Destroyers Da Verrazzano, Usodimare, Pessagno and Tarigo

[LColombo]

Hello everybody, does anyone know, about the following Navigatori-class destroyers:
1) Luca Tarigo, sunk in the battle of Tarigo convoy on 16 April 1941
2) Antoniotto Usodimare, accidentally torpedoed and sunk by the submarine Alagi ("friendly fire") on 8 June 1942
3) Giovanni Da Verrazzano, torpedoed and sunk by the HMS Unbending on 19 October 1942
4) Emanuele Pessagno, torpedoed and sunk by the HMS Turbulent on 29 May 1942

...who were their commanding officers at the time of the loss; if they survived or not the sinking of their ship; how many were the casualties and the survivors among their crews? I have only found that the CO of the Tarigo was Commander Pietro De Cristofaro, he was killed and was postumously awarded the MOVM, and that 8 of the 11 Tarigo's officers died; and that out of the Pessagno's crew the CO, another officer, 10 petty officers and 74 ratings were saved (so most of the crew perished, but I don't know how many, neither I know the name of the CO).

Moreover, can anybody confirm or correct what follows about four other Navigatori (Information that I found here and there on Internet):
1)   Da Noli: 218 or 228 casuaties (218, or 228?), including the CO, and 39 survivors
2)   Pancaldo: 156 casualties and 123 survivors (the latter including the CO), and, what about the German troops the ship was carrying when she was sunk?
3)   Da Mosto: 138 casualties and 135 survivors (the latter including the CO)
4)   Vivaldi: quite confusing here. Somewhere I found 58 casualties and 240 survivors, somewhere else 90 casualties (56 dead and 34 missing) and 190 survivors. What happened to the survivors of the Vivaldi was quite a mess – the source which gives 90 casualties and 190 survivors states: 23 saved by a German seaplane, 2 or 13 killed when three other German seaplanes which were rescuing/had rescued them were strafed by American planes, 47, together with the crews of the destroyed German seaplanes, picked up by a German guard ship on 11 September 1943, 2 or 4 saved by an American seaplane, 44 both from Vivaldi and Da Noli (but how could this have been possible, given that the two ships had been sunk several dozens of miles away from each other?) picked up by HMS Sportsman on 12 September , seven more rescued by the MZ 780 on 16 September and brought to Mahon, and 89 managed to reach Spanish land (how?).

Thanks

[de domenico]

PESSAGNO: cap. freg. Dallai, surivived with 85 others.
DA VERAZZANO: cap. freg. Carlo Rossi.
USODIMARE: cap. freg. Merini, survived with 134 others.

[de domenico]

PANCALDO, cap. freg. Ferrieri Caputi, 124 fatalities out of 280 on board (including German troops).
DA MOSTO, cap. freg. Francesco  Dell'Anno.
VIVALDI,, cap. vasc. Camicia, 60 fatalities (40 in combat and the others during the sinking and later events).
DA NOLI, cap. freg. Pio Valdambrini.
Source: Maurizio Brescia, "Cacciatorpediniere classe 'NAVIGATORI'", E. Albertelli, 1995.

[LColombo]

Hello dedomenico and thanks. Do you have any data such as those (survivor, fatalities, COs and whether they survived or not) also about any of the following ships? (They're a lot, I know, but if and when you may have time and will...)

Destroyers Lampo at her first sinking at the battle of the Tarigo convoy (CO was CC E. Marano but I do not know if he survived or not, nor I know how many were the fatalities and survivors; at her second sinking her CO was CC Loris Albanese who, I think, survived, and I can't understand if there were 60 fatalities out of 213 on board or 60 fatalities and 213 survivors); Baleno (CO CC Giuseppe Arnaud whom I believe was killed; again, no information on victims and survivors); Artigliere (CO CV Carlo Margottini who died; I found, 100 survivors including 22 POWs, and I found no information about the fatalities); Cesare Battisti, Pantera, Tigre, Leone, Lubiana, Strale; Daniele Manin (CO CF Araldo Fadin, survived; fatalities and survivors?); Espero (CO CV Enrico Baroni, who died; survivors I found either 43, 47, 53 or 57 overall, with no information about the fatalities); Euro (CO CF Vittorio Meneghini, survived but later executed by the Germans for having fought against them in Lero; I don't know anything about victims and survivors); Francesco Nullo (CO CC Costantino Borsini, died; 106 survivors; fatalities?); Alpino; Freccia; Geniere; Vincenzo Gioberti (CO Franco Zampari, I believe he survived)

Torpedo boats Airone (CC Alberto Banfi, survived; 84 survivors, fatalities?), Ariel (TV Mario Ruta, killed; 41 survivors, casualties?), Albatros (torpedo boat/subchaser), Antares, Canopo (CC Gino del Pin, survived), Centauro, Cigno (CC Carlo Maccaferri, survived; I found 103 but can't understand if victims or survivors), Confienza, Francesco Stocco, Enrico Cosenz, Ghibli, Giacomo Medici, Giuseppe Sirtori, Angelo Bassini, Groppo, Monsone, Pallade, Pleiadi, Perseo (CC Saverio Marotta, killed; 67 survivors and 130 fatalities?), Polluce, Simone Schiaffino (CC Riccardo Argentino killed, 36 survivors, fatalities?), T 8, Vega (CC Giuseppe Fontana, perished; 2, 5 or 6 survivors? and casualties?)

