Italian submarine Console Generale Liuzzi

The launch of Console Generale Liuzzi in 1939
History
Italy
Name: Console Generale Liuzzi
Builder: Tosi, Taranto
Laid down: 1 October 1938
Launched: 17 September 1939
Fate: Sunk, 27 June 1940
General characteristics
Class and type: Liuzzi-class submarine
Displacement:
  • 1,166 tons surfaced
  • 1,484 dived[1]
Length: 252.5 ft (77.0 m)[2]
Beam: 23 ft (7.0 m)[2]
Draught: 13.7 ft (4.2 m)[2]
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Tosi diesels
  • 2 × Ansaldo electric motors[1]
Speed: 18 kn (33 km/h) (surfaced)
Complement: 58[2]
Armament:
  • 1 × 100mm deck gun
  • 4 × 13.2mm machine-guns
  • 8 × 21-inch torpedo tubes[1]

Console Generale Liuzzi was an Italian Liuzzi-class ocean-going submarine of the Regia Marina, launched in 1939 and sunk in 1940 by Royal Navy destroyers.

Construction

Liuzzi was built at the Tosi Shipyard in Taranto. She was laid down on 1 October 1938 and launched on 17 September 1939.

Armament

The four submarines of the Liuzzi-class were armed with a single 100 mm (3.9 in) deck gun, four 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns in twin mounts and eight 21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes, with four reloads for a total of twelve torpedoes carried.[2]

Loss

Attacked by the British destroyers Dainty, Ilex, Decoy, Defender and the Australian destroyer Voyager south of Crete, she was scuttled on 27 June 1940.[3] Her commanding officer at the time of the attack was Capitano di Corvetta Lorenzo Bezzi. He received the Italian Navy Gold Medal because -after ordering his crew to abandon the sinking submarine- he preferred to die within his ship[4]

Even if the submarine was destroyed without sinking any enemy ship,[5] it is actually remembered because of the sacrifice of his commander Lorenzo Bezzi, to whom has been dedicated the Italian Submarine Naval school in Taranto.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Liuzzi Class submarines at Photo Gallery of World War II". Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "World War II Archives Foundation". Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  3. ↑ "US Navy Department Library - Italian World War II submarine losses". Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  4. ↑ History of the Submarine Liuzzi and the extreme sacrifice of her commander Bezzi (in Italian)
  5. ↑ Sinking by Italian submarines during WWII

External links

Coordinates: 33°46′0″N 27°27′0″E / 33.76667°N 27.45000°E / 33.76667; 27.45000


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.