SS Fidelitas

The next month, just a few weeks before Italy´s entry in World War II, Fidelitas was at anchor in the Irish port of Cork. After a brief stay at Dublin, the vessel reached Cardiff, where her master intended to resupply the ship with coal, food and fresh water, but she sailed away when the Italian consul in the city told the captain of the imminent declaration of war by Italy.[7]

Fidelitas hastily set sail to Corunna, where she arrived in on 10 June. The Italian consul informed the master at evening that Italy had declared war to France and Britain. Spanish authorities interned the ship and moved her to Ferrol, where she remained inactive with a skeleton complement of five.[7]

In March 1942, the ship was chartered by the German company DDG Hansa. A replacement crew arrived from Italy, and the ship was repaired and refitted first at Ferrol and later at Bilbao before sailing for Bordeaux with a cargo of iron ore. The merchant was fitted with mountings for antiaircraft guns, to be manned by German personnel.[7]

Having spent some months at Bordeaux, Fidelitas departed in July for Brest.[7] There, the Italian vessel would be escorted by the German minesweepers Von der Groeben (M 107), V 1501, V 1506 and V 1809 through the English Channel.[10] The scheduled destination was Rotterdam, with Cherbourg, Les Hardreaux, Le Havre, Dunkirk and Dieppe as ports of call.[7][11]

Action of 17/18 August 1942
Part of the Battle of the Atlantic of World War II
Date 17/18 August 1942 Location English Channel Result Axis victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany Italy
Commanders and leaders
C.L.G. Philpotts	Aldo Martinero
Strength
6 motor torpedo boats Coastal batteries	4 minesweepers 1 armed merchant ship Coastal batteries
Casualties and losses
2 motor torpedo boats sunk 2 motor torpedo boats damaged 9 killed	none

In anticipation of the pass of the Fidelitas and her escort, the Royal Navy sent six motor torpedo boats (MTBs) to lurk in an area between Calais and Gravelines, in a position east-southeast from South Foreland. The flotilla was made of MTB 218, MTB 219, MTB 24, MTB 38, MTB 43, and MTB 204.[12]

The convoy was shelled by 381 mm coastal batteries on their passage through Dover at midnight; the British Admiralty reported that 26 rounds were fired on Fidelitas and her escorts. The same source said that German artillery bombarded South Foreland with 14 rounds from the French coast from 0:30 to 01:00.[12]

The Fidelitas convoy was engaged by the MTBs between Dover and Gravelines at 01:35. MTB 204 and MTB 38 attacked with torpedoes and even depth charges, claiming one torpedo hit on an escort vessel. MTB 43 was hit by the escorts and left on fire north of Gravelines; she eventually sank and most of her crew was rescued by MTB 24. MTB 218 was also struck by return fire, and lost two engines. The MTB was left adrift, and finally sank when she hit two mines while trying to limp away through a mined area. The action died down by 2:40. Six seamen were killed on MTB 218, another two on MTB 43 and another one aboard MTB 38. The battle was visible from Dover Castle.[12][13]

During the engagement Fidelitas' master, Aldo Martinero, ordered full reverse just in time to dodge two torpedoes fired by the British MTBs.[11]

The convoy arrived unscathed in Dunkirk at 6:50.[10]

The Italian ship was confiscated by German authorities on 8 September 1943, after the Cassibile armistice, and her complement was put under arrest. The Reichsverkehrsministerium (Minister of Transport) put the freighter under full control of the DDG Hansa. Captain Martinaro was replaced for Giacomo Piana, and the bulk of the crew was drafted from Italian sailors perceived as still loyal to Fascism and from anti-communist Russian and Ukrainians, plus German military personnel to man the ship's armament. The chief mate was also a German seamen. Fidelitas was subsequently designed to cover the route between Denmark and Norway.[7][6][2]

On 27 November 1944, while sailing in the Sunnfjord, barely 30 minutes after departing from Ålesund along with the German steamer Jersbek and four escorts, the convoy came under attack from RAF Beaufighters bombers from the 404th Squadron and Beaufighters torpedo-bombers from the 489th Squadron. While an escort minesweeper and Jersbek were engaged with rockets and damaged, Fidelitas was strafed with heavy machine guns and hit by two torpedoes. Loaded with heavy metals, the ship sank very quickly. The explosion of her boilers after the sinking is believed to have killed a number of survivors. Two Beaufighters were damaged by antiaircraft fire, but all the planes returned safely to their base.[2][16][17]

Only nine members of the complement were rescued. Captain Piana, German Commander Janssen, 16 Italian ratings, 13 German ratings, seven Ukrainians and one Norwegian sailor went down with the ship.[2]