Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini

History
German submarine UIT24 in the Inland Sea, Japan, August, 1944.
Kingdom of Italy
Name:	Comandante Cappellini
Launched:	14 May 1939
Commissioned:	23 September 1939
Renamed:	Aquilla III, May 1943
Fate:	Captured by Japan, 10 September 1943, and handed over to Germany
Nazi Germany
Name:	UIT-24
Acquired:	September 1943
Fate:	Incorporated into Japanese Navy after German surrender in May 1945
Notes:	Mixed Italian/German crew
Japan
Name:	I-503
Acquired:	May 1945
Fate:	Captured by the U.S. Navy in August 1945, and scuttled, 16 April 1946
Notes:	Mixed Italian/Japanese/German crew
General characteristics
Class and type:	Marcello-class submarine
Displacement:	1,060 long tons (1,080 t) surfaced 1,313 long tons (1,334 t) submerged
Length:	73 m (239 ft 6 in)
Beam:	7.19 m (23 ft 7 in)
Draught:	5.1 m (16 ft 9 in)
Propulsion:	Diesel-electric 2 × Fiat diesel engines 2 × CRDA electric motors
Speed:	17.4 knots (32.2 km/h; 20.0 mph) surfaced 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) submerged
Complement:	58
Armament:	8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 4 stern) 2 × 3.9 in (99 mm) guns 4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns

Comandante Cappellini or Cappellini was a World War II Italian Marcello-class submarine built for the Italian Royal Navy (Italian: Regia Marina). After Italy's surrender, the submarine was captured by the Japanese and handed over to Germany as UIT-24. Following the capitulation of Germany, the Japanese integrated the boat into their fleet as I-503. Following the end of the war, the United States scuttled the submarine in 1946.

Service history

Operating under the BETASOM command, Comandante Cappellini made war patrols in the Atlantic Ocean sinking or damaging 31,000 tons of enemy shipping. She participated in the rescue of the survivors of the Laconia in September 1942. Was later converted to the transport of strategic materials to and from Japan.^[1] After Italy's capitulation in 1943, the submarine was captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy and handed over to Germany at Sabang on 10 September 1943. Commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as foreign U-boat UIT-24 and assigned to 12th U-boat Flotilla with a mixed Italian and German crew. She remained in the Pacific despite failed attempts to return to the 12th flotilla base at Bordeaux, France.

At Germany's surrender in May 1945, the submarine was taken over and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as I-503 (its crew now a mixture of Italians, Germans, and Japanese) and shuttled between ports as a transport submarine. At Japan's surrender in August 1945, she was seized by the United States Navy, which scuttled her off Kobe on 16 April 1946.

In fiction

Cappellini is mentioned (and seen briefly in some scenes) in the 2011 TV movie The Sinking of the Laconia.

References

↑ Rössler, Eberhard (2003). Die deutschen U-Kreuzer und Transport-U-Boote. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 3-7637-6246-9.

Bibliography

Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II : a biographical dictionary. Translated by Brooks, Geoffrey. London, Annapolis, Md: Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-186-6.
Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. German Warships 1815–1945. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.
Bagnasco, Erminio (1977). Submarines of World War Two. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN 1-85409-532-3.

External links

Marcello-class submarines

Barbarigo Comandante Cappellini Comandante Faà di Bruno Dandolo Emo Marcello Mocenigo Morosini Nani Provana Veniero

Foreign U-boats of the Kriegsmarine

U-A U-B UC-1 UC-2 UD1- U-D2 UD-3 UD-4 UD-5 UF-1 UF-2 UF-3 UIT-22 UIT-23 UIT-24 UIT-25

List of U-boats of Germany

Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1946

Shipwrecks	1 Jan: USS Dorsey 2 Jan: U-516, U-2502 3 Jan: Empire Tigachi, U-825, U-2336, U-2351 5 Jan: U-541, U-901, U-2506 6 Jan: U-1109, U-2356 7 Jan: U-1010, U-1023, U-2511 8 Jan: HMS Safari 14 Jan: USS Snowbell, USS Southard 28 Jan: Bluenose January (unknown date): Akagi Maru 2 Feb: U-764 3 Feb: I-505 5 Feb: U-1228 10 Feb: U-975 12 Feb: I-501, U-3514 14 Feb: Fulham VII 15 Feb: I-502, I-506 February (unknown date): U-1197 1 Mar: Sackett's Harbor 4 Mar: USS Extricate 11 Mar: USS Roche 16 Mar: Karl Leonhardt 26 Mar: Z34 1 Apr: I-58, I-156, I-157, I-158, I-159, I-402 4 Apr: USS S-35 5 Apr: I-202 8 Apr: USS Despatch 9 Apr: Empire Bridge 16 Apr: I-503, I-504 21 Apr: Empire Christopher 30 Apr: RO-500, USS Solar, HMS Stubborn, HMAS Tolga 8 May: I-153, I-154, I-155 14 May: USS Bellona 23 May: I-201 24 May: DD-224 (ex-USS Stewart) 28 May: I-14 31 May: I-401 4 Jun: I-400, Kunashiri 7 Jun: Kamikaze 8 Jun: Myōkō 9 Jun: USS Solar 1 Jul: USS Anderson, USS Carlisle, USS Gilliam, USS Lamson, Sakawa 25 Jul: USS Apogon, USS Arkansas, USS LSM-60, USS Pilotfish, USS Saratoga, USS Skipjack 30 Jul: Nagato 2 Aug: Empire Cross 19 Sep: Ohio 17 Oct: HMAS Waree 19 Oct: Takao 13 Nov: U-977 20 Nov: Albany 27 Nov: Lasknes 2 Dec: HMCS Middlesex 8 Dec: Liberté, HMS Saltburn 16 Dec: Leipzig, Z29 22 Dec: Prinz Eugen 26 Dec: USAT Brigadier General M. G. Zalinski 31 Dec: Monte Pascoal, Schwabenland

Other incidents	14 Feb: Alfred Victory 8 May: HMS Orion (Corfu Channel incident), HMS Superb (Corfu Channel incident) 15 May: HMS Diomede 1 Jul: Prinz Eugen 25 Jul: Nagato ,Prinz Eugen Jul: Patrick Henry 22 Oct: HMS Mauritius (Corfu Channel incident), HMS Leander (Corfu Channel incident);HMS Saumarez (Corfu Channel incident), HMS Volage (Corfu Channel incident) 12 Nov: HMS Ocean (Corfu Channel incident) 8 Dec: Empire Eden

1945 1947 December 1945

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