page_title: Italian submarine Gondar
section_title: Construction and career
hierarchical_section_title: Italian submarine Gondar / Construction and career
caption_attribution_description: English: Able Seaman Arthur Thomas Wood was born 21 April 1921 at Berry in New South Wales, and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1938 at the age of 17. After training at HMAS CEREBUS he joined HMAS SYDNEY in early 1939. When World War II was declared, SYDNEY was ordered to serve in the Mediterranean for escort duty. Wood was aboard SYDNEY when it sank the Italian cruisers ESPERO and BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI in July 1940. These photographs and postcards depict some of the sailors, equipment and activities of HMAS SYDNEY in the months prior to the sinking of the vessel. They provide an interesting commentary of the operations and work carried out aboard HMAS SYDNEY prior to its fateful end, such as the sinking of Italian ships ESPERO and BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI in the Mediterranean. The Australian National Maritime Museum undertakes research and accepts public comments that enhance the information we hold about images in our collection. If you can identify a person, vessel or landmark, write the details in the Comments box below. 30 September 1940. HMAS Stuart and Alexandria base RAF Sunderland aircraft of 230 Squadron sank the Gondar in 31, 33N, 28, 33E. Stuart and antisubmarine trawler Sindonis (440grt)) rescued forty seven survivors. Destroyer HMS Diamond arrived as Gondar was sinking. Thank you for helping caption this important historical image. Object number ANMS0845[036].
context_page_description: Italian submarine Gondar was an Adua-class submarine built for the Royal Italian Navy during the 1930s. It was named after a city of Gondar in northern Ethiopia.
context_section_description: Gondar was launched on 3 October 1937 in OTO's shipyard in La Spezia and commissioned on 28 September 1938. Initially, she was assigned to 14th Squadron based at La Spezia. After intensive training and exercises, in August of 1938 Gondar was reassigned to the III Submarine Group based at Leros. During 1939, Gondar made a long endurance training in the Dodecanese, and in February of 1940 the submarine was temporarily assigned to Messina, and finally in May 1940 she became a part of 15th Squadron (I Submarine group) based at La Spezia. 
  At the outbreak of hostilities she was immediately sent on a mission to patrol an area along the French coast and Gulf of Genoa. She returned to the base on 14 June 1940 without encountering any enemy traffic.
  After completing two more missions, one 20 miles east of Cape Antibes from 18 to 25 June 1940, and the other off the Strait of Gibraltar from 5 to 16 August 1940, Gondar was moved into Arsenal at La Spezia to convert her into SLC carrying submarine. Three SLC units were fitted onto the boat on her deck, two placed side by side in the aft, and one on her bow, the submarine's deck gun was also removed to accommodate SLC units. With a weight of 2.8 tons, these SLC cylinders were able to withstand depths up to 90 meters, triple the depth the first system that was installed on Iride. 
  On 21 September 1940 Gondar, under command of captain  Francesco Brunetti, sailed from La Spezia to raid the naval base of Alexandria, after the first attempt by Iride had failed. In the evening of September 23, 1940 Gondar arrived in Messina, where she embarked on an SLC unit of six officers, one NCO and 3 sailors. On 25 September 1940 she secretly left for Alexandria. On 29 September Gondar was ordered to head to Tobruk, as the British naval force had sortied from Alexandria. While on her way to Tobruk, at 20:30 on the same day, Gondar spotted an enemy ship, about 1,500 meters away. The submarine tried to disengage by diving to 80 meters, however, she was almost immediately detected by ASDIC of destroyer HMAS Stuart who immediately attacked the submarine with depth charges. In two hours, at 22:30 two more ships joined the hunt, an armed trawler Sindonis, and HMS Diamond, with additional units coming to help as the hunt went on, including  Sunderland flying boats. The ongoing depth charge attacks caused serious damage to the submarine and especially to the SLC units which were beginning to flood. At 8:30 on September 30, 1940, Gondar had to surface, due to sustained damage and almost completely exhausted reserves of oxygen. Upon surfacing, the crew scuttled the boat with explosive charges.  Except for electrician Luigi Longobardi, who was killed by one of the bombs dropped by a Sunderland flying boat, the entire crew was rescued and imprisoned by the British.
  With sinking of Gondar, the British intelligence noted the three cylinders on the deck of the submarine, and a presence of numerous divers among the crew. That raised questions about existence of special units in Regia Marina responsible for penetration into enemy ports.
caption: Evacuation of the Gondar
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