Sailor of Monarchy: Admiral Luigi Longanesi-Cattani
One of the most prominent Italian submarine commanders of World War II
was Captain Luigi Longanesi-Cattani. Born in Bagnacavallo, in the
province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna on May 4, 1908, he attended the
naval academy at Livorno, graduated and began his career as an undersea
naval officer on the submarine Marcantonio Bragadin. Later, he was posted to Italian East Africa on the submarine Benedetto Brin. He was serving as commander of the Benedetto Brin,
one of the Brin-class of submarines, in Taranto when the Kingdom of
Italy entered World War II. His was then the only boat of his submarine
squadron, the rest being on service in the Red Sea when war broke out.
He served in the Mediterranean and earned the Cross of War for Valor
after successfully saving his boat from an Allied air attack. In October
of 1940 he was ordered to make the perilous journey through the Straits
of Gibraltar to Bordeaux, home base of the Italian submarines operating
in the North Atlantic.
 |
| The submarine Benedetto Brin |
Longanesi-Cattani crossed Gibraltar on November 4 but, upon surfacing,
was surprised by two British destroyers which immediately opened fire.
Thanks to his quick thinking, Longanesi-Cattani and his boat survived
and escaped but he was forced to put in at Tangiers for repairs. Earlier
that summer, Tangiers had been occupied by Spanish troops and, after
the
Brin was joined by another submarine, the Spanish were able
to shield the Italians from the British destroyers. After a period of
frenzied repairs, as well as a great deal of play-acting to fool British
spies, both submarines were able to slip out of Tangiers in December
and arrive in Bordeaux a few days later. For this little adventure,
Captain Longanesi-Cattani was awarded his first Bronze Medal for
Military Valor. However, that was not his only achievement. While on
route to Bordeaux, Longanesi-Cattani happened upon the British submarine
HMS
Tuna. The British mistook the Italian sub for one of their
own and there was an exchange of signals before they realized they were
in the presence of the enemy. The British sub fired one full salvo of
six torpedoes followed by another of four torpedoes but, though
extremely close, the
Brin avoided them and fired two torpedoes of
their own. These missed as well, though fire from the Italian deck gun
did appear to hit the British sub, both survived the encounter.
 |
| Longanesi-Cattani meeting the admiral on his return |
Once arriving in Bordeaux, it took some time to repair the
Brin
and fully restore it to fighting shape after the ordeal it went through
on the way there. Everything was finally in order for a proper war
patrol in the summer of 1941 and on June 13, 1941 Longanesi-Cattani and
his men participated in an attack on Allied convoy. It was a great
success with the
Brin, in only about fifteen minutes, sinking two
merchant ships (one a Greek vessel and the other a French ship in use
by the British) as well as damaging two more. For this achievement,
Longanesi-Cattani was awarded the Silver Medal for Military Valor as
well as the German Iron Cross second class. The commander of all German
submarines and all Axis submarines in the Atlantic, Admiral Karl Doenitz
met with Captain Luigi Longanesi-Cattani and the two became good
friends. However, little more than a month later he was ordered to
return to Italy, making the dangerous passage in front of Gibraltar
again, but arriving safely in Naples with several victory pennants
flying.
 |
| The captain on the Leonardo da Vinci |
On October 6, 1941 Longanesi-Cattani was given a new command, the Marconi-class submarine
Leonardo da Vinci,
which would be the most successful Italian submarine of the war. He
returned to France but was soon sent on something of a ‘refresher
course’ in the latest submarine warfare tactics in what is now the
Polish city of Gdynia, at the time part of Germany. Once completed, he
took his boat to hunt in the waters around the Azores but soon had to
turn back due to mechanical problems, even being forced to pass on
attacking an Allied convoy a couple of days later. Still, his service
was further recognized by promotion to lieutenant commander in December.
In January of 1942, while on patrol northeast of the West Indies,
Longanesi-Cattani had better luck, sinking a Brazilian ship by torpedo
attack and two days later a Latvian ship with a combination of torpedoes
and gunfire. Upon returning to port, he received a second Silver Medal
for this.
