Cobalto (CB)
Cobalto

Type	Coastal / Sea going
Class	Platino 1 (24)
Laid down	26 Nov 1940	Odero-Terni-Orlando, Muggiano
Launched	20 Aug 1941
Commissioned	18 Mar 1942
End service
Stricken
Loss date	12 Aug 1942
Loss position	37° 39'N, 10° 00'E
History
Fate	Rammed and sunk on 12th August 1942 north of Bizerta, Tunisia, in position 37°39'N, 10°00'E after being forced to the surface by depth charges from the destroyers HMS Ithuriel and HMS Pathfinder. It was HMS Ithuriel which rammed Cobalto after she had surfaced.

Commands

Commander	Date from	Date to	Command notes
C.C. Giulio Chialamberto	18 Jan 1942	17 Feb 1942
S.T.V. Stelio Giorguli	17 Feb 1942	26 Feb 1942
T.V. Raffaele Amicarelli	26 Feb 1942	12 Aug 1942

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

	Commander	Date	Time	Port	Arr. date	Arr. time	Arr. port	Miles	Description
		1 Oct 1941		La Spezia	1 Oct 1941	1455	La Spezia		Exercises or trials.
		3 Nov 1941	0905	La Spezia	3 Nov 1941	1610	La Spezia		Exercises.
		6 Nov 1941	0915	La Spezia	6 Nov 1941	1600	La Spezia		Exercises.
		20 Nov 1941	0900	La Spezia	20 Nov 1941	1420	La Spezia		Exercises with the destroyer Premuda and MAS 525.
		25 Nov 1941	0900	La Spezia	25 Nov 1941	1635	La Spezia		Exercises with the submarines H 1, H 6 and Colonna and escorted by the torpedo boat La Masa and MAS 510.
		23 Dec 1941	0915	La Spezia	23 Dec 1941	1705	La Spezia		Exercises with with the submarines H 6 and Colonna, escorted by the destroyer Premuda, MAS 505, MAS 510 and the auxiliaries Capodistria and Crotone.
		5 Jan 1942	0900	La Spezia	5 Jan 1942	1250	La Spezia		Exercises, escorted by MAS 505.
		12 Jan 1942	0915	La Spezia	12 Jan 1942	1340	La Spezia		Exercises, escorted by MAS 505.
		17 Jan 1942	1010	La Spezia	17 Jan 1942	1620	La Spezia		Exercises.
	Chialamberto, Giulio	19 Jan 1942	0935	La Spezia	19 Jan 1942	1645	La Spezia		Exercises, escorted by the auxiliaries Capodistria and Favignana.
	Chialamberto, Giulio	22 Jan 1942	0855	La Spezia	22 Jan 1942	1635	La Spezia		Exercises with the submarine Acciaio, escorted by the auxiliaries Mesco and Favignana and MAS 505.
	Giorguli, Stelio	17 Feb 1942		La Spezia	26 Feb 1942		La Spezia		Fitting out.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	18 Mar 1942		La Spezia	18 Mar 1942		La Spezia	5	Entered service.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	17 Apr 1942	0916	La Spezia	17 Apr 1942	1119	La Spezia	5	Trials.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	17 Apr 1942	1452	La Spezia	17 Apr 1942	1710	La Spezia	3	Entered dock.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	22 Apr 1942	1425	La Spezia	22 Apr 1942	1634	La Spezia	2	Left dock and exercises.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	18 May 1942	0835	La Spezia	18 May 1942	1714	La Spezia	43	Trials and exercises with the submarine Nichelio escorted by MAS 509.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	20 May 1942	0800	La Spezia	20 May 1942	1742	La Spezia	54	Exercises with the submarine Rismondo.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	22 May 1942	0800	La Spezia	22 May 1942	1705	La Spezia	51	Trials and exercises.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	23 May 1942	0838	La Spezia	23 May 1942	1450	La Spezia	45	Trials and exercises escorted by MAS 567.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	23 May 1942	1900	La Spezia	23 May 1942	1931	La Spezia	2	Entered dock.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	11 Jun 1942	1340	La Spezia	11 Jun 1942	1425	La Spezia	1	Left dock.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	15 Jun 1942	0856	La Spezia	15 Jun 1942	1738	La Spezia	57	Trials and exercises.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	16 Jun 1942	1449	La Spezia	16 Jun 1942	1850	La Spezia	4	Gyrocompass tests.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	17 Jun 1942	0945	Cagliari	17 Jun 1942	1638	La Spezia	4	Gyrocompass tests.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	19 Jun 1942	0844	La Spezia	19 Jun 1942	1833	La Spezia	55	Trials and exercises.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	22 Jun 1942	0755	La Spezia	22 Jun 1942	1723	La Spezia	57	Exercises.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	24 Jun 1942	2017	La Spezia	25 Jun 1942	0042	La Spezia	32	Exercises.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	28 Jun 1942	1102	La Spezia	29 Jun 1942	2110	Cagliari	356	Passage La Spezia-Cagliari.
