Italian submarines in World War Two
Italian Commanders
Leone Fiorentini
| Born | 24 Jan 1916 | Leghorn | |
| Died | 19 Feb 1943 | (27) | Killed in action |
| Ranks
Decorations
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Career information
ASTERIA (T.V. First Officer): from 01.04.1942 to June 1942+.AVORIO (T.V. C.O.): from 29.01.1943 to 09.02.1943 (sunk, Fiorentini was killed. He had replaced T.V. Priggione who was sick).
Commands listed for Leone Fiorentini
| Submarine | Type | Rank | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avorio (AV) | Coastal / Sea going | T.V. | 29 Jan 1943 | 9 Feb 1943 |
Ships hit by Leone Fiorentini
No ships hit by this Commander.War patrols listed for Leone Fiorentini
| Submarine | Date | Time | Port | Arr. date | Arr. time | Arr. port | Miles | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Avorio (AV) | 6 Feb 1943 | 1340 | Cagliari | 9 Feb 1943 | 0510 | Sunk | Sailed for patrol between 37°40'N and the African coast and between 06°20'E and 06°40'E. Sunk off Bougie by HMCS Regina. One officer and twenty-six ratings were picked up, twenty were killed or missing (three officers including Fiorentini, the First Lieutenant and seventeen ratings). At 2320/8, the submarine sighted Regina, who was escorting stragglers of the M.K.S.8 convoy, when she was only 600 meters away. Avorio crash-dived but was depth-charged at 2323 and forced to surface. After a brief attempt at resistance (only a few MG rounds could be fired), she was abandoned. A tug took her in tow, but she sank at 0510 in 37°13'N, 06°41'E. | |
| 8 Feb 1943 | 0015A | At 0015A hours, the minesweeper HMS Rothesay escorting LSTs, attacked a U-boat. This was believed to have been Avorio. | |||||||
| 8 Feb 1943 | 2310 | (e) 37° 13'N, 6° 41'E | At 2310 hours, the corvette HMCS Regina, escorting a convoy, detected a submarine by radar at a range of 6,200 yards. She closed the range but briefly lost contact as the submarine submerged and regained it by ASDIC at 2317 hours when she was only 600 metres distant. This was Avorio and she had crash-dived. At 2323 hours, Regina dropped a pattern of ten depth charges set at shallow depth. The submarine was then observed trying to escape on the surface and the corvette opened fire with two bridge oerlikons soon joined by the 4" gun. The submarine replied with a twin Breda machine-gun but was soon silenced and abandoned. At 0345 hours on the 9th, the tug Jaunty took her in tow but she sank at 0510 hours. One officer and twenty-six ratings were picked up. Twenty were killed or missing: three officers including T.V. Leone Fiorentin and the First Officer and seventeen ratings. A number of documents were recovered from this submarine which helped British Intelligence have a pretty accurate view of Italian submarine operations in January 1943. | ||||||
2 entries. 1 total patrol entries (1 marked as war patrols) and 2 events.