Lago Tana

**Lago Tana** p1
Ship data
flag	Italy
other ship names	D22
Ship type	Cargo ship , auxiliary cruiser
Shipyard	Cantiere Navale del Taranto (Franco Tosi) , Taranto
Launch	1939
Whereabouts	Sunk by the British Air Force on 20th November 1942
Ship dimensions and crew
length	64.77 m ( Lüa )
width	9.78 m
Draft	Max. 4.42 m
displacement	approx. 1,700
measurement	783 GRT , 456 NRT
Machine system
machine	2 × Tosi six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engine
Machine ; performance	1,600 hp
Top ; speed	15.0 kn (28 km / h)
propeller	2
Armament
	2 × 100mm L / 47 ; 4 × 20mm L / 65; 2 depth charges;

The Lago Tana was an Italian cargo ship that the Regia Marina used as an auxiliary cruiser D 22 after completion in 1940 . On November 20, 1942, the ship was sunk off Lampedusa by a British air raid .

Construction and technical data

The ship was in 1939 to order the shipping company S.A. Navigazione Eritrea from Rome along with a sister ship in the shipyard Cantiere Navale del Taranto (Franco Tosi) in Taranto placed on Kiel . When it was launched in 1939, the ship was named Lago Tana after Lake Tana in Ethiopia . The ship was 64.77 meters long, 9.78 meters wide and had a draft of 4.42 meters. The Lago Tana was measured with 783 GRT or 456 NRT, the displacement was approx. 1,700 tons. Two Tosi six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines with 1,600 hp enabled a speed of 15.0 knots with two screws .

history

The Lago Tana and her sister ship Lago Zuai were to take over passenger services on the coast of Eritrea , which Italy had invaded and occupied in the Abyssinian War in 1935 , according to plans by the shipping company SA Navigazione Eritrea . This did not happen any more, both ships were no longer sent to the Red Sea . Instead, the Lago Tana was initially used to Libya and transported on 28/29. June 1940 a load of 200 barrels of gasoline to Tripoli.

Shortly after the Italian entry into the war on June 10, 1940, the Regia Marina requisitioned the ship on July 10, 1940 and converted it into an auxiliary cruiser. The task of the Italian auxiliary cruisers was to protect the convoy, at the same time they were used as fast transporters due to the required speed of at least 15 knots. For the new tasks, the ship was armed with two 100 / L47-mm guns and four 20 / L65-mm anti-aircraft guns, as well as two depth charges. In addition to its name, the Lago Tana was also given the identifier D 22 . As an auxiliary cruiser, securing convoys remained the main task of the ship. On October 21, 1940, the Lago Tana was assigned to the Einsatzverband Maritrafalba in Brindisi , which was formed in preparation for the planned attack on Greece and carried out and secured the transport of troops and supplies from Bari and Brindisi to Albania . Just four days later, on October 25, the entire association was incorporated into the Forza Navale Speciale (FNS), to which other ships were assigned and which was to carry out the planned (but canceled) landing on Corfu . Until around the end of 1940, Lago Tana secured Italian ships between Italy and Albania.

In early 1941, the Lago Tana was assigned to escort ships to North Africa. The ships she was accompanying were repeatedly attacked: On January 25, she directed the two German cargo ships Duisburg (7389 GRT) and Ingo (7389 GRT) from Naples towards Libya via Palermo to Trapani . There she was replaced by the auxiliary cruiser Caralis - the Ingo was sunk a few days later, the Duisburg badly damaged. Two months later, on March 16, the Lago Tana accompanied the cargo ships Giovanni Boccaccio (3,141 GRT), Valsavoia (5733 GRT) and Maddalena G. (5212 GRT) when they were attacked by the British submarine HMS Parthian . The Boccaccio was damaged in the process. On September 27, 1941, the British submarine Upright attacked the Lago Tana while she was escorting. However, the two torpedoes of the submarine missed their target. In 1942 was Lake Tana together on April 1 with the destroyer aviere , the torpedo boats Libra , Pallade and Centauro and the rescue ship Capri part of an association to shipwrecked of the submarine HMS Urge recessed light cruiser Giovanni dalle Bande Nere save .

On November 16, 1942, the Lago Tana left Trapani to deliver supplies to Tripoli and to drop soldiers in Lampedusa en route . One day later she first reached Pantelleria and left the port again on November 20 to head for Lampedusa. Around noon she was attacked by Royal Air Force planes and the ship was badly damaged. The crew left the ship. Around 4 p.m. there was a second air raid in which the Lago Tana sank.

literature

Maurizio Brescia: Mussolini's Navy. A Reference Guide to the Regia Marina 1930-1945 . E-Book, Kindle Edition, 2012, ISBN 978-1-84832-115-1 .
Gabriele Faggioni: Italian Warships 1919–1945 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-613-03551-5 .
Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare: La Marina italiana nella seconde guerra mondiale, Vol. III: Navi perdute. Tomo II - Navi mercantili , Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Rome 1952.
Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945, Volume 8/2: Outpost boats, auxiliary minesweepers, coastal protection associations (part 2), small combat associations, dinghies , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1993, ISBN 3-7637-4807- 5 .

Reinhart Schmelzkopf: Foreign ships in German hands 1939–1945. Strandgut-Verlag, Cuxhaven 2004, DNB 972151001 .

Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Published by the Working Group for Defense Research and the Library for Contemporary History . Manfred Pawlak Verlagsgesellschaft, Herrsching o. J. [1968], ISBN 3-88199-009-7 . (extended online version)

Donald A. Bertke, Don Kindell, Gordon Smith: World War II Sea War - Vol. 7: The Allies Strike Back . Bertke Publications. Dayton / Ohio 2015. ISBN 1-937470-11-3 .