	Amicarelli, Raffaele	6 Jul 1942	0825	Cagliari	6 Jul 1942	1753	Cagliari	54	Exercises.
1	Amicarelli, Raffaele	15 Jul 1942	0225	Cagliari	30 Jul 1942	0944	Cagliari	1656	Patrolled off Bizerta, in zone K.1 between Cani Rocks and La Galite. Was armed with G7e torpedoes.
		15 Jul 1942	1705		At 1705 hours, Cobalto was informed of a cruiser sighted at 1600 hours, in 37°15' N, 08°35' E, on an easterly course at 25 knots. At that time, the submarine was 30 miles to the NE of this position. The submarine altered course to intercept until sighting an aircraft at 1906 hours.
		17 Jul 1942	1906		At 1906 hours, an aircraft was seen and the submarine dived.
		19 Jul 1942	1025	(0) Off Cape Ras El Ahmar (Tunisia).	At 1025 hours, a vessel was sighted at a distance of 14,000 metres and initially believed to be a cruiser. The submarine readied three torpedo tubes (with G7e torpedoes) for attack but, upon closing, it was realised this was the wreck of HMS Havock and the attack aborted.
		21 Jul 1942	0240	37° 41'N, 9° 37'E	At 0240 hours, The Italian steamer Perseo (4,857 GRT, built 1921) was sighted. Cobalto turned away.
		26 Jul 1942	1702	37° 42'N, 9° 30'E	At 1702 hours, an Italian steamer Agata (2,282 GRT, built 1901). At 1924 hours,Cobalto closed to attack at a distance of 800 meters, but turned away upon identifying the ship.
2	Amicarelli, Raffaele	11 Aug 1942	1800	Cagliari	12 Aug 1942	1654 or 1702	Sunk	110	Sailed for patrol between 37°20'N and 38°00'N, and between 09°40'E and 10°00'E. Sunk north off Bizerta by the British destroyers HMS Pathfinder and HMS Ithuriel in 37°41'N, 10°00'E or 37°39'N, 10°00'E. Of her crew of five officers and thirty-nine ratings, one officer and one rating were killed.
		12 Aug 1942	1619 (e)	(0) 37.39N, 10.00E	At 1619 hours, the destroyer HMS Pathfinder was stationed on the port bow of Force F (the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable and other ships of the PEDESTAL convoy), when she obtained an ASDIC contact at range of 1,500 metres. At 1623 hours, she dropped a pattern of ten depth charges set at 50 and 140 feet. This was Cobalto and she went down to 180 meters to escape, with water pouring in her stern section so she was brought up again. At 1643 hours, the destroyer HMS Ithuriel, who was stationed about 6 miles astern of HMS Pathfinder, sighted a periscope and then, for about 10 seconds, the conning tower broke surface. She was about 1,500 yards away and raced toward it at 24 knots and obtained an ASDIC echo at 900 yards. Speed was reduced to 18 knots and five depth charges dropped set at 50 feet. HMS Ithuriel was about to make a second run, when the submarine surfaced with a heavy list at 1,200 yards. The submarine's gun crew could not man their weapon and the stern tubes had been damaged. The destroyer opened fire at a range of 1,000 yards, scoring two 4.7" hits on the conning tower. The U-boat was being abandoned as HMS Ithuriel rammed her at 12 knots. The destroyer only gave the submarine a glancing blow and was herself damaged in the process. She came back astern and put a boarding party aboard the submarine, but it sank before they could get inside. Cobalto had a crew of five officers and thirty-nine ratings. One officer and one rating were killed. T.V. Raffaele Amicarelli and the remainder were picked up.

36 entries. 32 total patrol entries (2 marked as war patrols) and 6 events.

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