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HM Submarine ''X2'' was an Italian ''Archimede''-class submarine, originally named ''Galileo Galilei''. She served in the Regia Marina before and during World War II, before her capture by the Royal Navy in 1940. She was stationed in the Red Sea in June 1940 as a unit of the Italian Red Sea Flotilla. During a patrol, with ''Capitano di Corvetta''〔the equivalent rank to Lieutenant Commander〕 Corrado Nardi in command,〔http://www.xmasgrupsom.com/Sommergibili/galileogalilei.html〕 on 16 June 1940, she sank the Norwegian tanker ''James Stove'' approximately 12 miles south of Aden,〔"Giorgio Giorgerini, ''Uomini sul fondo. Storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi'', p. 395-396"〕 following which aircraft from the cruiser HMS ''Leander'' carried out a search for her without success. On 18 June, the ''Galilei'' halted with cannon fire the Yugoslavian cargo ship ''Drava'', but as Yugoslavia was not yet at war, she let it proceed.〔 The gunfire was heard by the anti-submarine warfare trawler HMS ''Moonstone'' and at 4:30pm ''Moonstone'' sighted the periscope of ''Galileo Galilei'' and carried out an attack with two depth charges, though without damaging the submarine〔〔 at the position . The following day, after the British warship repeated its attack with depth charges, Nardi gave the order to surface and engaged the ''Moonstone'' with her guns.〔 At the start of the action between the two vessels, the forward gun's sighting mechanism on the ''Galilei'' became unusable. The fast-moving ''Moonstone'' scored the first hit on the Italian boat after ten minutes, killing some men and wounding Nardi.〔 The following hit killed the crew of the forward gun, including the First Officer.〔 The submarine's aft gun jammed, and then another salvo from ''Moonstone'' killed all those on the conning tower including Nardi.〔 Under the only officer left alive, though wounded, the young midshipman Mazzucchi, the ''Galilei'' continued the fight with the forward gun. However the British destroyer HMS ''Kandahar'' arrived,〔 and ''Galilei'' surrendered. The submarine had lost 16 men; Nardi, four other officers, seven NCOs and four sailors.〔http://www.regiamarina.net/sub_casualties.asp?nid=196&lid=2〕 The submarine was then towed into Aden. Though the British side claimed that the submarine's codebooks and operational documents were captured intact by the Royal Navy, and revealed the exact position of other Italian naval units, Italian survivors (including Midshipman Mazzucchi) reported that every document was destroyed before surrender, and that no written operational orders were issued to Italian units, only an oral briefing between captains and the submarine command in Massawa before every mission〔"Giorgio Giorgerini, ''Uomini sul fondo. Storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi'', p. da 396 a 399"〕 The claim was reported only to cover the British intelligence activities in Italian East Africa.〔 After her capture, ''Galileo Galilei'' was berthed at Port Said and served as a generating station to charge the batteries of British submarines.〔Playfair, Vol. I, page 112.〕 She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in June 1942 as HMS ''X2'' (later changed to ''P 711''), and was operated as a training boat in the East. She was scrapped on 1 January 1946. ==See also== * HMS ''Graph'' - another captured submarine (formerly the ''U-570'') commissioned into the Royal Navy * HMS ''Seal'' - Royal Navy submarine, captured and taken into service by the Germans. * 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS X2」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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