Guglielmotti (GI, I.30 or I.33)
Guglielmotti

Type	Ocean going
Class	Brin 1 (14)
Laid down	3 Dec 1936	Cantieri Navale Tosi di Taranto, Taranto
Launched	11 Sep 1938
Commissioned	12 Oct 1938
End service
Stricken
Loss date	17 Mar 1942
Loss position	37° 42'N, 15° 58'E
History
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk on 17th March 1942 off Cape Dell'Armi, Italy in position 37°42'N, 15°58'E by the British submarine HMS Unbeaten.

Commands

Commander	Date from	Date to	Command notes
C.C. Carlo Tucci	21 Oct 1939	19 Nov 1940
T.V. Federico Tamburini	20 Nov 1940	28 Feb 1941
C.F. Gino Spagone	1 Mar 1941	14 Aug 1941
S.T.V. Virgilio Mandelli	15 Aug 1941	31 Aug 1941
T.V. Federico Tamburini	1 Sep 1941	17 Mar 1942

Ships hit

	Date	Commander	Ship hit	Type	GRT	Nat.	Loss type
1.	6 Sep 1940	C.C. Carlo Tucci	Atlas	Cargo ship	4,008		Sunk

Patrols and events

	Commander	Date	Time	Port	Arr. date	Arr. time	Arr. port	Miles	Description
	Tucci, Carlo	10 Jun 1940		Massawa	10 Jun 1940		Massawa		At Massawa.
	Tucci, Carlo	18 Jun 1940	0700	Massawa	18 Jun 1940	1212	Massawa	29	Exercises.
1	Tucci, Carlo	21 Jun 1940	1310	Massawa	23 Jun 1940	1100	Massawa	525	Patrolled against enemy traffic and ordered to pick up survivors of submarine Macallé.
		22 Jun 1940	1110-1220	(0) Bar-Muss-Chebir Islet	From 1110 to 1220 hours, Guglielmotti recovered the survivors of the submarine Macallé, which had run aground on Bar-Muss-Chebir Islet. All were found except four. One had drowned and three others had managed to escape in a small boat.
2	Tucci, Carlo	12 Jul 1940	1430	Massawa	15 Jul 1940	0852	Massawa	432,5	Patrolled in Red Sea.
3	Tucci, Carlo	26 Jul 1940	1139	Massawa	29 Jul 1940	1200	Massawa	383,6	Patrolled in Red Sea.
4	Tucci, Carlo	2 Aug 1940	1245	Massawa	5 Aug 1940	1030	Massawa	435,5	Patrolled in Red Sea.
	Tucci, Carlo	20 Aug 1940	0710	Massawa	20 Aug 1940	1255	Massawa	24,5	Exercises.
5	Tucci, Carlo	21 Aug 1940	1235	Massawa	25 Aug 1940	1540	Massawa	504,5	Patrolled in Red Sea.
6	Tucci, Carlo	3 Sep 1940	1404	Massawa	7 Sep 1940	0850	Massawa	490,5	Patrolled in Red Sea ca. 16°50'N, 41°50'E.
		6 Sep 1940	1540 or 1200Z (UK) (e)	15° 50'N, 41° 50'E	At 1200Z hours, Guglielmotti fired torpedoes at the Greek freighter Atlas (4,008 GRT, built 1909). She was a straggler from convoy BN.4 and was bound from Abadan (Iran) to the Piraeus. Because of her slow speed, she could not maintain station in the convoy. HMS Kingston had sent an armed guard on board and she was told to proceed independently. Two torpedo tracks were observed, followed by two more and the last hit the vessel, which took a list to starboard. The explosion was rather small, which seems to indicate it was a 450mm torpedo. Her Captain and crew and the British guards took to the lifeboats (twenty-seven survivors, no casualties). Apparently a fifth torpedo (described as smaller than the 21" torpedoes, so was probably of 450mm type) was fired and was observed by the survivors in the lifeboats to be a surface runner. It missed, but the Greek vessel finally sank. The Greek survivors reached Kamaran Island at 0800Z hours on 8th September, the British arrived a few hours later. The attack is not well documented on the Italian side as the submarine's patrol report has not survived.
7	Tucci, Carlo	19 Sep 1940	2130	Massawa	26 Sep 1940	1650	Massawa	617	Patrolled in Red Sea.
