Italian torpedo boat Pegaso (1936)
 Torpedo boat Pegaso
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Italy | |
| Name | Pegaso |
| Namesake | Constellation Pegasus |
| Builder | Bacini & Scali Napoletani, Naples |
| Laid down | 27 April 1936 |
| Launched | 8 December 1936 |
| Commissioned | 31 March 1938 |
| Identification | PG |
| Fate | Scuttled on 11 September 1943 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | Orsa-class torpedo boat |
| Displacement |
|
| Length |
|
| Beam | 9.69 m (31 ft 9 in) |
| Draught |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 28 knots (32 mph; 52 km/h) |
| Range | 5,100 nmi (9,400 km) at 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h) |
| Capacity | 530 t of oil |
| Complement | 6 officers, 148 NCOs and sailors |
| Sensors and processing systems | hydrophone |
| Armament |
|
| Notes | data taken from , Marina Militare and Trentoincina |
Pegaso was a torpedo boat and an escort aviso of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy). She was one of the most successful Axis anti-submarine warships of World War II.
Design and construction
The Orsa-class torpedo boats were enlarged versions of the torpedo boats of the Spica-class with greater range and endurance. Compared to the Spica-class, they had significantly more anti-submarine armaments, with 6 depth charge launchers compared to 2 on the Spica, however they were slower and had fewer naval guns (2 vs 3 on the Spica).
These ships had a total length of 82.5 meters
The Orsa-class were powered by two geared
Their main armament consisted of two
Pegaso was laid down on 27 April 1936 by the Bacini & Scali Napoletani shipyard in Naples, Italy. She was launched on 8 December 1936 and was completed and commissioned into the Regia Marina on 31 March 1938.
Service
In her initial period of service the ship underwent a reclassification: already in 1938, the year of her commissioning, the ship, initially classified as an escort aviso (aviso di scorta), was reclassified as a 'torpedo boat' (torpediniera).[2]
On 10 June 1940, the date of the Italian entry into World War II, Pegaso was part of VI Torpedo Boat Squadron at the naval base in Naples, which she formed together with her sister ships Orsa, Procione and Orione. Subsequently the formation took the name of XIV Squadron or IV Squadron.[3]
As one of the very few ships of the Regia Marina specially designed for the task of escorting
On 2 July 1940 Procione, Orsa, Orione and Pegaso escorted from
On 6 July 1940, Pegaso took part in the escort of the first large convoy to
At 06:00 19 July 1940, Pegaso, with the ships of her squadron, left Benghazi to escort a convoy made up of merchant ships Esperia, Calitea, Marco Foscarini, Francesco Barbaro and Vettor Pisani on the return route to Naples. The convoy arrived unscathed in the Neapolitan port, shortly after midnight on 21 July.[3]
On 27 July Procione, Orsa, Orione and Pegaso acted as escort for a convoy sailing from Naples to Tripoli during the operation "Trasporti Veloce Lento" (the convoy was formed by merchant ships Maria Eugenia, Gloriastella, Mauly, Bainsizza, Col di Lana, Francesco Barbaro and Città di Bari). The escort was reinforced by the arrival of destroyers Maestrale, Grecale, Libeccio and Scirocco, and the ships arrived in port without damage on 1 August, after evading an attack by the British submarine HMS Oswald on 30 July.[5]
On 4 January 1941 Pegaso was attacked by torpedo bombers when, departing from Tripoli, she escorted the transports Ezilda Croce and Pallade off the coast of Cape Bon: the Italian ship escaped the attacks unscathed, arriving first in Palermo (5 January) and then Naples (9 January).[6]
Between 1 and 3 March 1941 Pegaso, Orione and a third torpedo boat, Clio, escorted a convoy (steamers Amsterdam, Castellon, Maritza and Ruhr) from Naples to Tripoli carrying supplies for the Afrika Korps.[7] The trip went smoothly.[7]
From 5 to 7 March Pegaso, Orione and the
From 4 to 5 May the ship, together with the destroyers Vivaldi, da Noli and Malocello and the torpedo boats Orione and Cassiopea, escorted from Naples to Tripoli a convoy made up of troop transports Victoria and Calitea and the freight ships Andrea Gritti, Barbarigo, Sebastiano Venier, Marco Foscarini and Ankara.[8]
On 12 May 1941 Pegaso left Tripoli as escort, together with the torpedo boats Orione and Clio, for the steamships Maddalena Odero and Nicolò Odero.[8] At 20.30 on the same day, off the coast of Tripoli, Pegaso bombarded a submarine with depth charges, and then saw a large patch of oil emerge. It is possible that the British submarine HMS Undaunted was sunk in this encounter, although she could also have been lost to mines.[9][10]
At 04.40 on 24 May she left Naples as escort, together with the destroyer Freccia and the torpedo boats Procione and Orsa, with a convoy made up of troop transports SS Conte Rosso, Marco Polo, Esperia and Victoria. Later the escort was reinforced by the 3rd Cruiser Division (heavy cruisers Trieste and Bolzano) with destroyers Ascari, Corazziere and Lanciere, as well as (for a short period of time, they returned to port at 19.10) torpedo boats Perseo, Calliope and Calatafimi.[3] At 20.40 the British submarine HMS Upholder, after sighting the convoy and approaching, launched two torpedoes: they struck SS Conte Rosso , which sank in ten minutes, dragging 1297 men with it.[3] Pegaso and the other units of the escort recovered 1432 survivors.[3]
