On October 15, 1940, at 1am, the Italian submarine Enrico Toti was proceeding on the surface to the south of the Gulf of Taranto. There was no wind and sea was calm but low dark clouds engulfed the horizon, making the lookouts’ task more difficult. The moon gave out an eerie light that barely penetrated the surrounding gloom.

Then something caught one of the Italian seamen’s attention. What he had thought was just another shadow was growing larger by the minute. He sounded the alarm and Toti’s captain, Commander Bandino Bandini, ordered surface battle stations. The sailors ran to their posts on the conning tower and also manned the 4.7-inch deck gun. All eyes were on the approaching hazy form, which soon took the shape of a British submarine.

The Enrico Toti, a Balilla Class Italian submarine. Photo: Wikipedia

Commander Bandini ordered the helmsman to turn the Toti’s bow towards the approaching craft, to make it harder to be seen by the enemy vessel, which, nonetheless, seemed to be making a beeline for them. In fact, the Italian submarine had been spotted. 

The distance between the submarines decreased rapidly and, then, the British vessel opened fire with its deck gun. There was a crack and a shell whizzed over the Enrico Toti. Thus began a strange duel to the death between two submarines on the surface. 

The Enrico Toti at Castellammare Di Stabia, Naples, in March 1935. Photo: http://www.associazione-venus.it/

The British gunners kept a constant steady fire but all their shells flew wide. The Italians returned fire with the two 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns and some rifles, raking the deck and the conning tower of the British vessel. 

“The enemy vessel submerged beneath the waves but it was fatally wounded, with water gushing in its compartments”

Suddenly, the British four-inch gun fell silent, having either suffered a malfunction or, most probably, its crew having been decimated by the small arms fire of the Italians. By this time, the two vessels were really close, the British submarine crossing the Enrico Toti’s stern at a distance of about four metres. It was then that the British gun barked again at point blank range, with the shell grazing the Toti’s casing and inflicting damage of no importance. It was the last chance the British would get.

Balilla class submarines proved too large to be effective in the Mediterranean. From 1941, they were used to transport troops to North Africa. This image shows the Domenico Millelire. Photo: Wikipedia

Commander Bandini immediately ordered a decrease in speed and a turn to port. This brought the Enrico Toti in a position of advantage; for now, the enemy gun could not be brought to bear. The Italian gunners fired a shot with the 4.7-inch gun. The shell hit the British submarine but did not explode. Bandini also fired a torpedo, which ran true but again there was no explosion; the distance between the two submarines was so close that the projectile did not cover enough distance to arm itself before it hit the target.

By now, the British submarine had had enough of the fight and was diving rapidly to safety. It was at this moment that the Italian gunners managed to hit the disappearing enemy two times in quick succession. Without warning, the night sky was lit by a colourful display; one of the shells had detonated inside the conning tower and set off the rockets that it kept there for identification purposes. 

The enemy vessel submerged beneath the waves but it was fatally wounded, with water gushing in its compartments. In fact, its commander gave the order to blow all tanks and surface. There was a swirl of bubbles and, in their midst, the Italians caught sight of the enemy vessel’s stern rising above the surface, only to plunge again forever into the abyss, taking with her to the icy depths all those aboard her. 

HMS Triad’s crest. Photo: Wikipedia

The Italians were convinced that they had sunk HMS Rainbow but documents uncovered in 1988 proved that their victim was HMS Triad. Triad had left Malta on October 9, 1940, with orders to patrol the Gulf of Taranto and then make for Alexandria. She was commanded by Lt Cdr George Stevenson Salt. His son, James Frederick Salt, was the captain of HMS Sheffield, a Type 42 guided missile destroyer hit by an Exocet missile fired by Argentine navy strike aircraft during the Falklands War. The Sheffield was the first British ship to be sunk by enemy action after World War II.

La Domenica Del Corriere’s front page with an artist’s impression of the sinking of HMS Triad, reported in the caption as being the Perseus. Photo: https://laststandonzombieisland.com/

So what happened to HMS Rainbow, which, like the Triad, disappeared after she left port? 

The British submarine left Alexandria on September 23, 1940, also with orders to patrol the Gulf of Taranto. On October 3, she was ordered to make for the Lower Adriatic. The next day, an Italian convoy consisting of the merchantmen Antonietta Costa, Oreste and Premuda, escorted by the armed cruiser RAMB III, was passing through the area assigned to be patrolled by the Rainbow. 

At 3.30am, the freighter Antonietta Costa hit a submerged object. Shortly afterwards, an underwater explosion jarred the ship, the concussion being felt by all the other ships in the convoy. Water started leaking inside the Antonietta Costa and, on arrival in port, divers who examined the hull found two large indentations on both sides of the keel, as if the ship had collided with a large metallic object.

The profile of a T-Class British submarine. Photo: War Machines Encyclopaedia

A plausible explanation for this incident is that the Italian ship had unwittingly sunk HMS Rainbow, which had been stalking the convoy. Again, there were no survivors from the British submarine.

More information about the sinking of HMS Triad can be found in the book Beneath the Waves by A.S. Evans and the website https://uboat.net/.