Italian submarines in World War Two
Berillo (BE)
Berillo
| Type | Coastal / Sea going | |
| Class | Perla (22) | |
| Laid down | 14 Sep 1935 | Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone |
| Launched | 14 Jun 1936 | |
| Commissioned | 5 Aug 1936 | |
| End service | ||
| Stricken | ||
| Loss date | 2 Oct 1940 | |
| Loss position | 33° 09'N, 26° 24'E | |
| History | ||
| Fate | Scuttled on 2nd October 1940 south of Crete in position 33°09'N, 26°24'E after being forced to surface after being depth charges by the destroyers HMS Hasty and HMS Havock. | |
Commands
| Commander | Date from | Date to | Command notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| T.V. Camillo Milesi Ferretti | 4 Jan 1940 | 2 Oct 1940 |
Ships hit
No ships hit by this submarine.Patrols and events
| Commander | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 8 Jun 1940 | 1951 | La Maddalena | 9 Jun 1940 | 1902 | La Spezia | 245,2 | Passage La Maddalena-La Spezia for refit. | ||
| Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 8 Jul 1940 | 0950 | La Spezia | 8 Jul 1940 | 1340 | La Spezia | Exercises. | |||
| Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 10 Jul 1940 | 1500 | La Spezia | 10 Jul 1940 | ? | La Spezia | Exercises. | |||
| 1 | Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 11 Jul 1940 | 2210 | La Spezia | 13 Jul 1940 | 1130 | La Spezia | 256 | Sailed for a patrol off Cape de Gata, Cape Falcon, Cape Ivi and Cape Palos on a barrage line with Faà di Bruno. Encountered extreme bad weather on her way out (Force 9) and was forced to turn back from cumulative defects. | |
| 2 | Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 14 Jul 1940 | 0500 | La Spezia | 26 Jul 1940 | 0930 | La Spezia | 1785 | Patrolled off Gibraltar. | |
| 25 Jul 1940 | 2100 | (0) Approximately west of Sardinia. | At 2100 hours, the French transport Gouverneur Général Chanzy (4,226 GRT, built 1922) was stopped. She was carrying 1,100 passengers including 680 African troops from Marseilles to Algiers and was allowed to proceed. | |||||||
| Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 11 Aug 1940 | 0935 | La Spezia | 11 Aug 1940 | 1440 | La Spezia | Exercises. | |||
| Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 16 Aug 1940 | 0815 | La Spezia | 16 Aug 1940 | 1500 | La Spezia | Exercises with submarine Faà di Bruno and a tug, 5 miles south of Moneglia. | |||
| Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 21 Aug 1940 | 1235 | La Spezia | 23 Aug 1940 | 1530 | Messina | Passage La Spezia-Messina. | |||
| Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 24 Aug 1940 | 0825 | Messina | 24 Aug 1940 | 1510 | Augusta | Passage Messina-Augusta. | |||
| 3 | Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 2 Sep 1940 | 1850 | Augusta | 5 Sep 1940 | 0753 | Augusta | 297,5 | Patrolled east of Malta. Uneventful. | |
| 4 | Milesi Ferretti, Camillo | 18 Sep 1940 | 1940 | Augusta | 2 Oct 1940 | 0715 | Sunk | Patrolled in Gulf of Sollum, between 31°50'N and 32°30'N, and between 25°25'E and 26°40'E, 30 miles north of Ras Uleima. Sunk off the Egyptian north coast by HM destroyers Havock and Hasty in 33°10'N, 26°12'E. Forty-five survivors were picked up, two killed. | ||
| 2 Oct 1940 | 0300+ 0425C (e) | The patrol report is lost as Berillo did not return from her mission. The following is an approximate reconstruction: At 0415C hours, the destroyers HMS Havock and HMS Hasty were travelling in company, when the former sighted a surfaced submarine at 2,000 yards. HMS Havock opened fire, apparently hitting the submarine aft as she submerged. The destroyer followed up with a pattern of depth charges set at medium depth. This was Berillo. Her survivors related that the submarine fired a single torpedo from 800 metres, followed by another pair at the same distance. All three torpedoes were fired from the bow tubes and missed. The submarine went very deep and the depth charges exploded above her. HMS Hasty then joined the attack. In all, nine patterns were released, five from Hasty at 0431 (5), 0437.5 (5), 0446 (1), 0502 (5) and 0514 hours (4), and another 15 depth-charges from HMS Havock, for a total of 35 depth charges. At 0546 hours, the submarine was sighted breaking surface about 800 yards from HMS Hasty who immediately opened fire, scoring two 4.7" direct hits, one putting the submarine's deck gun out of action. After 16 rounds, fire was checked as the crew was seen to abandoning ship as the submarine sank. HMS Havock also fired five salvoes and had expended a total of 4.7" rounds. Two ratings had been killed. Five officers (including T.V. Camillo Milesi Ferretti) and forty ratings were picked up. | ||||||||
11 entries. 11 total patrol entries (4 marked as war patrols) and 2 events.