Granito (GR)
Granito

Type	Coastal / Sea going
Class	Platino 1 (24)
Laid down	9 Nov 1940	Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone
Launched	7 Aug 1941
Commissioned	3 Jan 1942
End service
Stricken
Loss date	9 Nov 1942
Loss position	38° 34'N, 12° 09'E
History
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk on 9th November 1942 about 40 nautical miles North-West of Capo San Vito, Sicily, Italy in position 38°34'N, 12°09'E by the submarine HMS P 247.

Commands

Commander	Date from	Date to	Command notes
C.C. Benedetto Luchetti	3 Jan 1942	28 Feb 1942
C.C. Emilio Gariazzo	1 Mar 1942	19 May 1942
T.V. Leo Sposito	20 May 1942	17 Aug 1942
T.V. Leo Sposito	23 Aug 1942	9 Nov 1942

Ships hit

No ships hit by this submarine.

Patrols and events

	Commander	Date	Time	Port	Arr. date	Arr. time	Arr. port	Miles	Description
		28 Nov 1941	0730	Pola	28 Nov 1941	1840	Pola		Trials, escorted by San Giorgio.
		1 Jan 1942		Monfalcone	1 Jan 1942		Monfalcone		Entered service.
	Luchetti, Benedetto	27 Jan 1942	0950	Monfalcone	27 Jan 1942	1840	Pola	108	Passage Monfalcone-Pola and trials.
	Luchetti, Benedetto	28 Jan 1942	0915	Pola	28 Jan 1942	1825	Monfalcone	108	Passage Pola-Monfalcone and trials.
	Luchetti, Benedetto	13 Feb 1942	0951	Monfalcone	13 Feb 1942	1737	Monfalcone	86,8	Trials.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	7 Apr 1942	0921	Monfalcone	7 Apr 1942	1500	Monfalcone	25	Exercises.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	9 Apr 1942	0912	Monfalcone	9 Apr 1942	1352	Monfalcone	25	Exercises.
	Gariazzo, Emilio	23 Apr 1942	0900	Monfalcone	23 Apr 1942	1520	Monfalcone	18	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	23 May 1942	0910	Monfalcone	23 May 1942	1430	Monfalcone	36	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	29 May 1942	0750	Monfalcone	29 May 1942	1315	Venice	73	Passage Monfalcone-Venice.
	Sposito, Leo	30 May 1942	0847	Venice	30 May 1942	1225	Venice	15	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	3 Jun 1942	0827	Venice	3 Jun 1942	1510	Pola	79,5	Passage Venice-Pola.
	Sposito, Leo	5 Jun 1942	1027	Pola	5 Jun 1942	1540	Pola	24	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	6 Jun 1942	1052	Pola	6 Jun 1942	1942	Pola	11	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	8 Jun 1942	1238	Pola	8 Jun 1942	1729	Pola	12	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	9 Jun 1942	0659	Pola	9 Jun 1942	1935	Pola	3	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	10 Jun 1942	0730	Pola	10 Jun 1942	1540	Monfalcone	80	Passage Pola-Monfalcone.
	Sposito, Leo	17 Jun 1942	1325	Monfalcone	17 Jun 1942	1926	Pola	75	Passage Monfalcone-Pola.
	Sposito, Leo	18 Jun 1942	0521	Pola	18 Jun 1942	2005	Pola	176	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	25 Jun 1942	0740	Pola	25 Jun 1942	2135	Pola	130	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	28 Jun 1942	1347	Pola	1 Jul 1942	1150	Naples	868	Passage Pola-Naples, in company with the submarine Avorio. Uneventful.
	Sposito, Leo	3 Jul 1942	0810	Naples	3 Jul 1942	1620	Naples	25	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	4 Jul 1942	0810	Naples	4 Jul 1942	1609	Naples	40	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	5 Jul 1942	0815	Naples	5 Jul 1942	1410	Naples	25	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	8 Jul 1942	0615	Naples	8 Jul 1942	1325	Naples	25	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	9 Jul 1942	0817	Naples	9 Jul 1942	1508	Naples	38	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	11 Jul 1942	1434	Naples	11 Jul 1942	1805	Naples	38	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	12 Jul 1942	0805	Naples	12 Jul 1942	1442	Naples	22	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	13 Jul 1942	0922	Naples	13 Jul 1942	1620	Naples	28	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	15 Jul 1942	0815	Naples	15 Jul 1942	1614	Naples	50	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	16 Jul 1942	0915	Naples	16 Jul 1942	1610	Naples	33	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	17 Jul 1942	0810	Naples	17 Jul 1942	1800	Naples	45	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	19 Jul 1942	0625	Naples	19 Jul 1942	2300	Naples	50	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	20 Jul 1942	0910	Naples	20 Jul 1942	2016	Naples	35	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	21 Jul 1942	0819	Naples	21 Jul 1942	1518	Naples	30	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	23 Jul 1942	0815	Naples	23 Jul 1942	1600	Naples	30	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	24 Jul 1942	0906	Naples	24 Jul 1942	1600	Naples	35	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	25 Jul 1942	0832	Naples	25 Jul 1942	1750	Naples	30	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	27 Jul 1942	1405	Naples	27 Jul 1942	2330	Naples	45	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	28 Jul 1942	0800	Naples	28 Jul 1942	1530	Naples	40	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	29 Jul 1942	1657	Naples	30 Jul 1942	1820	Naples	105	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	3 Aug 1942	0540	Naples	3 Aug 1942	1530	Naples	56	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	4 Aug 1942	0910	Naples	5 Aug 1942	1010	Cagliari	290	Passage Naples-Cagliari.
