Laid down by Italy as Commandante Cappellini, the submarine sank five merchant vessels during its Italian service. After the Italian armistice, Japan captured it and transferred it to Germany as UIT-24. It later passed into Japanese service with a mixed Italian, German, and Japanese crew before U.S. forces captured it at the war's end. Its itinerary captures the shifting authority and improvised logistics of Axis maritime cooperation, while its failure to score further sinkings shows that transferring a boat did not automatically transfer operational success.
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One submarine's passage through three Axis navies
Commandante Cappellini became a rare case of a boat serving Italian, German, and Japanese forces during the war.