Domenico Millelire (MI)
Millelire

Type	Ocean going
Class	Balilla (1)
Laid down	19 Jan 1925	Odero-Terni-Orlando, Muggiano
Launched	19 Sep 1927
Commissioned	21 Aug 1928
End service	15 Apr 1941
Stricken
Loss date
Loss position
History	Disarmed on 15th April 1941. Converted to oil-carrying pontoon G.R.248.
Fate

Commands

Commander	Date from	Date to	Command notes
C.C. Cesare Girosi	20 Apr 1940	20 Jul 1940
T.V. Giorgio Viani	20 Jul 1940	27 Jul 1940
C.C. Francesco De Rosa de Leo	28 Jul 1940	31 Dec 1940
C.C. Guido D'Alterio	1 Jan 1941	31 Jan 1941
T.V. Giorgio Viani	1 Feb 1941	6 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
	Girosi, Cesare	10 Jun 1940	0523	Pola	10 Jun 1940	1612	Pola		In Pola.
	Girosi, Cesare	27 Jun 1940	0523	Pola	27 Jun 1940	1612	Pola	6,2	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	1 Jul 1940	0832	Pola	1 Jul 1940	1523	Pola	43	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	2 Jul 1940	1541	Pola	2 Jul 1940	2012	Pola	51,6	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	9 Jul 1940	1541	Pola	9 Jul 1940	2012	Pola	41,1	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	12 Jul 1940	0554	Pola	12 Jul 1940	1304	Fiume	59	Passage Pola-Fiume.
		12 Jul 1940	0804	(0) Off Fiume	Two torpedo wakes were sighted. The "attack" was most likely bogus as no enemy submarines were operating in the vicinity.
	Girosi, Cesare	14 Jul 1940	0800	Fiume	14 Jul 1940	1339	Fiume	21,9	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	16 Jul 1940	1400	Fiume	16 Jul 1940	1745	Fiume	18,3	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	17 Jul 1940	0800	Fiume	17 Jul 1940	0920	Fiume	10,3	Exercises.
	Girosi, Cesare	18 Jul 1940	0700	Fiume	18 Jul 1940	1305	Pola	77	Passage Fiume-Pola.
	Girosi, Cesare	19 Jul 1940	0800	Pola	20 Jul 1940	1204	Pola	26	Exercises.
	Viani, Giorgio	20 Jul 1940		Pola	27 Jul 1940		Pola		In Pola.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	30 Jul 1940	1320	Pola	30 Jul 1940	1825	Pola	28	Exercises.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	1 Aug 1940	0800	Pola	1 Aug 1940	1737	Pola	66	Exercises.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	6 Aug 1940	0205	Pola	7 Aug 1940	1300	Brindisi	407	Passage Pola-Brindisi.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	13 Aug 1940	0730	Brindisi	13 Aug 1940	1149	Brindisi	20	Exercises.
1	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	13 Aug 1940	1950	Brindisi	11 Sep 1940	0720	Brindisi	2196	Patrolled in Kaso Strait, in 35°05'N, 26°40'E and sweeping from a point 14 miles east of Cape Vuthia (Skarpanto) to 215° - Kupho Island (Crete) - 12 miles. This was the longest patrol for an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean.
		15 Aug 1940	1835	(0) West of Crete.	The submarine heard three explosions believed to be aircraft bombs, followed by the noise of two destroyers, but was undamaged. No British aircraft or A/S vessel reported any action on this day.
		30 Aug 1940	1900	35° 05'N, 26° 40'E (0) Position approximate.	The submarine was the subject of an intense A/S search from a destroyer which did not drop any depth-charge and escaped by silent running.
		4 Sep 1940	1008-1015	35° 05'N, 26° 40'E (0) Position uncertain.	The submarine was bombed by aircraft, but escaped damage. The aircraft has not been identified.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	22 Sep 1940	0530	Brindisi	23 Sep 1940	1220	Pola	367	Passage Brindisi-Pola for a refit as Brindisi local works were already busy repairing other submarines.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	28 Oct 1940	0710	Pola	28 Oct 1940	1530	Pola	70	Exercises.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	30 Oct 1940	0750	Pola	30 Oct 1940	1133	Pola	19	Exercises.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	5 Nov 1940	0400	Pola	6 Nov 1940	1425	Brindisi	388	Passage Pola-Brindisi.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	9 Nov 1940	0800	Brindisi	9 Nov 1940	1245	Brindisi	21	Exercises.
2	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	14 Nov 1940	1145	Brindisi	22 Nov 1940	1150	Brindisi	568,7	Patrolled in Otranto Strait, within 5 miles from 39°51'N, 19°09'E on an East/West axis.