Corvettes Gazzella and Cicogna

AMCs Attilio Deffenu, Adriatico (CF Campagnoli, 87 survivors, fatalities?), Brioni, Capitano Cecchi, Caralis, Città di Napoli, Egitto (CC Andrea Stagnaro, survived; 26 surivors, casualties?), Lago Tana (TV Corrado Schinko, died; 5 survivors? casualties?), Lero (no casualties?), Loredan, Lorenzo Marcello, Lorenzo Marcello, Olbia, Rovigno, Piero Foscari (CC Leonarduzzi, survived; one killed?)

Plus, I found, Aviere (CV Ignazio Castrogiovanni, missing) 30 survivors and 200 fatalities, Nazario Sauro (CO?) 78 fatalities and 95 survivors, Castore (CC Mario Fasan, killed), 60 fatalities and 60 survivors, Egeo (CF Ugo Fiorelli, died) 84 fatalities and 36 survivors, is that correct?

[Ritchie]

Hi Colombo,

da Mosto sunk with 138 of her crew and 135 survivors, there were also 5 germans on bord (who worked her ASDAC Device???). 1 of those killed and 1 missing with 3 rescued.

Total Casualties 140 out of 278

More to follow, do you have questions about cruisers and battleships as well?

I'm searching about the casualties of Giulio Cesare at the Battle of Punta Stilo.

Regards

Ritchie

[LColombo]

Hello Ritchie and thanks. May I ask you what is the source for the Da Mosto casualties? You now make me wonder how many Germans may have been killed in the sinking of Italian warships - this was an issue I had not thought about (except for the ships on transport mission).

I am looking for information on casualties about nearly every incident regarding Italian ships in WWII, so also regarding battleships and cruisers, but luckily is easier to find about these larger warships. I think I have found them about every sunk cruiser except for the Bari, with possible exception for the Trento (I found 657 casualties out of 1152 on board but I am not sure this figure is correct) and Diaz (I either found 500 killed and 133 survivors or 464 fatalities out of 611 people aboard). It is instead more difficult regarding damagings - I have yet to find about how many casualties there were (if there were), for example, on the Bolzano (torpedoed on 26.8.1941 by HMS Triumph and again on 13,8.1942 by HMS Unbroken; also casualties on board when the ship was bombed in Messina in September 1941), Trieste (torpedoed by HMS Utmost on 21.11.1941), Attilio Regolo (torpedoed by HMS Unruffled on 7.11.1942), Duca degli Abruzzi (torpedoed by torpedo bombers on 21.11.1941), Muzio Attendolo (torpedoed by HMS Unbroken on 13.8.1942), Vittorio Veneto (torpedoed by torpedo bombers on 27.3.1941 and by HMS Urge on 14.12.1941) and Littorio (torpedoed by torpedo bombers on 15.6.1942).

As for the Cesare, I have found a figure of 21 killed at Punta Stilo, one for asphyxiation due to the fire that broke board after the hit, and twenty for the burns received, after arriving back to port. On this site (in Italian) you can even see a photo of a plaque with the names of the 21 men killed on board the Cesare: http://www.trentoincina.it/mostrapost.php?id=341. However I also found, somewhere else, that 70 (!) men died on the Cesare during that battle. But there was no source and honestly it seems excessive to me.

[Ritchie]

Hi Colombo,

have to dig deeper in my library at home, but i know i have the germans by name and rank.

Trento i have 406 killed and 581 survivors (first 22+100+480 rescued, but 21 Died of wounds)

Diaz lost 484 ( 13+62+406 crew and 3 airgroup) kia, only 147 rescued.

Sources will follow at weekend.

There is a picture from the funeral of 72 men lost at punta stilo in Messina. As there are 2 known from Bolzano, that leaves 70 from Cesare.

Regards

Ritchie

[LColombo]

Hello Ritchie, according to my count there were three, and not two, fatalities on the Bolzano at Punta Stilo: a pointer was killed by a splinter from a 152 mm shell which had struck no. 2 turrett's starboard gun, another man was killed by a 152 mm shell which exploded on the gun deck and wounded also 15 other men, and one of these 15 men later died of his wounds. ("Il Bolzano a Punta Stilo", "Storia Militare" April 2013)

[Ritchie]

Hi Colombo,

the german losses on da Mosto are from our forum Member Andreas B.

http://rommelsriposte.com/2009/07/15/german-antisubmarine-equipment-on-italian-vessels/

You could find his site at

http://crusaderproject.wordpress.com

Regards

Ritchie