Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia

Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia

Nickname(s)	Ursus atlanticus
Born	(1912-08-30)August 30, 1912 Milan
Died	May 23, 1943(1943-05-23) (aged 30) North Atlantic
Allegiance	Kingdom of Italy
Service/branch	Regia Marina (Navy)
Rank	Capitano di corvetta
Commands held	Archimede Leonardo da Vinci
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of the Mediterranean Battle of the Atlantic
Awards	Medaglia d'oro al valor militare (23 May 1943) Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (26 May 1943)

Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia (30 August 1912 – 23 May 1943) was an officer in the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), and was the highest-scoring Italian submarine captain of World War II. Of Genoese ancestry, he bore the nickname Ursus atlanticus affectionately given by his crews.

World War II

During the war, Gazzana-Priaroggia served on several submarines, most famously on the Tazzoli (as second-in-command of the fellow submarine ace Carlo Fecia di Cossato); then he was appointed commander of the Archimede and finally of the Leonardo da Vinci. He was responsible for sinking or damaging 120,243 GRT (Bruttoregistertonnen, or BRT). With a higher score than Britain's Malcolm David Wanklyn in HMS Upholder, or America's Richard O'Kane in USS Tang (both later sunk), Gazzana-Priaroggia and Leonardo da Vinci were the most successful non-German submariner and submarine in the conflict.^[1]

On 23 May 1943, Gazzana-Priaroggia, returning from his last successful patrol (for which he had earned a battlefield promotion to the rank of Capitano di corvetta), died alongside his crew when the Leonardo da Vinci was sunk by the destroyer HMS Active and the frigate HMS Ness west of Cape Finisterre. He was posthumously awarded the Medaglia d'oro al valor militare and Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Legacy

The Sauro class submarine S525 "Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia" of the Italian navy's Navy (Marina Militare) was named after Gazzana-Priaroggia. The S525 was completed in 1993.

References

Citations

↑ Blair p.740

Bibliography

Blair, Clay, Hitler's U-boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942. Random House 1996. ISBN 0-304-35260-8
Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
Kurowski, Franz (1995). Knight's Cross Holders of the U-Boat Service. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-88740-748-2.

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients in the military of allies of Nazi Germany

Ion Antonescu Ugo de Carolis Ugo Cavallero Corneliu Dragalina Ioan Dumitrache Petre Dumitrescu (Oak Leaves) Emilio Esteban Infantes Carlo Fecia di Cossato Italo Gariboldi Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia Ermil Gheorghiu Fedele di Giorgio Enzo Grossi Erik Heinrichs József Heszlényi Miklós Horthy Ioan Hristea Mihály von Ibrányi Gusztáv Jány Emanoil Ionescu Mineichi Koga (Oak Leaves) Radu Korne Géza Lakatos Mihail Lascăr (Oak Leaves) Dezső László Horia Macellariu Augustín Malár Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (Oak Leaves) Gheorghe Manoliu Giulio Martinat Giovanni Messe Béla Miklós Leonard Mociulschi Agustín Muñoz Grandes (Oak Leaves) Ioan Pălăghiţă Ioan Mihail Racoviţă Edgar Rădulescu Gheorghe Răscănescu Zoltán Szügyi Nicolae Tătăranu Corneliu Teodorini (Oak Leaves) Jozef Turanec Isoroku Yamamoto (Oak Leaves & Swords)

in alphabetical order

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