By this time, pressure was being placed on Brazil to join the war and
with Allied convoys in the North Atlantic so heavily guarded, it was
correctly thought that the Brazilian shipping lanes would offer greater
opportunities for the larger Axis submarines such as the Italian boats
and the German Type-IX’s that had sufficient range to operate in the
South Atlantic. Longanesi-Cattani was sent in and patrolled off the
coast of Brazil but was later diverted to the African coast. On June 2,
1942 he sank a large schooner with his deck gun, the
Reine Marie Stuart, and a few days later sank the British ship
Chile with a single torpedo. On June 10 he successfully torpedoed the Dutch ship
Alioth
(also with gunfire which was not uncommon for Italian submarines since
their torpedoes were not as effective as the German magnetic type) and
later another steamer, the
Clan McQuarrie. Longanesi-Cattani had
become an “ace” sub skipper, sinking more than five ships and returned
to port to receive another Silver Medal and the Iron Cross first class
from his German ally. After a job well done, in August he was ordered
back to Italy for a new assignment, his boat to be given to Gianfranco
Gazzana-Priaroggia who would gain fame as Italy’s most successful
submarine commander.
 |
| Longanesi-Cattani on the bridge |
All in all, Captain Luigi Longanesi-Cattani had, during his
participation in the Battle of the Atlantic, sunk eight Allied merchant
ships for a total of 34,439 tons of Allied shipping destroyed. Once back
home, he was given what seemed to have been an even more critical
assignment, being attached to the elite Xth Flotilla MAS, which was
rather like the special forces branch of the Italian submarine fleet.
These were the men who launched attacks on ships in heavily guarded
enemy ports using “human torpedoes” or mini-subs and it was intended
that Longanesi-Cattani would command a special team of CB-class midget
submarines in operations against the Soviets in the Black Sea. However,
that assignment never came to be. Instead, he was attached to the
command of the zealous Fascist and overall X Flotilla MAS commander
Prince Junio Valerio Borghese, aka “the Black Prince” and was to command
the submarine
Murena for a special mission against an Allied
pipeline that was under construction. However, before that could get
underway, the entire Italian war effort was thrown into confusion by the
dismissal of Mussolini by King Vittorio Emanuele III and his
replacement by a new government led by Marshal of Italy Pietro Badoglio.
 |
| Prince Borghese |
The military had no warning about this and Marshal Badoglio announced
publicly that he would be continuing the war alongside the Germans (in
reality, he immediately began trying to secretly arrange an armistice
with the Allies). Longanesi-Cattani put aside his personal views and
remained committed to his duty and carried on preparing his submarine
for the attack on the pipeline at Gibraltar. Everything was just about
in order when Marshal Badoglio announced an armistice with the Allies
and ordered all Italian forces to cease hostilities. Longanesi-Cattani
had been at sea performing tests when this happened and learned of it
only after returning to port. Like many, he was shocked and rather
bewildered by this abrupt change. He almost had to sink his own boat
until the last-minute intervention of Prince Borghese had the order
revoked. Many Italian soldiers, sailors and airmen were torn by this
sudden turn of events. Prince Borghese gathered his men and asked who
among them would stay with him to carry on the fight against the Allies
alongside Germany. Most agreed and Longanesi-Cattani decided to as well
but only after being assured by Borghese that this would not compromise
his oath of loyalty to the King of Italy.
 |
| Princess Irene and Princess Anne |
During the confusion of the armistice period, Longanesi-Cattani was
dispatched to Florence to protect the family of Prince Aimone, nominal
King of Croatia. The Prince’s wife, Princess Irene of Greece &
Denmark, who was heavily pregnant and her sister-in-law Princess Anne of
Orleans, Duchess of Aosta, were there. The veteran submariner was
there, watching over the family in Florence, when Prince Amedeo the
current Duke of Aosta was born on September 27, 1943. He was also there
when, only a few days earlier, the Italian Social Republic was
proclaimed, formed by Mussolini at the insistence of Hitler, and that
was a deal breaker for Captain Longanesi-Cattani. He refused to break
his oath of loyalty to the King of Italy, which came before all else for
him, and immediately wrote to Prince Borghese informing him of this. He
also wrote to the republican Secretary of the Navy, Captain Feruccio
Ferrini, handing in his resignation. This was a major risk for him as he
was trapped in northern Italy which had been occupied by the Germans
and were taking into custody anyone who opposed the Italian Social
Republic. Regardless, his loyalty to the King was all that mattered and
he willingly surrendered himself to the authorities and, along with
Princess Irene and Princess Anne, was sent to the concentration camp at
Hirschegg near Innsbruck, Austria on July 26, 1944.
The camp was eventually liberated by American troops and, as King
Umberto II of Italy had, upon going into exile after the farcical
referendum, released everyone from their oath of loyalty, Captain
Longanesi-Cattani returned to duty with the navy of the new Italian
republic, eventually rising to the rank of Squadron Admiral. His only
other prominent part in a public issue was sitting on the commission of
inquiry into the former commander of the BETASOM Italian submarine base
in Bordeaux during the war, Captain Enzo Grossi, where Longanesi-Cattani
had served. Captain Grossi was ultimately cleared. After a lifetime of
service to his country, including becoming one of the top Italian
submarine commanders of World War II and earning four Silver Medals, two
Bronze Medals, the War Cross from the King of Italy and the first and
second classes of the Iron Cross from Germany, Admiral Luigi
Longanesi-Cattani died in Rome on March 12, 1991.
