Balilla (BL)
Balilla

Type	Ocean going
Class	Balilla (1)
Laid down	12 Jan 1925	Odero-Terni-Orlando, Muggiano
Launched	20 Feb 1927
Commissioned	21 Jul 1928
End service	28 Apr 1941
Stricken	18 Oct 1946
Loss date
Loss position
History	Disarmed on 28th April 1941. Converted to oil-carrying pontoon G.R.247.Stricken on 18th October 1946.
Fate

Commands

Commander	Date from	Date to	Command notes
C.C. Michele Morisani	10 Apr 1940	22 Jul 1940
C.C. Cesare Girosi	22 Jul 1940	31 Oct 1940
C.C. Vittorio Emanuele Tognelli	1 Nov 1940	20 Dec 1940
T.V. Ugo Gentili	23 Dec 1940	28 Mar 1941

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

	Commander	Date	Time	Port	Arr. date	Arr. time	Arr. port	Miles	Description
	Morisani, Michele	2 Jun 1940	0503	Pola	4 Jun 1940	1430	Brindisi	270	Passage Pola-Brindisi.
1	Morisani, Michele	9 Jun 1940	0900	Brindisi	13 Jun 1940	1115	Brindisi	665	Patrolled south of Corfu in 38°50' N, 20°00' E. Encountered both aerial and naval A/S forces on 12th June. Suffered some damage, which forced her to abandon the mission on 13th June.
		12 Jun 1940	0715	(0) South of Santa Maria di Leuca.	The submarine was proceeding at a depth of 20 meters when an explosion occurred. She escaped by going to 60 meters. A total of 35 explosions were heard but this was odd as no enemy craft had been observed when at periscope depth at 0700-0710 hours. No British or French aircraft or A/S vessel reported any attack at this time and place. Could this have been an Italian aircraft? Apparently not, Italian aircraft were looking for Balilla but could not locate her. The submarine had to interrupt her patrol.
	Morisani, Michele	11 Jul 1940	0619	Brindisi	11 Jul 1940	1139	Brindisi	25	Exercises.
2	Morisani, Michele	12 Jul 1940	1417	Brindisi	19 Jul 1940	1330	Brindisi	734	Patrolled in 34°00'N, 25°00'E. Early return because her commander was seriously sick. He was then considered inapt to command a submarine.
	Girosi, Cesare	23 Jul 1940	1339	Brindisi	23 Jul 1940	1605	Brindisi	0	Dived in harbour.
	Girosi, Cesare	24 Jul 1940	0753	Brindisi	24 Jul 1940	1159	Brindisi	18	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	26 Jul 1940	0753	Brindisi	26 Jul 1940	1120	Brindisi	20,5	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	29 Jul 1940	0804	Brindisi	29 Jul 1940	1207	Brindisi	20	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	2 Aug 1940	1329	Brindisi	2 Aug 1940	1830	Brindisi	23,5	Exercises.
3	Girosi, Cesare	3 Aug 1940	1330	Brindisi	22 Aug 1940	1220	Brindisi	1812	Patrolled south of Crete, between 33°20'N and 34°00'N, and between 27°10'E and 28°10'E. On 14th August, Balilla, Micca and Naiade were the object of A/S searches.
		14 Aug 1940	1405-1532	(0) South of Crete	Throughout her patrol, Balilla had heard a number of distant explosions. This time she appeared to have been detected by an enemy craft and depth-charged. At 1532 hours, two depth charges, exploding near her hull caused a multitude of minor defects. The attacking vessel has not been identified.
		16 Aug 1940	0823	(0) South of Crete	The submarine was proceeding submerged when she was shaken by the explosion of a bomb, followed two minutes later by more explosions, which caused more minor damages. The attacker has not been identified.
		16 Aug 1940	1210	(0) South of Crete	The submarine was again depth-charged by unknown vessels.
	Girosi, Cesare	26 Sep 1940	1404	Brindisi	26 Sep 1940	1730	Brindisi	42	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	27 Sep 1940	1415	Brindisi	27 Sep 1940	1645	Brindisi	25	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	30 Sep 1940	0855	Brindisi	30 Sep 1940	1219	Brindisi	25	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	4 Oct 1940	1430	Brindisi	4 Oct 1940	1902	Brindisi	25	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	24 Oct 1940	0820	Brindisi	24 Oct 1940	1145	Brindisi	10	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	30 Oct 1940	0850	Brindisi	30 Oct 1940	1206	Brindisi	13	Exercises.
	Tognelli, Vittorio Emanuele	5 Nov 1940	0822	Brindisi	5 Nov 1940	1158	Brindisi	12,5	Exercises.
	Tognelli, Vittorio Emanuele	17 Nov 1940	0845	Brindisi	18 Nov 1940	1620	Pola	370	Passage Brindisi-Pola.
