Italian submarines in World War Two


CB 3
CB 3

TypeMidget 
ClassCB (42) 
Laid down Caproni-Taliedo, Milan
Launched
Commissioned10 May 1941
End service
Stricken
Loss date25 Aug 1944
Loss position44° 07'N, 28° 40'E
History Transferred to the Black Sea. Transferred to Romania after the armestice. Scuttled by the Romanians on 25th August 1944. Raised by the Soviets and commissioned as TM-6. Scrapped in 1945.
Fate

Commands


CommanderDate fromDate toCommand notes
S.T.V. Giovanni Sorrentino10 May 194131 Oct 1942
S.T.V. Matteo NardonJun 1943Sep 1943
G.M. Gabriele Battistini 194425 Aug 1944

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

 CommanderDateTimePortArr. dateArr. timeArr. portMilesDescription
16 Apr 19411000La Spezia16 Apr 19411420La SpeziaExercises with CB 4 escorted by the auxiliary Rimini.

Sorrentino, Giovanni10 May 1941La Spezia10 May 1941La SpeziaCommissioned.

Sorrentino, Giovanni30 May 1941La Spezia30 May 1941La SpeziaExercises.

1Sorrentino, Giovanni14 Jun 19412050La Spezia15 Jun 19410950La Spezia65Patrolled with CB 2. On 15th June 1941 joined MARICOSOM.

Sorrentino, Giovanni23 Jun 19411900La Spezia23 Jun 19411300La Spezia14Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni26 Jun 19410900La Spezia26 Jun 19411220La Spezia15,5Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni28 Jun 19411430La Spezia28 Jun 19411610La SpeziaExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni8 Jul 19410830La Spezia8 Jul 19411200La Spezia11Exercises.

2Sorrentino, Giovanni8 Jul 19411630La Spezia9 Jul 19410815La Spezia57Antisubmarine patrol with CB 2. Uneventful.

Sorrentino, Giovanni11 Jul 19410830La Spezia11 Jul 19411800La Spezia31Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni13 Jul 19410730La Spezia13 Jul 19411205La Spezia15Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni15 Jul 19411535La Spezia15 Jul 19411815La Spezia7,7Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni18 Jul 19410845La Spezia18 Jul 19411225La Spezia15,8Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni22 Jul 19411420La Spezia22 Jul 19411800La Spezia18,5Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni28 Jul 19411340La Spezia28 Jul 19411640La Spezia3Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni31 Jul 19410945La Spezia31 Jul 19411220La Spezia3Exercises.

3Sorrentino, Giovanni3 Aug 19411800La Spezia4 Aug 19411140La SpeziaPatrolled with CB 2.

Sorrentino, Giovanni9 Aug 19412140La Spezia10 Aug 1941Date?La SpeziaExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni11 Aug 19410940La Spezia11 Aug 19411310La SpeziaExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni12 Aug 19411605La Spezia12 Aug 19411900La SpeziaExercises, escorted by the auxiliary Crotone.

Sorrentino, Giovanni12 Aug 19412110La Spezia13 Aug 19410030La SpeziaExercises, escorted by the tug Porto Sdoba.

Sorrentino, Giovanni9 Sep 19410925La Spezia9 Sep 19411142La Spezia10Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni10 Sep 19410752La Spezia10 Sep 19411115La Spezia10Exercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni11 Sep 19411610La Spezia12 Sep 1941NaplesPassage La Spezia-Naples (by train).

Sorrentino, Giovanni15 Sep 19410325Naples15 Sep 19410940Salerno42Passage Naples-Salerno.

Sorrentino, Giovanni22 Sep 19411550Salerno22 Sep 19411718Salerno5,5Exercises.

4Sorrentino, Giovanni29 Sep 19411700Salerno30 Sep 19411050Salerno96Antisubmarine patrol with CB 5. Uneventful.

5Sorrentino, Giovanni10 Oct 19411730Salerno11 Oct 19411300Salerno93Antisubmarine patrol. Uneventful.

