of 18 meters. However, upon examining the surroundings no ships were spotted, and Ambra was forced to resume her approach continuing crawling on the bottom of the bay. Eventually, at 21:45, the submarine arrived near the coast and stopped in the middle of a group of six merchant ships. In view of the delay, it was decided to send SLC units against them. Between 22:50 and 23:20 units were sent out, charges were loaded and they all went off as expected. SS Ocean Vanquisher (7174 GRT) SS Berto (1493 GRT) were sunk, while SS Empire Centaur (7041 GRT) and SS Harmattan (4558 GRT) were seriously damaged. At 2:54, Arillo decided to leave before his submarine was found and destroyed. Ambra again had to crawl out of the harbor and she finally managed to reach the open sea. She surfaced at 19:45 on December 12, after spending 36 hours under water. After three more days at sea, she arrived in La Spezia on December 15. For the operation in Algiers commander Arillo was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor. In March 1943 while stationed in La Spezia, Ambra was damaged by an overnight air raid. After the start of Allied invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943 Ambra was assigned her last task. She was to enter the harbor of Siracusa and destroy as many ships as possible. The submarine had a new commander, as captain Renato Ferrini, a former commander of was appointed prior to the mission. On July 14, 1943, Ambra departed from La Spezia and at night of July 17 arrived close to the Sicilian port. However, after the submarine surfaced at 3:20 on July 18 in the position , Ambra was detected by a British Vickers Wellington bomber of the No. 221 Squadron RAF, piloted by Petty Officer Austin. The Wellington went on the attack, dropping six depth charges. Ambra was not hit directly, but several near misses caused extensive damage. Ambra remained immobilized for half an hour, then the crew succeeded in starting her diesel engines and the submarine started her trip back to Messina where she arrived on July 19. From there she was towed by torpedo boat to Naples. After temporary repairs in Naples Ambra went to La Spezia, where she arrived on July 27. The submarine spent the next month and a half undergoing repair work, which was not finished when the