	Tucci, Carlo	14 Oct 1940	0700	Massawa	14 Oct 1940	0730	Massawa	0,4	Entered dock.
	Tucci, Carlo	18 Oct 1940	1830	Massawa	18 Oct 1940	1855	Massawa	0,4	Exited dock.
8	Tucci, Carlo	19 Oct 1940	1410	Massawa	24 Oct 1940	0857	Massawa	559,6	Patrolled in Red Sea.
9	Tucci, Carlo	1 Nov 1940	1432	Massawa	6 Nov 1940	0924	Massawa	445	Patrolled in Red Sea.
	Tamburini, Federico	20 Nov 1940		Massawa	28 Feb 1941		Massawa		Refit at Massawa. change in command.
		5 Jan 1941	1300-1400	(0) At Massawa.	At 1300 hours, the Italian submarines at Massawa came under attack by three Blenheim bombers. At 1400 hours, a new attack was made by two Blenheim bombers. Guglielmotti was slightly damaged by near misses.
10	Spagone, Gino	4 Mar 1941	1757	Massawa	6 May 1941	2000	Pauillac	12424,5	Passage from Massawa to Bordeaux. Reached the first rendezvous point (25°00'S, 20°00'W) at 1250 hours on 11th April and joined Archimede at 1400 hours on 13th April 1941. Sighted the German supply ship Nordmark on the following day, who told them to change the rendezvous to 25°00'S, 26°00'W. Refuelled from Nordmark on 16th April 1941. She was located by British aircraft at 0345 GMT on 5th May 1941 in position 45°30'N, 07°30 W.
		9 Mar 1941	1500	3° 40'N, 50° 08'W	At 1500 hours, a vessel was sighted at a distance of 20,000 metres. It was apparently travelling from Somalia toward India. As per her instructions, Guglielmotti dived to avoid being seen.
		5 Apr 1941	2230	30° 08'S, 2° 10'W	At 2230 hours, a vessel was sighted steering 105°. Gugliemotti dived to avoid being seen.
		9 Apr 1941	1210 (e)	(e) 25° 07'S, 20° 05'W	Italian signals had been deciphered giving the position of the refuelling rendezvous with the German supply ship Nordmark. The Royal Navy had sent the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Alcantara, the sloops HMS Bridgewater and HMS Milford and the submarine HMS Severn to intercept (operation GRAB). The British submarine sighted an Italian submarine which was probably Guglielmotti but could not get into an attack position.
		11 Apr 1941	1250	25° 00'S, 20° 00'W	At 1250 hours, Guglielmotti reached the rendezvous point with the German supply ship Nordmark and cruised in the area. At 1310 hours, the submarine Ferraris was encountered.
		13 Apr 1941	1250	25° 00'S, 20° 00'W	At 1400 hours, the submarine Archimede was encountered near the rendezvous point with Nordmark. She had been cruising the area since noon on 8th April. Archimede, Guglielmo and Ferraris were now together cruising in the area.
		14 Apr 1941	1550	25° 00'S, 20° 00'W	At 1550 hours, the German supply ship Nordmark was met. She was disguised as the American steamer Prairie. As she had been earlier sighted by an aircraft (a seaplane from HMS Alcantara), the present rendezvous appeared to have been compromised. She informed the submarines to change the refuelling point to 25°00' S, 26°00' W. They broke off the meeting to relocate at the new rendezvous.
		16 Apr 1941	2308-0740/17	25° 00'S, 26° 00'W	From 2308 hours on 16th April to 0740 hours the following morning, Guglielmotti refuelled and took provisions from the German supply ship Nordmark.
10b	Spagone, Gino	7 May 1941	1230	Pauillac	7 May 1941	1640	Bordeaux		Passage Pauillac-Bordeaux.
	Mandelli, Virgilio	15 Aug 1941		Bordeaux	31 Aug 1941		Bordeaux		Refit in Bordeaux. Change in command.
	Tamburini, Federico	7 Sep 1941	0715	Bordeaux	7 Sep 1941	2300	La Pallice	164	Passage Bordeaux-La Pallice.
