Ciao Fabrizio,

At 1852/2 January EMO came under fire from light arms as she was entering harbour (fortunately the larger coastal guns on top of the cliffs could not be depressed enough to fire on the submarine). The fire came from all over the bay and the submarine suffered many hits but none could pierce the hull. After replying with her own machine-guns, C.C. Rosselli-Lorenzini ordered the fire checked as it was difficult to observe from where the enemy fire came from and non-essential personel were ordered below as the submarine turned around to exit the bay. The situation was critical enough as the order was given to prepare the destruction of the secret papers. On the way out helmsman Guiseppe Campisi was hit by two bullets in the legs and a fragment hit the left temple of Rosselli-Lorenzini temporarily blinding his left eye. At 1902, EMO had managed to extract herself from her precarious position and was out of enemy range. It is most likely that the coastal batteries were not yet manned by the British as they did not seem to have opened fire at all.

No Italian submarine was involved in shelling coastal objectives (some plans did consider it but they never reached the operational stage).

Best wishes,

Platon