6Sorrentino, Giovanni16 Oct 19411700Salerno17 Oct 19411155Salerno70Antisubmarine surface patrol. Uneventful.

Sorrentino, Giovanni25 Oct 19410300Salerno25 Oct 19411055Naples43Passage Salerno-Naples with CB 4.

Sorrentino, Giovanni26 Oct 19410810Naples26 Oct 19411445Salerno43Passage Naples-Salerno.

7Sorrentino, Giovanni27 Oct 19411800Salerno28 Oct 19410920Salerno74Antisubmarine patrol with CB 4. Uneventful.

Sorrentino, Giovanni19 Nov 1941Salerno19 Nov 19411530SalernoExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni23 Nov 19410900Salerno23 Nov 19411000SalernoExercises or change of anchorage?

8Sorrentino, Giovanni25 Nov 19411800Salerno26 Nov 19410900Salerno77Antisubmarine patrol. Uneventful.

Sorrentino, Giovanni1 Dec 19410845Salerno1 Dec 19411225Salerno15Exercises with the motorboats A.S.83 and A.S.65.

Sorrentino, Giovanni3 Dec 19410840Salerno3 Dec 19411235Salerno11Exercises with the motorboats A.S.75 and A.S.83.

Sorrentino, Giovanni5 Dec 19410900Salerno5 Dec 19411215Salerno11Exercises with the motorboat A.S.83.

Sorrentino, Giovanni10 Dec 19410900Salerno10 Dec 19411200Salerno7,5Exercises with the motorboat A.S.83.

Sorrentino, Giovanni11 Dec 19410955Salerno11 Dec 19411215Salerno7Exercises with the motorboats A.S.65 and A.S.83.

Sorrentino, Giovanni12 Dec 19410835Salerno12 Dec 19411150Salerno7,5Exercises with the motorboats A.S.83.

Sorrentino, Giovanni13 Dec 19410810Salerno13 Dec 19411210SalernoExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni4 Jan 19420825Salerno4 Jan 19421440Naples40Passage Salerno-Naples on the surface at 6 knots then by rail to La Spezia.

Sorrentino, Giovanni25 Feb 19420900La Spezia25 Feb 19421605La SpeziaExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni26 Mar 19421155La Spezia26 Mar 19421530La SpeziaExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni28 Mar 19421100La Spezia28 Mar 19421540La SpeziaExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni5 May 1942Galatz7 May 19421945CostanzaPassage Galatz-Costanza.

Sorrentino, Giovanni22 May 19420945Costanza22 May 19421400CostanzaExercises.

9Sorrentino, Giovanni2 Jun 19422340Costanza6 Jun 19420540Yalta286Passage Costanza-Yalta and patrol south of Sevastopol with CB 1 and CB 2.
  5 Jun 19420330At 0330 hours, a destroyer was sighted at a distance of 6,000 metres, proceeding at 25 knots.
  5 Jun 19420510
(0) Near Cape Sarytsch.
At 0510 hours, a submarine was sighted at a distance of 5-6,000 metres and passed out of range.
  5 Jun 19421710
(0) Near Cape Sarytsch.
At 1710 hours, a Soviet submarine was sighted at a distance of 3,000 metres, steering 300° at 10 knots. CB 3 could not close the range and could only make an enemy report, which was not acknowledged.

10Sorrentino, Giovanni7 Jun 19421924Yalta9 Jun 19420645Yalta145Patrolled south of Sevastopol, between 44°10'N and 43°50'N, and between 33°38'E amd 33°52'E. Uneventful.

11Sorrentino, Giovanni12 Jun 19421412Yalta13 Jun 19421400Yalta93Patrolled south of Sevastopol, on the meridian of Cape Sarych, 35 miles from the cape, then at dawn of the 13th 200° - Cape Chersonese - 22 miles.
  13 Jun 19420417
(0) South of Sevastopol.
At 0404 hours, a cruiser [destroyer leader] of the TASCHENT [TASHKENT] class followed at a distance of 2,000 metres by a cruiser of the KIROV class, were sighted at a distance of 8,000 metres, steering 180° at 20 knots.