		17 Nov 1940	0530	39° 50'N, 19° 06'E (0) 13 miles west of Othonoi (Fano) Island (off Straits of Otranto)	At 0525 hours, a lookout sighted a submarine at a range of 2,500 metres, slowly proceeding on a northerly course, bearing 30° to port. Five minutes later, the range had closed to 1,500 metres and a 533mm torpedo was fired from a bow tube, followed shortly by a second one. Both missed. This was probably the Hellenic submarine Proteus. C.C. De Rosa de Leo was criticised for failing to make use of his gun and letting the enemy submarine escape.
		17 Nov 1940	1840	39° 51'N, 19° 09'E (0) Exact position uncertain. Near Othonoi (Fano) Island (off Straits of Otranto)	Domenico Millelire had just surfaced when a small submarine was sighted at a range of 1,000 metres, proceeding on the surface on a south by southwest course. Because of the rough seas, only machine-guns were manned and, before any action could be taken, the enemy had disappeared.
	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	5 Dec 1940	1500	Brindisi	5 Dec 1940	1545	Brindisi	1	Docked?
3	De Rosa de Leo, Francesco	13 Dec 1940	0000	Brindisi	17 Dec 1940	1320	Brindisi	529	Patrolled west of Fano Island, between 40°00'N and 40°20'N, and between 19°20'E and the Albanian coast. Uneventful.
	D'Alterio, Guido	6 Jan 1941	0855	Brindisi	6 Jan 1941	1140	Brindisi	16	Exercises.
	D'Alterio, Guido	6 Jan 1941	2340	Brindisi	7 Jan 1941	1457	Taranto	173	Passage Brindisi-Taranto.
	D'Alterio, Guido	10 Jan 1941	0835	Taranto	10 Jan 1941	1620	Taranto	1316	Exercises with the submarines Ondina and Speri.
4	D'Alterio, Guido	20 Jan 1941	0725	Taranto	30 Jan 1941	1345	Brindisi	1143	Patrolled south of Otranto Srait within 10 miles from 39°10'N, 19°20'E. Uneventful except for H.E. and distant explosions.
	Viani, Giorgio	18 Feb 1941	0900	Brindisi	18 Feb 1941	1240	Brindisi	24	Exercises.
	Viani, Giorgio	6 Mar 1941	0845	Brindisi	6 Mar 1941	2115	Taranto	166,5	Passage Brindisi-Taranto.
		15 May 1941		Taranto	15 May 1941		Taranto		Disarmed and used as floating oil depot.
5		13 Sep 1942	0600	Taranto	14 Sep 1942	1135	Navarino		Towed by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the destroyer Castelfidardo, she carried 443 tons of oil and 247 tons of petrol.
5b		15 Sep 1942	0520	Navarino	17 Sep 1942	1000	Tobruk		Towed by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the torpedo boat Castelfidardo for passage Navarino to Tobruk. Later towed to Taranto where she remained until the armistice.
		16 Sep 1942	0109-0342	33° 58'N, 22° 55'E	Transformed as an oil depot, she was being towed to Navarino by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the torpedo-boat Castelfidardo when they came under attack from Wellington bombers, which fired flares but do not appear to have dropped bombs.
		23 Sep 1942			23 Sep 1942				Renamed as G.R. 248 (G.R. stood for Gallegiante Rifornimento or oil pontoon).
		11 Oct 1942	1400	Tobruk	13 Oct 1942	0230	Navarino		Passage Tobruk-Navarino as oil-carrying pontoon, towed by destroyer Saetta, with the steamer Col Di Lana (the latter going to Piraeus) and escorted by the destroyer Freccia and the torpedo boats Lupo and Antares (and later Lira).
		12 Oct 1942	0020-0139	32° 44'N, 23° 46'E	While being towed by the destroyer Saetta, in company with Col Di Lana (the latter going to Piraeus) and escorted by the destroyer Freccia and the torpedo-boats Lupo and Antares, the convoy came under air attack. Domenico Millelire was undamaged, but Antares was hit by a bomb and had casualties.
		18 Oct 1942	0835	Navarino	19 Oct 1942	1435	Taranto		Passage Navarino-Taranto, towed by the destroyer Saetta and escorted by the torpedo boat Lira.
		5 Dec 1942	0746	Messina	6 Dec 1942	0735	Palermo		Passage Messina-Palermo towed by the tugs Portoferraio and Luni, escorted by the torpedo boat Castelfidardo.
		1 Mar 1943		Palermo	1 Mar 1943		Palermo		Reported at Palermo as pontoon G.S.R. 248. This is probably an error and should read G.R. 248.

42 entries. 39 total patrol entries (5 marked as war patrols) and 8 events.

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