	Tamburini, Federico	8 Sep 1941	0725	La Pallice	8 Sep 1941	1605	La Pallice	40	Exercises.
	Tamburini, Federico	9 Sep 1941	1005	La Pallice	10 Sep 1941	0140	La Pallice	66	Exercises.
11	Tamburini, Federico	10 Sep 1941	1800	La Pallice	14 Sep 1941	1300	Bordeaux	674	Sailed for training patrol, between 44°00'N and 45°00'N, and between 08°10'W and 10°00'W.
12	Tamburini, Federico	22 Sep 1941	0806	Bordeaux	16 Oct 1941	0930	Messina	2835	Passage Bordeaux-Messina and patrolled off Melilla, between 35°50'N and the coast and 02°30'W and 03°20'W. Passed Gibraltar on 30th September 1941.
		30 Sep 1941	0440	(0) 169° - Cape Malabata - 6 miles.	At 0440 hours, a dark ship was sighted at 2,000 metres and Guglielmotti took avoiding action.
		1 Oct 1941	0225	35° 59'N, 3° 46'W	At 0225 hours, three or four destroyers were sighted at 12,000 metres. Guglielmotti turned away.
		12 Oct 1941	0910	35° 45'N, 2° 46'W	At 0910 hours, a submarine which could not be identified was sighted at a distance of 6-7,000 metres. Guglielmotti attempted to close but lost contact. This was probably HMS Porpoise on her way from Gibraltar to Malta.
	Tamburini, Federico	18 Oct 1941	1230	Messina	19 Oct 1941	0830	Taranto	258	Passage Messina-Taranto surfaced, at 13 knots. Then refit until February 1942.
	Tamburini, Federico	18 Feb 1942	1315	Taranto	18 Feb 1942	1735	Taranto	28	Trials.
	Tamburini, Federico	23 Feb 1942	0915	Taranto	23 Feb 1942	1210	Taranto	30	Trials.
	Tamburini, Federico	25 Feb 1942	0840	Taranto	25 Feb 1942	1648	Taranto	74	Trials.
	Tamburini, Federico	27 Feb 1942	1241	Taranto	27 Feb 1942	1703	Taranto	36	Trials escorted by the auxiliary Germanello.
	Tamburini, Federico	6 Mar 1942	1337	Taranto	6 Mar 1942	1836	Taranto		Exercises.
	Tamburini, Federico	8 Mar 1942	0925	Taranto	8 Mar 1942	1718	Taranto		Exercises escorted by the auxiliary Germanello.
	Tamburini, Federico	10 Mar 1942	1345	Taranto	10 Mar 1942	1818	Taranto		Exercises.
	Tamburini, Federico	14 Mar 1942	0914	Taranto	14 Mar 1942	1338	Taranto	200	Exercises.
13	Tamburini, Federico	15 Mar 1942	1730	Taranto	17 Mar 1942	0640	Sunk with all hands	237	Sunk with all hands, 22 miles south of Capo Dell'Armi, Calabria or 37°42'N, 15°58'E by the British submarine HMS Unbeaten, while on passage Taranto-Cagliari (seven officers and fifty-four ratings lost).
		17 Mar 1942	0640 (e)	(e) 37° 42'N, 15° 58'E (0) 22 miles south of Cape Dell\'Armi.	Guglielmotti was proceeding on the surface when she was torpedoed and sunk by HMS Unbeaten (Lt. Cdr. E.A. Woodward, D.S.O., RN). At 0634.5B hours, the British submarine had sighted Guglielmotti bearing 125° at 2,200 yards. At 0640 hours, Unbeaten fired a dispersed salvo of four torpedoes from a distance of 2,000 yards and scored one hit. About twelve survivors were sighted but, tragically, could not be picked by her because of the arrival from an aircraft. The torpedo boat Francesco Stocco arrived on the scene at 1005 hours and dropped seventeen depth-charges, despite frantic signals from an aircraft not to attack because of the survivors in the water (at least three were seen). The torpedo boat picked up the body of a rating from Guglielmotti. There were no survivors. Seven officers and fifty-four ratings were killed.

41 entries. 33 total patrol entries (13 marked as war patrols) and 14 events.

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