940, the Luigi Torelli was assigned to patrol an area just off the Azores Islands. On 5 October 1940, she reached Bordeaux. In the following weeks, the boat left port several times and made short practice missions.

On 15 January 1941, the Luigi Torelli sighted a small convoy and sank the Greek vessel Nemea, the Norwegian vessel Brask and the Greek vessel Nicolas Filinis. A fourth vessel was also damaged, but escaped due to the foul weather.
This was one of the few examples of an Italian submarine achieving great results while participating in a Wolf pack attack, according to Regia Marina Italiana.
Two weeks later, the Luigi Torelli sank the British vessel Urla. In July 1941, she sank the Norwegian tanker Ida Knudsen. A year later, she sank the British vessel Scottish Star and the Panamanian motor tanker Esso Copenhagen.

In 1943, the Luigi Torelli, after surviving at least two serious air attacks, was one of seven Italian submarines designated to be transformed into transports. The Italian boats, due to their dimensions, were deemed better suited for long voyages to the Far East on missions to acquire precious and rare material.
The Luigi Torelli left for the Far East on 14 June 1943. The operation was under German control but the Luigi Torelli retained its Italian crew.

The Luigi Torelli was one of four Italian submarines in the Far East in 1943 when the new Italian government agreed to an armistice with the Allies. Of the four, the Luigi Torelli, Comandante Cappellini and Giuliani and their crews were temporarily interned by the Japanese.
The Luigi Torelli and two other boats then passed to German U-boat command and, with mixed German and Italian crews, continued to fight against the Allies. The Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

assigned new officers to the Luigi Torelli, renamed her the U.IT.25 and had her take part in German war operations in the Pacific.

Following the German surrender in 1945, the Luigi Torelli was again given a new name, the I-504, by the Japanese, and operated with the Imperial Japanese Navy until 30 August 1945. It retained a number of Italian submariners among its complement.
The Luigi Torelli and sister submarine Comandante Cappellini were the only two ships to fly the flags of all three main Axis

Axis Powers

The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

powers during World War II.

As the I-504, the Torelli shot down a B-25 Mitchell

B-25 Mitchell

The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...

bomber while under Japanese flag near the very end of the war in the Pacific, allegedly the last success by a Japanese naval vessel in the conflict.

Fate

Captured by the U.S. in Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

, Japan, at the conclusion of the war, the Luigi Torelli was scuttled by the American Navy in the Kii Suido on 16 April 1946.

External links

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