1	Sposito, Leo	5 Aug 1942	2106	Cagliari	15 Aug 1942	0845	Cagliari	700,5	Patrolled north coast of Tunisia, between 37°20'N and 37°50'N, and between 09°40'E and 10°00'E, with Velella in an adjacent area to intercept enemy convoy.
		12 Aug 1942	1238	37° 22'N, 9° 55'E	At 1238 hours, Granito went down to 45 metres for a hydrophone watch, after listening to radio communications. Noises from two vessels were picked up and she was returning to periscope depth when at a depth of 20 metres she was suddenly depth charged. Because of the flat sea, T.V. Leo Sposito assumed he had been previously seen and brought his submarine down to 60 metres and shut the electric motors. At 1453 hours, the ASDIC pings were heard and again at 1620 hours. Granito went down to 96 metres before retuning to 60 metres. At 1838 hours, depth charges were heard and continued until 2130 hours with a total of 301 counted [note: these most certainly included bombs on the convoy which was under air attack].
		14 Aug 1942	0451 0500 (e)	37° 15'N, 9° 40'E	At 0434 hours, information was received of a naval force reported off Cape Bon at 0143 hours. At 0447 hours, three shapes were observed moving westward, the two closest were at a distance of about 4,000 metres. At 0451 hours, at a range of slightly less than 2,000 metres, T.V. Sposito ordered the firing of two bow torpedoes (533mm), but only one left the tube as the bow cap of the other other tube had not been opened in time. The torpedo was aimed at a target believed to be a battleship, but missed. Four destroyers could now be seen on the starboard flank. The target was the light cruiser HMS Kenya. At 0452 hours, a pair of torpedoes were fired at a second target, believed to be a cruiser of the LONDON class. One explosion was heard. The target was the destroyer HMS Ashanti and she was missed. At 0453 hours, the submarine had turned to fire a pair of stern torpedoes aimed at the first target and dived upon firing. After 60 seconds two explosions were heard, leading Sposito to believe that both torpedoes had hit. HMS Kenya was actually missed and attempted to ram the submarine but Granito was inside her turning circle and dived before any attempt could be completed. Despite the hits claimed, the Italian High Command concluded that the attacks missed as two cruisers had been located in this area by air reconnaissance, one FIJI and the other of the DIDO class and both appeared undamaged. Later, when they reached Gibraltar, it was reported that the FIJI class had been hit in the bow.
2	Gorini, Alberto	18 Aug 1942	0500	Cagliari	19 Aug 1942	1540	Trapani	264	Patrolled north coast of Tunisia to intercept enemy convoy between 37°20'N and 37°50'N, and between 09°20'E and 10°20'E, but then recalled.
		18 Aug 1942	0900	(0) Off Cavoli Island (Sardinia).	At 0900 hours, an Italian tanker was sighted on a northerly course [this was Perseo proceeding from Tunisia to Cagliari]. At 0915 hours, two torpedo hits were heard and a long column of smoke was sighted and it was assumed that the tanker had been hit [she had been torpedoed by HMS P 211].
	Gorini, Alberto	21 Aug 1942	2250	Trapani	22 Aug 1942	1650	Cagliari	220	Passage Trapani-Cagliari.
	Sposito, Leo	3 Sep 1942	1325	Cagliari	3 Sep 1942	1630	Cagliari	20	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	13 Sep 1942	2000	Cagliari	15 Sep 1942	0708	Augusta	366	Passage Cagliari-Trapani.
	Sposito, Leo	29 Sep 1942	0835	Augusta	29 Sep 1942	1220	Augusta	20	Exercises.
	Sposito, Leo	5 Oct 1942	0850	Augusta	5 Oct 1942	1225	Augusta	20	Exercises.
3	Sposito, Leo	3 Nov 1942	0530	Augusta	5 Nov 1942	1030	Tobruk		Transport mission (benzine and German ammunition, 22.436 tons) to Tobruk. At 2100 hours on the 4th, she was due to pass through 34°02'N, 23°02'E.
3b	Sposito, Leo	5 Nov 1942	1600	Tobruk	8 Nov 1942	0735	Augusta		Return trip from supply mission.
4	Sposito, Leo	8 Nov 1942	1555	Augusta	9 Nov 1942	1545 (UK)	Sunk with all hands		Sailed through (1) Point M2 (2) 38°55'N, 15°12'E (3) 38°40'N, 13°10'E (4) 38°40'N, 12°00'E, for patrol off Bougie in Grid 5136. Passed Messina at 2125 hours on the 8th. Sunk in 38°34'N, 12°09'E (near Cape San Vito) by HMS P 247 (later named HMS Saracen). Five officers and forty-one ratings lost, no survivors.
		9 Nov 1942	1544.5 (e)	38° 34'N, 12° 09'E	At 1539 hours, the submarine HMS P 247 (Lieutenant M.S.R. Lumby, RN) (later named HMS Saracen sighted an Italian submarine bearing 115° at 2,200 yards. steering 270° at 9 knots. At 1544.5 hours, four torpedoes were fired at intervals of 6 seconds at a range of 800 yards. Three loud explosions at 6 seconds intervals were heard. At 1546 hours, a periscope look found no submarine. This was Granito and there were no survivors. T.V. Leo Sposito, four officers and forty-one ratings perished.

54 entries. 53 total patrol entries (4 marked as war patrols) and 4 events.

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