Comandante Cappellini

Captured

Regia Marina (Italy), then Kriegsmarine (Germany), then Imperial Japanese Navy

Type	Submarine
Class	Marcello
War	Second World War
Main guns	2 × 4″ guns

Service

to 1943	Comandante Cappellini	Italy
1943–1945	UIT-24 Seized after the armistice	Germany
from 1945	I-503 Seized after the German surrender	Japan

Atlantic submarine based at Bordeaux, later a cargo carrier to the Far East. At Singapore at the armistice, she was taken over by the Germans as UIT-24, and after Germany surrendered by the Japanese as I-503: the only warship to fly the flags of all three Axis navies.

German submarine UIT24 in the Inland Sea, Japan, August 1944. The former Italian submarine Comandante Cappelini, it was later operated by the Japanese Navy as I-503. Photo: unknown, maybe IJN or shipyards in Japan., Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Armament and specifications

Armament

8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 4 stern)
2 × 100 mm (4 in)/47 caliber guns
4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns

Laid down	25 April 1938
Launched	14 May 1939
Commissioned	23 September 1939
Displacement	1,060 long tons (1,077 t) surfaced 1,313 long tons (1,334 t) submerged
Length	73 m (239 ft 6 in)
Speed	17.4 knots (32.2 km/h; 20.0 mph) surfaced 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) submerged
Complement	58

As built, from the ship's Wikipedia article. Figures there may cover later refits too.

Career

She isn't listed in any of the fleet actions covered here.

Launched

14 May 1939

Renamed UIT-24

Germany

September 1943 · Seized after the armistice

Renamed IJN I-503

Japan

May 1945 · Seized after the German surrender

Fate

Captured

Captured by the U.S. Navy in August 1945 and scuttled on 16 April 1946