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Defects plagued her during many months of her early service. She served briefly in the Halifax Force then in Western Local Escort Force, seeing several convoys safely outward and inward-bound and rescuing twenty-five survivors on one occasion. She also operated on the Halifax-Boston run for a period, identified with “lucky” convoys suffering little or no loss while others before and after suffered heavily. Four SC and HX convoys were part of her record where only one straggler was lost. In late 1942 the Admiralty requested Canadian escorts to assist with Operation Torch convoys in support of the North African invasion. Regina was one of seventeen corvettes assigned, fitted with additional Oerlikon guns required for anti-aircraft protection in the Mediterranean. In September a new commanding officer was appointed, LCdr Harry Freeland, RCNR, often known as “Harry The Horse” from his Atlantic convoy escort days and the adoption of Damon Runyan character names by the corvette CO's. She started passage to England with Convoy SC-107 but had to return due to condenser problems, and sailed on 7 November with SC-108. This was perhaps fortunate, as SC-107 was one of the worst convoys, losing fifteen vessels to U-boat packs, while SC-108 was not seriously attacked.  Although the Torch landings had been made by the time Regina arrived, follow-on convoys were still required for supplies for the continuing battle. In December, 1942 Regina was part of the escort for KMS-5 to Gibraltar but due to damage in extremely rough weather wherein she lost her asdic dome, she had to return to Londonderry for repairs. On 25 January she was one of eight corvettes escorting KMS-8 to Gibraltar. Again the weather was severe: an RN trawler-minelayer, HMS Corncrake, foundered and was lost with all hands. Weather was as often the enemy as Germans or Italians. This convoy entered the Mediterranean on 5 February. Regina was astern of HMCS Louisburg when that ship was sunk by an aerial torpedo on the 6th (See Chapter 23). There were several other air attacks and submarine alarms and excursions during the day. On the evening of 7 February Regina and HMS Rhyl, a Bangor class minesweeper, were assigned to escort a ship of KMS-8 from Algiers onward to Bone Algeria. There is some evidence that this “convoy” consisted of two ships, but there is only reference to the elderly little ex-coal carrier ss Brinkburn. She was evidently carrying 1,500 tons of aviation fuel in cans in her holds. The crew had been overcome with petrol fumes from leaking and spilled cans and several men were replaced by an eight-man RN party from the trawler HMS Coriolanus for the short voyage to Bone from Algiers. At 2310 Regina was 4,000 yards on the port bow of the convoy and Rhyl in the corresponding station to starboard. It was a quiet, dark night with stars out but no moon. Regina picked up a faint contact on her radar at a range of 6,200 yards, bearing 0300. Freeland altered toward and went to twelve knots. Radar contact was lost in five minutes as the submarine dived but at 2317 they obtained an asdic contact at about 1,000 yards. At full speed ahead the target was closed to 300 yards, moving left. At 100 yards contact was lost and a single ten-charge pattern was dropped, using the range recorder trace for “time to fire”.
While nothing seemed to happen, at 2328 the spray and foam of the submarine surfacing was seen, then the wash of her wake and her hull were sighted, going away. A stern chase developed across the dark sea; the bridge Oerlikons immediately fired on the submarine and she returned fire with 12.5mm Breda machine guns. The Oerlikon tracer allowed the Regina?s 4-inch gun to find the target in the dark. Eight rounds were fired and the submarine was struck at the base of her conning tower. This gunnery went on for some five minutes, then the fleeing submarine ceased firing and some of her crew started to jump into the sea. Those that remained on the casing were crying for surrender or help as Regina charged up. Freeland had planned to ram her but, when he saw the crew on the casing by a signal light shone on the boat, he stopped nearby. It was only then they realised their captive was an Italian submarine. The ship carried out a precautionary sweep around the area to ensure there were no more submarines about. Then a boarding party under Regina?s 1st lieutenant, Lt F.B. Marr, was put on board by boat. At first it was thought the submarine could be kept afloat and a tug was requested. At 0345 the tug HMS Jaunty arrived and a tow was attempted. By 0500 it was realised that the submarine was sinking and the boarding party had to jump into the sea as she sank at 0515. Her own people and all the twenty-seven survivors of the Italian crew were rescued by Regina, seven of the Italians wounded, two seriously, but most overjoyed to be saved and out of the war. They were taken into Bone by 1020 that day. The ship received numerous congratulatory messages and a few months later awards were made official: Harry Freeland received a DSO, SLt Roddick B. Thomas a DSC; CERA Allen Hurst and L/S Stan Heywood, the senior asdic rating, received DSMs; Mention in Dispatches were awarded to the coxswain, CPO Jack W. Winn, ABs Joe Saulnier and Trevor Martin (who was the 4-inch gun captain), and to OS Vernon Cavanaugh.
Avorio was one of thirteen submarines of the 600-series Platino class, 710 tons, commissioned on 25 March 1942. One of her war patrols had involved her in attacks on ships of Operation Pedestal in August 1942 for the relief of Malta, where she had had no success. In February, 1943 she was operating out of a base at Cagliari, Sardinia on her sixth war patrol, although with no sinkings to her credit. Her new Co on this patrol was Tenente (Lieutenant) Leone Fiorentini. Fiorentini had sailed from Cagliari on 6 February in company with the sommergibili Gorgo and Platino, bound for Cape Bougaron, North Africa. He had sighted a convoy the next morning but depth charges from an MTB forced him to crash dive. Having remained submerged during daylight on the 8th, he had to surface that night to charge his batteries. Avorio was still on the surface when detected by Regina, and in the dark of night, was dangerously close to the corvette before the Italians knew they were sighted. She crash-dived to 200 feet and stopped. The first depth charges were close and caused water to enter through distorted plates in the pressure hull, creating trimming problems. The next two explosions from the pattern caused further flooding in the control room and ballast tanks. When he surfaced, Fiorentini found his forward torpedo tubes were distorted and useless, and when he tried to escape on the surface he found the helm jammed and the boat could only move in a circle. It had been an excellent urgent attack by Freeland's team. The gunfire from Regina had then been so effective that the captain, two other officers and sixteen ratings had been killed. The 4-inch shells had torn up plates and holed the conning tower. The corvette?s only minor casualty was AB Henry Mortimer, who had a bullet scrape his rib cage. Regina remained in the Mediterranean theatre for another month, during which she brought in the Portuguese vessel Nyassa which was trying to run the blockade from South America to Portugal and then transship her cargo to Germany. She then escorted an ancient side-wheeler tug bringing a damaged ship to Gibraltar. Sources Fraccaroli, Italian Warships
of WWJI, p. 143. Macpherson & Milner, Corvettes of the RCN,
Paquette & Bainbridge,
Honours & Awards. Pollina, Cocchia & Bertini, I Sommergibili
Schull, Far Distant Ships, pp. 157-158. Smith, Pedestal, pp. 110-111. |