On 26 May she sailed from Naples on escort duty to Tripoli, together with the destroyers Vivaldi and Da Noli and the torpedo boats Cigno and Procione, the motor ships Andrea Gritti, Marco Foscarini, Sebastiano Venier, Rialto, Ankara and Barbarigo; despite the air strikes, which damaged Foscarini and Venier, the convoy reached its destination on the 28th.[11]
On 14 July she escorted from Tripoli to Naples, together with the destroyers Fuciliere, Alpino and Malocello and the torpedo boats Orsa and Procione, the transports Rialto, Andrea Gritti, Sebastiano Venier, Barbarigo and Ankara. The British submarine HMS P33 torpedoed and sank Barbarigo at 36°27′N 11°54′E / 36.450°N 11.900°E and was then seriously damaged by the counterattack of the escort, while the rest of the convoy arrived in Naples on the 16th.[12]
On 17 August 1941 she served as escort, together with the destroyers Freccia, Euro and Dardo and the torpedo boats Procione and Sirtori, for a convoy made up of transports Maddalena Odero, Nicolò Odero, Caffaro, Giulia, Marin Sanudo and Minatitlan. The Dutch submarine O 23 torpedoed Maddalena Odero; Pegaso and Sirtori escorted the damaged ship to Lampedusa but on the 18th the freighter was finished by an air attack (the other ships of the convoy arrived safely in Tripoli on the 19th).[13]
On 22 August Pegaso and Cigno sailed from Palermo to escort to Tripoli the military transport Lussin, the steamship Alcione (towed by Lussin) and the steam tanker Alberto Fassio; on the same day the British submarine HMS Upholder torpedoed and sank Lussin off Cape San Vito.[13]
On 27 August the torpedo boat, after departing Trapani, was sent to reinforce the escort - destroyers Euro and Oriani and torpedo boats Orsa, Procione and Clio - of a convoy formed by the steamships Ernesto and Aquitania, the motor ship Col di Lana and the tanker Pozarica, sailing from Naples to Tripoli. On the same day the convoy was attacked twice by the submarine HMS Urge, which missed Pozarica but damaged Aquitania (which had to return to Trapani escorted by Orsa) and then evaded an attack by Clio; the other ships arrived at their destination on the 29th.[13]
On 10 September the torpedo boats Pegaso, Procione, Orsa and Circe (to which Perseo was added on the 13th) and the destroyers Fulmine and Oriani left Naples escorting a convoy (steamers Temben, Caffaro, Nicolò Odero, Nirvo, Giulia and Bainsizza) bound for Libya, which on 12 September was attacked by British Fairey Swordfish planes of 830 Naval Air Squadron northwest of Tripoli. Caffaro sank at 34°15′N 11°54′E / 34.250°N 11.900°E, while Tembien and Nicolò Odero were damaged; the latter was sunk the next day at 32°51′N 12°18′E / 32.850°N 12.300°E by another air attack, after the rest of the convoy had reached Tripoli.[14]
On 29 September Pegaso and another torpedo boat, Calliope, left Naples to escort steamships Savona and Castellon to Tripoli; on 2 October the convoy came under attack by the submarine HMS Perseus which unsuccessfully attempted to torpedo Savona but struck Castellon, which sank at 32°30′N 19°09′E / 32.500°N 19.150°E (about ten miles from Benghazi).[15]
On 4 November Pegaso sailed from
On 20 November the torpedo boat left Benghazi to escort the tanker Berbera, arriving in Navarino four days later.[17] On 29 November Pegaso left the Greek port escorting, together with the torpedo boat Aretusa, the tanker Volturno; on the same day Volturno was damaged by the Maltese air force and forced to return to port.[17]
On 13 December, as part of the operation "M 41", Pegaso left Taranto on escort duty to Benghazi, together with the destroyers Pessagno and Usodimare, the motor ships Monginevro, Napoli and Vettor Pisani (the "M 41" was however suspended later).[18]
On 16 December 1941 she set sail from Taranto (operation "M 42") to escort the convoy "N", composed of the German motor ship Ankara, to Libya, together with the destroyer
In April 1942 Pegaso was most probably responsible for depth charging and sinking the British submarine Upholder, which has posed a persistent threat to the Italian convoys.[20][21] At 16.00 on 16 April 1942, Pegaso under the command of corvette captain Francesco Acton, received a report from a CANT Z.506 seaplane of the 170th Squadron of the 83rd Maritime Reconnaissance Group based at Augusta, who claimed to have sighted a wake likely caused by the periscope of a submarine.[22][23] Pegaso then attacked, reporting that she had sunk Upholder at position 34°47′N 15°55′E / 34.783°N 15.917°E.[22][23] Some recent research indicates that the pilot of the plane had realized that the wake did not belong to a periscope but to a school of dolphins and that the hunt of Pegaso[22][23] was in a wrong location. This research claims that the submarine was sunk by German aircraft on 14 April or was lost on a mine between 11 and 12 April instead.[22][23]
On 4 July 1942 Pegaso was escorting a convoy of three merchant ships in the
At 12.30 on 6 August 1942 Pegaso was escorting a convoy about thirty miles southwest of the islet of Gaudo (Crete), when one of the planes of the air escort was seen from aboard the torpedo boat to strafe the sea surface; four minutes later Pegaso detected a submarine under water and then made seven passes, throwing depth charges and finally losing contact: the probable result of this action was the sinking of the British submarine HMS Thorn, at position 34°25′N 22°36′E / 34.417°N 22.600°E, with no survivors.[25][26]
On 19 October Pegaso (under the command of
In 1943 Pegaso was reclassified as an escort torpedo boat.[2] The ship was also equipped with three 20 mm Scotti anti-aircraft machine guns, bringing her total AA armament to eleven.
