Sommergibile Flutto 11.07.1943

[Platon Alexiades]

Hello,

 

I am in contact with an eyewitness (he was serving on MTB 651) of the action of 11 July 1943 in which the submarine Flutto may have been sunk. Can anyone tell me the antiaircraft gun armament of Flutto? I know that submarines of her class were armed with four 13mm Breda MG or two 20mm cannons. I am not sure which was the AA armament for Flutto. Many thanks.

 

Platon

[Francesco De Domenico]

Several photos of FLUTTO on sea trials in March 1943 show only one twin 13.2 mm MG mounting.

[Giuseppe Garufi]

Presumo che la foto cui si riferisce Francesco sia questa di cui pubblico un dettaglio.

 

[Giuseppe Garufi]

Trovo però dati divergenti: per il secondo volume dell'U.S.M.M. di Turrini, Miozzi, Minuto dedicato ai sommergibili italiani, il supplemento alla Rivista Marittima "Almanacco dei Sommergibili" del Turrini ed il fascicolo di Storia Militare, pure dedicato ai sommergibili italiani, di Bagnasco e Brescia,  il FLUTTO avrebbe avuto due mitragliere binate da 13,2 mm.

 

Nel volume dell'U.S.M.M. c'è (per quello che può valere) questo disegno del FLUTTO ...

 

 

... che pure sembra mostrare solo due mtg.

 

In compenso in questo disegno tratto dal fascicolo di Storia Militare si vedrebbero le 4 mtg ...

 

 

P.S.: mi scuso con Platon Alexiades se scrivo in italiano, ma non padroneggio abbastanza l'inglese.

[Platon Alexiades]

Dear Francesco and Giuseppe,

 

Many thanks for your comments. Giuseppe: you do not have to apologise for writing in Italian, it is I who should apologise for writing in English.

 

The photograph does show only a twin Breda MG 13.2mm mount. Some photos after the armistice show some submarines without apparent MG armament. Do you know if the Breda guns could be dismounted and stored easily?

 

All the best,

 

Platon

[Giuseppe Garufi]

Do you know if the Breda guns could be dismounted and stored easily?

 

 

... purtroppo non so proprio.

Vedo domattina di fare qualche ricerca in proposito.

Saluti.

[Francesco De Domenico]

Bagnasco and Cernuschi, in "Le navi da guerra italiane 1940-1945", Albertelli Editore, 2003, state that the second batch of 24 FLUTTO Class boats had two Oerlikon 20mm/55 of a new model with "disappearing" mountings. So the first batch of 12, which included FLUTTO herself,  very probably did not.

[Platon Alexiades]

Many thanks again Francesco. It seems to me that an antiaircraft armament with only 2 x 13mm MG was rather weak, especially that late in the war.

 

I noticed that most war-built Italian submarines were armed with 4 x 13mm by the summer of 1942 (see Maricosom cartella 194, "Istruttori Mitraglieri", USMM).

 

All the best,

 

Platon

[Francesco De Domenico]

Dear Platon,

 

In June 1943, Doenitz decided that no U-Boat could cross the Bay of Biscay and face the onslaught by Coastal Command aircraft if it was not armed at least with a Vierling, a quadruple 20 mm anti-aircraft mount. By October, however, even the Vierling was rejected as having insufficient stopping power and range against the Liberators, Sunderlands, Halifaxes and Fortresses deployed by the Allies in the Gulf, and replaced by a new Skoda quick-firing 37 mm single mount. Even that was not enough against the Allied mastership of the skies, and after December, 1943 the North Atlantic and Central Atlantic (US to Gibraltar) routes were finally given up by the U-Boat packs. So as you see the Marina Militare was in any case, with its twin 13.2 mm or single Breda or Oerlikon 20 mm guns, several ages behind...

[Platon Alexiades]

Dear Francesco,

 

Your remarks are duly noted. Certainly the Breda 13mm were good weapons but without sufficient stopping power and this can be seen from the lack of success in an action with an aircraft. In Flutto's action the firing of the Breda guns is described as have been effective but it did not prevent the submarine from being sunk.

 

All the best,

 

Platon