Chief Engine Room Artificer
George William Zoppi
H.M. Submarine Phoenix, Royal Navy, P/M 33244
Killed by enemy action
Date of Birth: 22nd of June 1902
Place of Birth: Greenwich, London
Date of Death: 21st July 1940
Buried: Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 41, Column 1.
Awarded the 1939-45 Star, and the War Medal 1939-1945
Son of Emile and Jesse Zoppi and husband of Alma May Zoppi, of Teignmouth, Devon.
In the 1911 census the Zoppi family are living at 83, Shadwell Road, North End, Portsmouth, Hampshire. father, Emile Zoppi, aged 35, is Chief Engine Room Articer in the Royal navy, and his mother is Frances Jessie Zoppi, aged 34.
On George's 18th birthday, 22nd of June 1920, he engaged with the Royal navy for a period of 12 years, P/M 33244. Height 5' 9 1/2", chest 33 1/2", hair and complexion is fair, eyes are grey.
In the 1st quarter of 1927, George William Zoppi married Alma May Osborne which was registered at Newton Abbot.
HMS Phoenix
HMS Phoenix N96 - https://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3402.html uboat.net
On July 16th, 1940, the HMS submarine Phoenix, built in 1928 by Cammell Laird & Company, attacked the Italian torpedoboat Albatros, but was sunk by depth charges by Albatros. 55 people lost their lives
or
At 1252 hours (Rome time) HMS Phoenix (Lieutenant Commander G.H. Nowell, Royal Navy) possibly attacked the Italian tanker Dora C, with torpedoes off Augusta, Sicily, Italy.
The escorting Italian torpedo boat Albatros sighted 2 torpedoes. Albatros then possibly sank Phoenix during the counter attack in which a pattern of 10 depth charges was dropped followed by another pattern of 8.
Albatros observed bubbles of air, no oil was seen, and believed that the submarine may have been damaged, it did not claim a sinking at the time. At the time of the attack Albatros was the only Italian vessel equipped with an experimental sonar but it broke down and was not used in the attack.
Albatros subchaser or torpedo boat By Unknown author - www.naviearmatori.net, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60578549
So it is quite possible that she was sunk by Albatros on this day but is also possible that the torpedo tracks seen by Albatros were porpoises, a frequent mistake!
HMS Phoenix was ordered to return to Malta on the 14th of July and she had acknowledged that she had received this signal. It is therefore a bit strange the she would still be in her patrol area around noon on the 16th of July.
There was also an Italian minefield about 4 miles South-East of Augusta, minefield 4 AS, and although HMS Phoenix had orders not to enter the 200 fathom line, an exception could be made if a target was worth it, so it is not impossible that she ran into it.
Chief Engine Room Artificer George William Zoppi, H.M. Submarine Phoenix, Royal Navy, P/M 33244 Commemorative Certificate