On 20 February 1943 Pegaso was sent to reinforce the escort of the
On 3 March[29] during an escort with the sea state 8 off the coast of Favignana, Pegaso accidentally rammed the corvette Antilope: in the collision both ships were damaged.[30] Pegaso first returned to Trapani, then, after emergency repairs, was transferred to Venice, where in April 1943 her bow was replaced (using the parts of a corvette under construction in Monfalcone); during these repairs her hydrophones were also removed (transferred to the corvette Folaga).[30]
In September 1943 Pegaso, under the command of frigate captain Riccardo Imperiali, served as squadron leader of the La Spezia Torpedo Boat Group, which also included the torpedo boats Impetuoso, Libra, Orsa, Ardimentoso and Orione.[30]
Armistice and her fate
After the
At 16.09 Pegaso, Impetuoso and Orsa were sent to rescue survivors, together with the destroyers Mitragliere, Fuciliere and Carabiniere and the cruiser Attilio Regolo; Impetuoso recovered 47 survivors, Orsa and Pegaso 55, Regolo 17, and the three destroyers rescued a total of 503 men.
Scuttling
After disembarking the wounded at Pollença, between 00.00 and 02.00 hours on 11 September Pegaso and Impetuoso set off to scuttle themselves: the captains of the two ships, frigate captains Riccardo Imperiali di Francavilla and
The crews of the two ships were interned for ten months by the Spanish authorities of the Balearics, being forced to work with little food.[30]
The wreck of Pegaso, already identified for the first time by a fisherman in 1986, was found and identified in 2001.[30] The ship lies on the seabed at the depth of 95 meters, lying on the port side, oriented at 160°, with the forward area and the far stern severely damaged.[30]
References
- ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946
- ^ a b c d Marina Militare Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Giorgio Giorgerini, La guerra italiana sul mare. La Marina tra vittoria e sconfitta 1940-1943, pp. 168-452-454-465-466-511-551.
- ^ a b Battle of Britain July 1940
- ^ Fall of France, July 1940 .
- ^ Battle of the Atlantic, January 1941 .
- ^ a b c Royal Navy, World War 2, March 1941 .
- ^ a b Capture of U.110 and German Enigma, May 1941 .
- ^ Allied Warships of WWII - Submarine HMS Undaunted (i) - uboat.net .
- ^ HMS Undaunted, submarine .
- ^ Hunt for Bismarck and sinking, May 1941 Archived 23 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Malta Convoys, 1941 .
- ^ a b c Russian convoy "Dervish" August 1941 .
- ^ 10th Submarine Flotilla, Mediterranean, September 1941 .
- ^ Cruiser Force K, Malta, October 1941 .
- ^ Action off Spartivento, loss of HMS Ark Royal, November 1941 .
- ^ a b KMS Kormoran and HMAS Sydney, KMS Atlantis and HMS Dunedin lost, November 1941 .
- ^ Action off Cape Bon, December 1941 .
- ^ Battle of Convoy HG76, loss of HMS Audacity, December 1941 .
- ^ HMS Upholder, submarine .
- ^ Indian Ocean, Madagascar, North African Landings (Torch) 1942, including loss of Hermes, Cornwall and Dorsetshire .
- ^ a b c d The sinking of the British submarine Upholder.
- ^ a b c d Allied Warships of WWII - Submarine HMS Upholder - uboat.net .
- ^ HMS Turbulent, submarine .
- ^ Allied Warships of WWII - Submarine HMS Thorn - uboat.net .
- ^ Italian Navy in World War 2 .
- ^ Rolando Notarangelo, Gian Paolo Pagano, Navi mercantili perdute, pp. 81-82.
- ^ Aldo Cocchia, Convogli. Un marinaio in guerra 1940-1942, pp. 219-237.
- ^ Trentoincina .
- ^ Joseph Caruana (September 2010). "Interludio a Malta". Storia Militare (204).
- ^ Enzo Biagi, La seconda guerra mondiale – parlano i protagonisti, fasc. 9 – L'Italia si arrende.
- ^ Associazione Regia Nave Roma Archived 10 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
