The Italian Navy receives limited attention among World War II aficionados, but one ship of particular interest is the Luigi Torelli.
The Torelli, launched in 1940, was one of the few success stories of the Italian submarine command, and in fact, accomplished the remarkable feat of serving in all three Axis navies.
Launched in 1940, the Torelli sighted a small convoy of ships on Jan. 15, 1941, and sank the Greek vessel Nemea, the Norwegian vessel Brask and the Greek vessel Nicolas Filinis. A fourth vessel was also damaged, but escaped due to the foul weather.
This was one of the few examples of an Italian submarine archiving great results while participating in a Wolf pack attack, according to Regia Marina Italiana.
Two weeks later, the Torelli sank the British vessel Urla. A year later, the Torelli sank the British vessel Scottish Star and the Panamanian motor tanker Esso Copenhagen.
In 1943, the Torelli, after surviving at least two serious air attacks, was one of seven Italian submarines designated to be transformed into transports. The Italian boats, due to their dimensions, were deemed better suited for long voyages to the Far East on missions to acquire precious and rare material.
The Torelli left for the Far East on June 14, 1943. The operation was under German control but the Torelli retained its Italian crew.
The Torelli was one of four Italian submarines in the Far East in 1943 when the new Italian government agreed to an armistice with the Allies. Of the four, the Torelli, Comandante Cappellini and Giuliani and their crews were temporarily interned by the Japanese.
The Torelli and two other boats then passed to German U-boat command and, with mixed German and Italian crews, continued to fight against the Allies. The Kriegsmarine assigned new officers to the Torelli, renamed it the U.IT.25 and had it take part in German war operations in the Pacific.
Following the German surrender in 1945, the Torelli was again given a new name, the I-504, by the Japanese, and operated with the Imperial Japanese Navy until Aug. 30, 1945. However, it retained nearly two dozen Italian submariners among its complement.
The Torelli and sister submarine Comandante Cappellini were the only two ships to fly the flags of all three main Axis powers during World War II.
As the I-504, the Torelli shot down a B-25 Mitchell bomber while under Japanese flag near the very end of the war in the Pacific, allegedly the last success of a Japanese naval vessel in the conflict.
Captured by the U.S. in Kobe, Japan, at the conclusion of the war, the Torelli was scuttled by the American Navy in the Kii Suido on April 16, 1946.
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