Nereide was a in the Italian Royal Navy  during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. She was built 1911–1913 at the navy yard at Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 and was sunk in 1915 by the Austro-Hungarian

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 submarine under the command of Georg Ritter von Trapp

Georg Ritter von Trapp

Korvettenkapitän Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp , known as Baron von Trapp, was an Austro-Hungarian Navy officer. His exploits at sea during World War I earned him numerous decorations, including the prestigious Military Order of Maria Theresa...

. Nereides captain, Carlo del Greco posthumously received the Medaglia d'Oro al Valore Militare

Gold Medal of Military Valor

The Gold Medal of Military Valor is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia "....per bassi ufficiali e soldati che avevano fatto azioni di segnalato valore in guerra" .The face of the medal displayed the profile of the king, and on its reverse was a flag...

for his actions when Nereide was sunk.

Design and construction

The Italian was designed by Curio Bernardis, later a well-known submarine designer. Nereides hull

Submarine hull

The term light hull is used to describe the outer hull of a submarine, which houses the pressure hull, providing hydrodynamically efficient shape, but not holding pressure difference...

, like that of her sister ship

Sister ship

A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

 , was shaped similar to a torpedo boat

Torpedo boat

A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...

. She was 134 in 4 in (40.94 m) long with a beam

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

 of 14 in 1 in (4.29 m) and a draft

Draft (hull)

The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...

 of 9 in 4 in (2.84 m). She was outfitted with two shafts powered by twin 300 bhp Sulzer

Sulzer (manufacturer)

Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly owned company with international subsidiaries...

 diesel engine

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

s for surface running at up to 13.2 knots, and twin 160 hp Ansaldo

Gio. Ansaldo & C.

Ansaldo was one of Italy's oldest and most important engineering companies, existing for 140 years from 1853 to 1993.-From foundation to World War I:...

 electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

s for a maximum of 8 knots when submerged. Nereide was armed with two 17.7 inches (449.6 mm) bow torpedo tubes and could carry up to 4 torpedoes. She was designed for a complement of 19—2 officers and 17 sailors.

Nereide was laid down at the Venice Navy Yard on 1 August 1911, and was launched on 12 July 1913. It is not known when Nereide was commissioned, but it was most likely after her completion on 20 December 1913. Little is known about Nereides service career in the Règia Marina before August 1915.

Sinking

After Italy's entry into World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the country's armed forces occupied the island of Pelagosa in the central Adriatic. After scouting reports from the German submarine and from an Austro-Hungarian reconnaissance aircraft reported a French or Italian submarine—which was, in fact, Nereide—at Pelagosa in early August 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Navy

Austro-Hungarian Navy

The Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Its official name in German was Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine , abbreviated as k.u.k. Kriegsmarine....

 dispatched its submarine , under the command of Georg Ritter von Trapp

Georg Ritter von Trapp

Korvettenkapitän Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp , known as Baron von Trapp, was an Austro-Hungarian Navy officer. His exploits at sea during World War I earned him numerous decorations, including the prestigious Military Order of Maria Theresa...

,Georg Ritter von Trapp

Georg Ritter von Trapp

Korvettenkapitän Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp , known as Baron von Trapp, was an Austro-Hungarian Navy officer. His exploits at sea during World War I earned him numerous decorations, including the prestigious Military Order of Maria Theresa...

 was the patriarch of the von Trapp family made famous in The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...

. from nearby Lissa

Vis (island)

Vis is the most outerly lying larger Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, and is part of the Central Dalmatian group of islands, with an area of 90.26 km² and a population of 3,617 . Of all the inhabited Croatian islands, it is the farthest from the coast...

. On the morning of 5 August, Nereide was on the surface, moored under a cliff in the island's harbor.

When U-5 surfaced just offshore, Nereides commanding officer, Capitano di Corvetta Carlo del Greco, cast off the lines and maneuvered to get a shot at von Trapp's boat. Nereide launched a torpedo at U-5 but missed, after which del Greco ordered his boat down. U-5 lined up a shot and launched a single torpedo at the slowly submerging target, striking her, and sending her to the bottom with all hands.Stern (p. 40) reports 20 men were killed when Nereide went down; Sieche (p. 22) reports a loss of 17. Carlo del Greco received the Medaglia d'Oro al Valore Militare

Gold Medal of Military Valor

The Gold Medal of Military Valor is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia "....per bassi ufficiali e soldati che avevano fatto azioni di segnalato valore in guerra" .The face of the medal displayed the profile of the king, and on its reverse was a flag...

for his actions.

Nereides wreck was located in 1972 at position 42°23′N 16°16′E.