Salpa (SP)
Salpa

Type	Coastal / Sea going
Class	Argonauta (20)
Laid down	23 Apr 1930	Cantieri Navale Tosi di Taranto, Taranto
Launched	8 May 1932
Commissioned	12 Dec 1932
End service
Stricken
Loss date	27 Jun 1941
Loss position	32° 05'N, 26° 47'E
History
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk on 27th June 1941 near Mersa Matruh, Egypt, in position 32°05'N, 26°47'E by the submarine HMS Triumph.

Commands

Commander	Date from	Date to	Command notes
C.C. Antonio Biondo	15 Dec 1939	25 Nov 1940
S.T.V. Filiberto Sturlese	25 Nov 1940	14 Dec 1940
C.C. Emilio Berengan	14 Dec 1940	3 Jan 1941
C.C. Guido Coscia	4 Jan 1941	28 Apr 1941
T.V. Renato Guagni	29 Apr 1941	27 Jun 1941

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

	Commander	Date	Time	Port	Arr. date	Arr. time	Arr. port	Miles	Description
1	Biondo, Antonio	6 Jun 1940	0713	Taranto	16 Jun 1940	0440	Gallipoli	1381	Patrolled 10 or 15 miles South of Gavdo with the submarines Giuliani, Bagnolini and Tarantini, on a line 20 miles apart. Heard only H.E.
	Biondo, Antonio	16 Jun 1940	0940	Gallipoli	16 Jun 1940	1550	Taranto		Passage Gallipoli-Taranto in company of the submarines Tarantini and Settimo, escorted by the destroyer Zeffiro.
2	Biondo, Antonio	27 Jun 1940	1201	Taranto	3 Jul 1940	1400	Benghazi	1398	Sailed for 33°46'N, 23°10'E on a patrol line with submarines Anfitrite, Ondina and Uebi Scebeli, from a point 15 miles southwest of Gaudio to a point 40 miles northeast of Derna. On her way to the patrol line, she was damaged by bombs and forced to go to Benghazi. HMS Dainty claimed to have sunk her in 35°24'N, 24°10'E ca. 29th June 40. Biondo was severely reprimanded for lack of aggressiveness when encountering a target on 29th June 1940.
		29 Jun 1940	0720-0820 0615 (e)		At 0640 hours, Salpa was proceeding in company with Uebi Scebeli to their respective patrol areas when a destroyer was sighted. Salpa immediately dived. At 0722 hours, Salpa heard three explosions probably at a distance of about 100 meters and another six at about 30 meters at 0726 hours, more followed until 0820 hours but they were distant. The submarine escaped without damage.
		1 Jul 1940	1035-1500 1050 (e)	33° 46'N, 23° 10'E (0) Approximately.	At 0930 hours, hydrophone effects were heard. At 1035 hours, a vessel passed above and dropped three depth charges, causing some damages to Salpa. She had been detected by HMS Hostile and HMAS Stuart in the area where a line of four Italian submarines had been deployed (following information from captured documents on the Uebi Scebeli). HMS Hostile located the submarine attacking at 1030 hours, but only using the thrower depth charges as the trap had jammed. HMAS Stuart attacked with a full pattern at 1050 hours. At 1050 hours, the vessel passed again and dropped about six depth charges, causing more damage, The submarine went down to 60 meters. Six more depth-charges were heard at 1500 hours and the submarine was forced to abort her patrol and go to Benghazi. British Naval intelligence believed the submarine was probably Uarsciek and that she was sunk
	Biondo, Antonio	16 Jul 1940	1230	Benghazi	19 Jul 1940	1325	Taranto		Passage Benghazi-Taranto. Return trip for repairs following damage by bombs on 29th June. Then repairs until 20th October 1940.
	Biondo, Antonio	22 Jul 1940	1350	Taranto	24 Jul 1940	1610	Pola	494	Passage Taranto-Pola.
	Biondo, Antonio	21 Sep 1940	0840	Pola	21 Sep 1940	1818	Pola	56,2	Exercises.
	Biondo, Antonio	25 Sep 1940	0806	Pola	25 Sep 1940	1609	Pola	29,7	Exercises.
	Biondo, Antonio	29 Sep 1940	0725	Pola	29 Sep 1940	1258	Pola	36,2	Exercises.
	Biondo, Antonio	8 Oct 1940	1015	Pola	10 Oct 1940	1607	Taranto	520	Passage Pola-Taranto.
	Biondo, Antonio	12 Oct 1940	0931	Taranto	12 Oct 1940	1420	Taranto	21,8	Exercises.
	Biondo, Antonio	18 Oct 1940	0835	Taranto	18 Oct 1940	1511	Taranto	30	Exercises.
	Biondo, Antonio	20 Oct 1940	0900	Taranto	20 Oct 1940	1320	Taranto	20	Exercises.
	Biondo, Antonio	22 Oct 1940	0812	Taranto	22 Oct 1940	1750	Taranto	20,7	Exercises.
3	Biondo, Antonio	24 Oct 1940	1736	Taranto	26 Oct 1940	2155	Brindisi	275	Sailed for patrol off Cyrenaica, between 34°20'N and 34°55'N, 23°30'N and 24°40'E but turned back because weather damage and battery problems. Repairs until December 1940.
		26 Oct 1940	1200	(0) Off Santa Maria di Leuca.	At 1200 hours, a battleship of the ANDREA DORIA class was sighted at 7,000 metres and fired two rounds at Salpa, as the submarine had been slow to respond to her signals. This was indeed Andrea Doria on transfer from Pola to Taranto, who checked her fire when the submarine made the proper recognition signal. The bad weather had forced her destroyer escort to turn back as they could not maintain a speed of 15 knots.