At 0417 hours, two torpedoes (450mm) were fired at a range of 1,800 metres, aimed at the KIROV class cruiser. The torpedoes sank almost immediately upon firing due to lack of maintenance at Yalta (the staff had not arrived yet).

The target was the light cruiser Molotov, escorted by the destroyer Bditelniy. and they were evacuating wounded from Sebastopol. They did not observe the attack.

12Sorrentino, Giovanni14 Jun 19421230Yalta16 Jun 19420805Yalta160Patrolled south of Sevastopol with CB 4. Proceeded to 43°40'N, 34°00'E then from dawn on 15th June moved westward for 10 miles until the meridian of Cape Sarych was reached.
  15 Jun 19421226
(0) 40 miles south of C, Sarytsch.
At 1212 hours, a Soviet submarine of the DEKABRIST class was sighted at a distance of 5,000 metres on a northerly course at 3 knots.

At 1215 hours, the enemy submarine began to emit a lot of smoke and had probably started the diesels. Three men could be observed on the bridge.

At 1226 hours, CB 3 fired two torpedoes (450mm) at a range of 1,200 metres and dived to 14 metres. One hit was heard after 63 seconds. Nothing could be seen when the midget returned to periscope depth.

At 1345 hours, the midget surfaced in the area and found a floating corpse and assumed it was from the sunken submarine.

The target was the Soviet submarine S-32 (Captain 3rd rank Stefan Klimentievich Pavlenko) on a supply mission to Sebastopol. She was missed but would be sunk by a German bomber on 26th June.
  15 Jun 19421540At 1540 hours, two Soviet aircraft were seen at a distance of 1,000 metres.

Sorrentino, Giovanni19 Jun 19421300Yalta19 Jun 19421300YaltaAt Yalta damaged under air attack.
  19 Jun 19421300
(0) At Yalta.
At 1300 hours, CB 2 and CB 3 were anchored at Yalta when they came under air attack.

The periscope of CB 3 was seriously damaged and could only be repaired at Costanza.

Sorrentino, Giovanni21 Jun 19421615Yalta25 Jun 19421715Costanza362Passage Yalta-Costanza with CB 2 through 43°47'N, 31°38'E. Uneventful except for the rough weather encountered. Needed repairs that lasted three weeks.

Sorrentino, Giovanni15 Aug 19421215Costanza17 Aug 19421315Costanza15Passage Costanza-Yalta with CB 2 and CB 6, but all returned because of defects.

Sorrentino, Giovanni18 Aug 1942Date???Costanza19 Aug 1942CostanzaExercises.

Sorrentino, Giovanni13 Sep 19421300Costanza14 Sep 19421500BurgasPassage Costanza-Burgas with CB 2.

13Sorrentino, Giovanni16 Sep 19421800Burgas19 Sep 19420700BurgasPatrolled with CB 2 near Bosphorus, between 41°30'N and the Turkish coast, and between 29°10'E and 29°30'E. She carried C.C. Luigi Longanesi Catani (Capo Squadriglia) as a passenger.
  16 Sep 19422145At 2145 hours, a large sailing vessel was sighted on a southerly course. The following days sighted only Turkish sailing vessels.

Sorrentino, Giovanni21 Sep 19420830Burgas22 Sep 19421540Costanza530Passage Burgas-Costanza with CB 2 [mileage from 13th September].

Sorrentino, Giovanni16 Oct 19421250Costanza17 Oct 19420745SulinaPassage Costanza-Sevastopol with CB 2, but due to bad weather was diverted to Sulina.

Sorrentino, Giovanni17 Oct 19421100Sulina19 Oct 19421100Bay of KaradschaPassage Sulina-Sevastopol with CB 2, but her engine failed and she had to use a makeshift sail at 1010 hours on the 18th in heavy seas (Force 6-7). She took refuge in the Bay of Karadscha (near Cape Tarkhan, 45°27’32” N, 36°26’54” E).

Sorrentino, Giovanni20 Oct 19420540Bay of Karadscha20 Oct 19420540Bay of KaradschaShe lost an anchor in bad weather and was beached at 0540 hours on the 20th. A German minesweeper finally arrived at 0600 hours on the 21st to help out.

