a submarine on the surface. Since it was impossible to recognize the nationality of a submarine at night, it was a normal practice to consider all unknown submarines enemies, unless a presence of a submarine was communicated to the captain. At 1:21 Tricheco launched two torpedoes from a short distance against an "enemy" ship. Gemma was hit by both torpedoes right in the middle and immediately sank with the entire crew in the position just off the coast of Karpathos. Captain Cordero di Montezemolo, four other officers, and 39 other crew members went down with the boat. Initially the disappearance of Gemma was attributed to British anti-submarine activity, as the October 8th radio news reported the loss of two enemy submarines with several survivors captured which gave families some hope. However, soon the coincidence between Trichecos attack and the disappearance of Gemma became all too obvious. Gemma was declared as lost, and her crew was declared dead, rather than missing. Notes References Perla-class submarines World War II submarines of Italy Lost submarines of Italy Maritime incidents in October 1940 World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea 1936 ships Ships built by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico Ships built in Monfalcone Ships lost with all hands Friendly fire incidents of World War II Submarines sunk by submarines Ships sunk by Italian submarines