	Gentili, Ugo	30 Jan 1941	0825	Pola	30 Jan 1941	1423	Pola	48	Trials after refit, escorted by the auxiliary Jadera.
	Gentili, Ugo	3 Feb 1941	0835	Pola	3 Feb 1941	1527	Pola	56	Exercises with the submarine Ammiraglio Cagni, escorted by the auxiliary Laurana.
	Gentili, Ugo	12 Feb 1941	0822	Pola	12 Feb 1941	1455	Pola	5	Exercises.
	Gentili, Ugo	13 Feb 1941	0832	Pola	13 Feb 1941	1750	Pola	52	Exercises with torpedo boat Audace, escorted by the auxiliary San Giorgio.
	Gentili, Ugo	23 Feb 1941	0815	Pola	23 Feb 1941	1611	Pola	47	Exercises, escorted by the auxiliaries Jadera and San Giorgio.
	Gentili, Ugo	25 Feb 1941	0807	Pola	25 Feb 1941	1638	Pola	51	Exercises, escorted by the auxiliary Jadera.
	Gentili, Ugo	26 Feb 1941	0808	Pola	26 Feb 1941	1703	Pola	57	Exercises.
	Gentili, Ugo	28 Feb 1941	0804	Pola	28 Feb 1941	1753	Pola	69	Exercises.
	Gentili, Ugo	3 Mar 1941	1745	Pola	4 Mar 1941	0145	Pola	69	Sailed with the submarine Adua escorted by San Giorgio for night torpedo firing exercises with the torpedo boat Audace.
	Gentili, Ugo	6 Mar 1941	0845	Pola	6 Mar 1941	1830	Pola		Exercises, escorted the auxiliary Jadera and the tug Tenace.
	Gentili, Ugo	9 Mar 1941	0900	Pola	9 Mar 1941	1420	Monfalcone		Passage Pola-Monfalcone.
	Gentili, Ugo	28 Mar 1941	0900	Monfalcone	28 Mar 1941	1440	Pola		Passage Monfalcone-Pola to be disarmed.
		28 Apr 1941		Pola	28 Apr 1941		Pola		Disarmed and used as floating oil pontoon.
		6 May 1942	0800	Pola	6 May 1942	Afternoon	Pola		Towing trials as oil depot pontoon. Towed by the destroyer Riboty). Towed back with the help of Tug no.90.
		6 Jun 1942	1140	Pola	8 Jun 1942	0000	Brindisi		Passage Pola-Brindisi as oil-carrying pontoon towed by the destroyer Da Verazzano (the maximum speed attained was 18 knots equivalent to 21 knots if the destroyer was not towing).
		9 Jun 1942	2030	Brindisi	10 Jun 1942	0000	Brindisi		Towed to Messina by the destroyer Saetta. At 0325 hours on the 10th, the towing cable broke and she had to turn back assisted by the pilot vessel Cismondi and the destroyer Euro.
		27 Jun 1942	0708	Brindisi	27 Jun 1942	1302	Argostoli		Passage Brindisi-Argostoli as oil depot, towed by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the destroyer Stocco and torpedo boat Castore.
		29 Jun 1942	0500	Argostoli	29 Jun 1942	1600	Navarino		Passage Argostoli-Navarino as oil depot, towed by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the destroyer Stocco and torpedo boat Castore.
		13 Jul 1942	0313	Navarino	13 Jul 1942	2107	Suda		Passage Navarino-Suda as oil depot, towed by destroyer Saetta. On 9th August, she was reported to act as a refuelling station at Suda, with the tanker Cerere, replacing Arca, who was returning to Brindisi.
		8 Aug 1942	Date???	Suda	10 Aug 1942	0930	Benghazi		Passage Suda-Benghazi as oil depot (carrying 1,000 tons of oil?), towed by destroyer Saetta in company with the German transport Sante Fe (4,627 GRT, built 1921). Initially, she was to have gone to Tobruk. On 29th August 1942, she was authorised to carry 1,000 tons of German fuel.
		23 Sep 1942			23 Sep 1942				Renamed G.R. 247 (G.R. stood for Gallegiante Rifornimento or oil pontoon).
		1 Mar 1943		Piraeus	1 Mar 1943		Piraeus		Reported at Piraeus as floating oil depot G.R.S. 247. This is apparently an error and should read G.R. 247.
		17 Apr 1943	1805	Suda	19 Apr 1943	0145	Piraeus		Passage Suda-Piraeus, towed by the tugs Tenax and Instancabile together with steamer Olna (7,023 GRT, built 1921) and the tank-lighter Aris towed by the tug Cataldo, escorted by the German submarine chaser UJ-2101.
		1 May 1943		Piraeus	2 May 1943	1700	Chalkis		Passage Piraeus-Chalkis to provide fuel to the destroyer Turbine, which had the Italian Generals Manzi and Galla on board and was part of a large scale operation to clear the area of Greek partisans. On 4th May, she was to have gone to Volos, but it appears she remained in Chalkis and the Germans used her to block the harbour at the time of their evacuation from Greece. She was refloated and taken over by Greece as war booty.

44 entries. 42 total patrol entries (3 marked as war patrols) and 4 events.

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