Submarine Torricelli

[John Brown]

On 23rd June 1940, after being damaged in an action off Djibouti, the Italian submarine ‘Torricelli’ was engaged again by a far superior British Force. Unable to submerge, the Italians chose to fight it out on the surface against the destroyers ‘Khartoum’, ‘Kandahar’ and ‘Kingston’ together with the sloops ‘Shoreham’ and ‘Indus’.

‘Khartoum’ was hit by a 100 mm shell which caused damage to one of her torpedoes. A resulting fire started about 5 hours later which could not be contained. The ship was therefore beached on Perim Island in the Red Sea. Thirty five minutes into the action the submarine was hit on her conning tower causing much damage and wounding her CO Lt-Commander Pelosi. Soon afterwards, Pelosi ordered the boat to be scuttled.

From the Italian perspective, this was a quite remarkable action. Faced by an enemy force of 5 warships Pelosi had chosen to pit his single 100mm and four 13.2 mm guns against 18 x 4.7 inchers, 4 x 4 inchers and a multitude of smaller weapons. Not only did the ‘Torricelli’ take on the British force but she actually fired the first shot and hit the ‘Shoreham’ with her second, forcing her from the fight. The submarine did fire off all her torpedoes forcing the enemy to take evasive action and so prolonged the fight.

The British fired 700 4 inch and 4.7 inch rounds to achieve one hit and were so impressed with the Italians actions that they picked up the survivors and honoured Pelosi and his officers at a formal dinner. One British officer made the following toast….."though we were five to one, we were able neither to sink you, nor capture you, nor force you to surrender".


John

[harry.gibbon]

Camperdown closes with Torricelli circa 1960-61:-

My notes indicate that this was the Torricelli to which we had to transfer an urgently sought small package, during an exercise in the Med.

Little h

[Commodore Armiger]

Since the Torricelli was scuttled on 23 June 1940 at the end of the action related in the original post, Harry Gibbon's transfer must have been to Evangelista Torricelli - S512 - (ex USS Lizardfish- SS373 , transferred to Italy January 1960).

Torricelli and Evangelista Torricelli are names that recur often in the Italian submarine service. He was an Italian scientist in the 17th century who invented the barometer and gave the first scientific explanation of winds.

[harry.gibbon]

The missing pic's:-

This is what should have appeared with my posting..Sorry!!!

Little h

[Vince O'Hara]

The case of Torricelli is a little mysterious. The Italian version is that a splinter from one of the submarine's shells detonated one of Khartoum's torpedoes and caused the fire which ultimately sank the destroyer. The British report is that Torricelli didn't hit anything and that at 1150, five and a half hours after the submarine sank, a torpedo in the sub's aft quintuple mount suddenly exploded. I can't think of any other instance during the war of a torpedo suddenly detonating like that (which doesn't mean it never happened. Can anyone cite other examples?). A good article about the "mystery" is R.F. Channon "Red Sea Incident" Naval Review (October 1994)

Vince

[tinduck]

I recall reading of similar incident on a RN destroyer in Sydney in 1944/45, I'll see if I can locate the source, possibly its in John English's Obdurate to Daring. IIRC in Khartoum's loss and the Sydney incident the torpedo air receiver was corroded and failed catastrophically propelling the warhead into the aft superstructure and a severe fire ensured.

Wasn't the Maille Breze lost to a torpedo warhead fire?

Dave

[CGRET]

The submarine in post #4 was a Guppy IIA conversion.

Regards
Charles

[tinduck]

I found the reference in the above book, page 98. The destroyer Kempenfelt was lying in Sydney on 29/11/45, "her midships structure was extensively damaged by a torpedo explosion; probably caused by an air vessel exploding."

I then read Chris Langtree's book 'The Kellys' pgs 106-107, for his account of Khartoums loss, I was wrong about the fire cause, this was due to an oil fire after the warhead cut pipes from a gravity tank on no.3 gun deck, the warhead caused considerably other damage as it was blown completely through the after deckhouse! The loss caused the Admiralty considerable concern and an investigation ensued, damage from the Torricelli was ruled out as the nearest shell had landed well past the ship and she had not been hit by any splinters, sabotage from the POWs off Toricelli was also ruled out. Attention then focused on the torpedoes, her torpedo officer had landed them in Devonport in March 1940 as he had been concerned over pitting on the air vessels but after examination they had been declared safe and reembarked. It seems the torpedo was salvaged as an examination revealed a split in the vessel, suggesting a flaw in the casing as cause. As a precaution air pressure was reduced to 2900psi from 3100psi (presumably this means fleet wide).

In a footnote he states that exploding air vessels were a problem that occured throughout the war, with Newfoundland, Partridge, and Tjerk Hiddes being affected as well as some torpedoes intended for Quality.

Hope the above is interesting

Dave

[Vegaskip]

I seem to remember that a French destroyer fired a torpedo into herself in the clyde off Greenock during ww2, I cant remember her name or any other details, but remember a photo of her on fire.

[patroclus]

The KHARTOUM had not been hit by gunfire from the TORRICELLI and remained on patrol in the straits alone. An officer on board another destroyed of the flotilla (which later took on board many of KHARTOUM's crew) described the cause and effect of KHARTOUM's loss as follows:

"The compressed air vessel in one of her torpedoes had exploded..... With the tubes in the fore and aft position, the warhead containing 300 lbs of Amatol, was driven through the after superstructure and into the oil-fired galley. The warhead did not explode because it was not armed, but a serious fire started. In the middle of the fire lay the warhead and below it were the magazines for the after guns. When KHARTOUM's captain realised that the fire was out of control he decided to beach the ship in the little harbour of Perim, once a coaling station on the route to India.........The crew mustered on the fo'c'sle, heads down, bottoms up. There was a colossal explosion which blew the stern clear away, miraculously causing only one casualty".

[colombamike]

I seem to remember that a French destroyer fired a torpedo into herself in the clyde off Greenock during ww2, I cant remember her name or any other details, but remember a photo of her on fire.

French destroyer "maillé breze", april 1940.

[kc]

I seem to remember that a French destroyer fired a torpedo into herself in the clyde off Greenock during ww2, I cant remember her name or any other details, but remember a photo of her on fire.


Yes, as said above, the Maille Breze, extensively discussed in another thread: http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1909

There's even a photo of the incident, incredibly.