Sorrentino, Giovanni21 Oct 19421430Bay of Karadscha21 Oct 19421800Ak MetchetAt 1100/21 she was freed with the help of the tug RA-56 and was taken in tow to Ak Metchet.

Sorrentino, Giovanni27 Oct 19422330Ak Metchet28 Oct 19421800OtschakovPassage Ak Metchet-Otschakov towed by the German tug Wagrein.

Sorrentino, Giovanni27 Oct 19422330Ak Metchet31 Oct 19421630CostanzaPassage Ak Metchet-Costanza, towed by the German tug Wagrein with stops at Ociak, Bugaz and Sulina.

Sorrentino, Giovanni29 Oct 19420600Otschakov29 Oct 19421700BugazPassage Otschakov-Bugaz.

Sorrentino, Giovanni30 Oct 19420600Bugaz30 Oct 19421600SulinaPassage Bugaz-Sulina.

Sorrentino, Giovanni31 Oct 19420400Sulina31 Oct 19421630Costanza565Passage Sulina-Costanza.

Nardon, Matteo16 Jun 1943Costanza16 Jun 1943CostanzaExercises?

Nardon, Matteo17 Jun 1943Costanza17 Jun 1943CostanzaExercises?

14Nardon, Matteo27 Jun 19430800Costanza29 Jun 19431200CostanzaAntisubmarine patrol.

Nardon, Matteo15 Jul 19430800Costanza15 Jul 19431100CostanzaExercises.

Nardon, Matteo16 Jul 19430800Costanza16 Jul 19431100CostanzaExercises.

Nardon, Matteo17 Jul 19430730Costanza17 Jul 19431100CostanzaExercises.

Nardon, Matteo25 Jul 19430830Costanza1 Aug 19431258SevastopolSailed with CB 4, the German tug Stralsund and the submarine chasers UJ-2301 and UJ-2302. They arrived at Sevastopol with the lighters F-301, F-304 and MR-7 and RS-4.

15Nardon, Matteo5 Aug 19430714Sevastopol7 Aug 19431800SevastopolCarried out a patrol?

16Nardon, Matteo17 Aug 1943Sevastopol19 Aug 19430730SevastopolA/S patrol South of Cape Tarkhankutsi to Evpatoria Bay.

17Nardon, Matteo19 Aug 19430840Sevastopol22 Aug 19431516SevastopolPatrolled between (a) 44°15'N, 33°45'E (b) 44°00'N, 33°45'E (c) 44°15'N, 34°15'E (d) 44°00'N, 34°15'E.

18Nardon, Matteo25 Aug 19430500Sevastopol25 Aug 19431330SevastopolSailed for patrol with CB 4 between 45°00 N and 45°30'N, and between 32°00'E and 32°30'E. May have turned back because of defects.

Nardon, Matteo4 Sep 19431545Ak Mechet5 Sep 19431645SevastopolPassage Ak Mechet-Sevastopol. Seized at Sevastopol.

19Nardon, Matteo15 Sep 1943Sevastopol16 Sep 1943SevastopolPatrolled during operation MAINTLAND.

3 Dec 19433 Dec 1943According to an ULTRA signal, she flew the Rumanian flag on 3rd December 943.

201 Jul 1944Date???Sulina1 Jul 1944Date???SulinaPatrolled in July, uneventful. It is possible that CB 6 also made a sortie.

2124 Aug 1944Costanza24 Aug 1944CostanzaCarried out an uneventful patrol.

Battistini, Gabriele25 Aug 1944Costanza25 Aug 19441700Scuttled?The midget sailed to operate against Soviet forces, but was scuttled two miles off the coast (Rumania had capitulated on 23rd August) and the crew of three swam ashore and managed to join the retreating column of the personnel of the Gruppo CB M.O. Livio Piomarta under C.F. Zingarelli. They all managed to reach Italy.

88 entries. 85 total patrol entries (21 marked as war patrols) and 8 events.

All Italian submarines