	Sturlese, Filiberto	3 Dec 1940	1250	Brindisi	3 Dec 1940	1607	Brindisi	21	Exercises.
	Sturlese, Filiberto	7 Dec 1940	0959	Brindisi	7 Dec 1940	1110	Brindisi	0,3	Entered dock?
	Berengan, Emilio	20 Dec 1940	0851	Brindisi	20 Dec 1940	1253	Brindisi	20,5	Exercises.
4	Berengan, Emilio	21 Dec 1940	0945	Brindisi	30 Dec 1940	2315	Augusta	918	Patrolled in Straits of Otranto in 39°40'N, 19°10'E. Uneventful. Heard only distant H.E. and explosions.
	Berengan, Emilio	31 Dec 1940	Time?	Augusta (outside)	31 Dec 1940	0815	Augusta		Moved from anchorage to harbour.
5	Coscia, Guido	26 Jan 1941	1400	Augusta	27 Jan 1941	0907	Augusta	124	Hydrophone Watch off Augusta. Uneventful except for H.E.
6	Coscia, Guido	31 Jan 1941	1710	Augusta	5 Feb 1941	1250	Augusta	585	Sailed for patrol off Cyrenaica. Damaged by A/S craft, but turned back due to defects.
		3 Feb 1941	0200	35° 50'N, 18° 48'E	At 0200 hours, three enemy destroyers were sighted and they hunted the submarine until 1600 hours.
	Coscia, Guido	5 Feb 1941	0744	Augusta	6 Feb 1941	1426	Messina	585	Passage Augusta-Messina [mileage is from 31st January].
	Coscia, Guido	10 Feb 1941	0950	Messina	11 Feb 1941	1515	Taranto	270	Passage Messina-Taranto. Repairs until 20th March 1941.
		10 Feb 1941	1815 1752 (e)	(0) 278° - Punta Stilo - 5.5 miles.	At 1815 hours, two torpedo wakes were sighted on the starboard side. Salpa put the helm hard to port to avoid them. This attack was made by the submarine HMS Rover (Lieutenant. Commander H.A.L. Marsham, RN). She had sighted a submarine of the PERLA class at a distance of 8,000 yards and, at 1752 hours, fired five torpedoes from a distance of 1,500 yards (a sixth misfired and Marsham believed it was the one that should have hit). At 2300 hours, Salpa encountered a convoy (the Germans Arta, Heraklea and Maritza, all empty, on transfer from Bari to Messina) escprted by the destroyer Baleno and signalled the presence of the enemy submarine.
	Coscia, Guido	14 Feb 1941	0245	Taranto	14 Feb 1941	1220	Taranto		Trials.
	Coscia, Guido	24 Mar 1941	1128	Taranto	24 Mar 1941	1816	Taranto	36	Exercises.
7	Coscia, Guido	31 Mar 1941	1645	Taranto	14 Apr 1941	1545	Taranto	1413,5	Patrolled off Albanian coast in 41°50'N, 18°25'E on a SE-NW axis, off Cape Krio. Sighted MAS boats and heard H.E.
8	Coscia, Guido	25 Apr 1941	1837	Taranto	26 Apr 1941	1105	Taranto	88	Hydrophone Watch in Gulf of Taranto. Uneventful.
9	Coscia, Guido	27 Apr 1941	2110	Taranto	28 Apr 1941	1048	Taranto	95	Hydrophone Watch in Gulf of Taranto. Uneventful.
	Guagni, Renato	5 May 1941	1820	Taranto	6 May 1941	1625	Taranto		Exercises with H.8, escorted by the pilot vessel Limbara.
10	Guagni, Renato	9 May 1941	1137	Taranto	25 May 1941	1145	Messina	2343	Patrolled southwest of Crete, between 34°40'N and 35°20'N, 23°00'E and 24°40'E and from 14th to 16th May off Egyptian coast, between 31°20'N and 32°40'N, 28°00'E and 29°20'E. Uneventful except H.E.
	Guagni, Renato	12 Jun 1941	0830	Messina	12 Jun 1941	1650	Messina		Exercises, escorted by Arcione.
11	Guagni, Renato	18 Jun 1941	2155	Messina	27 Jun 1941	0811 (UK)	Sunk with all hands		Sailed for patrol off Egyptian coast and Cyrenaica, between 31°55 N and Egyptian coast, and between 26°20'E and 26°40'E (according to German records between 32°40'N and 32°27'N , and between 25°00'E and 25°20'E) She had to proceed to Leros and was sunk in 32°04'N, 26°47'E by the British submarine HMS Triumph. No survivors, five officers and forty-three ratings killed.
		27 Jun 1941	0818+ (e)	(e) 32° 05'N, 26° 47'E	At 0757 hours, the submarine HMS Triumph (Lieutenant Commander W.J.W. Woods, RN) sighted what looked like masts of a small ships. Five minutes later, it was recognised as a submarine and she probably had just surfaced. Later it was identified as a PERLA class boat, steering 003° at 10 knots. At 0811 hours, the British submarine opened fire from 1,500 yards. In all, 33 4" rounds were fired of which 5 were direct hits as well as 330 rounds with her Lewis guns. This was Salpa on patrol off the Egyptian coast. The Italian submarine appeared to have fired back 5 rounds with her deck gun, but was now apparently almost stopped and sinking by the stern. At 0818 hours, HMS Triumph fired two torpedoes at 600 yards. The first deviated to port, but the second squarely hit the target and she sank. A large pool of oil was seen but no survivors. Salpa had gone down with all hands. Five officers and forty-three ratings perished.

33 entries. 32 total patrol entries (11 marked as war patrols) and 6 events.

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