Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini

	Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini in the Inland Sea, Japan in August 1944.
History
Italy
Name	Comandante Cappellini
Laid down	25 April 1938
Launched	14 May 1939
Commissioned	23 September 1939
Renamed	Aquilla III in May 1943
Fate	Captured by Japan on 10 September 1943 and handed over to Germany
Service record as Comandante Cappellini
Commanders:	C.C. Cristiano Masi; C.C. Salvatore Todaro; T.V. Aldo Lenzi; T.V. Marco Revedin; C.C. Walter Auconi;
Victories:	5 merchant ships sunk ; (31,648 GRT)
Nazi Germany
Name	UIT-24
Acquired	10 September 1943
Commissioned	6 December 1943
Fate	Incorporated into Japanese Navy after German surrender on 10 May 1945
Notes	Mixed Italian / German crew
Service record as UIT-24
Part of:	12th U-boat Flotilla; December 1943 – September 1944; 33rd U-boat Flotilla; October 1944 – May 1945;
Identification codes:	M 31 365
Commanders:	Oblt.z.S. Heinrich Pahls; 6 December 1943 – 8 May 1945;
Operations:	6 patrols
Victories:	None
Japan
Name	I-503
Acquired	10 May 1945
Commissioned	14 July 1945
Fate	Captured by the U.S. Navy in August 1945 and scuttled on 16 April 1946
Notes	Mixed Italian / German / Japanese crew
Service record as I-503
Commanders:	Kaigun-tai-i Shuzo Hirota; 14 July – 30 October 1945; Kaigun-tai-i Chiaki Tanaka; 30 October – 1 December 1945;
Operations:	None
Victories:	None
General characteristics
Class & type	Marcello-class submarine
Displacement	1,060 long tons (1,077 t) surfaced; 1,313 long tons (1,334 t) submerged;
Length	73 m (239 ft 6 in)
Beam	7.19 m (23 ft 7 in)
Draught	5.1 m (16 ft 9 in)
Propulsion	Diesel-electric; 2 × Fiat diesel engines; 2 × CRDA electric motors;
Speed	17.4 knots (32.2 km/h; 20.0 mph) surfaced; 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) submerged;
Complement	58
Armament	8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 4 stern); 2 × 100 mm (4 in)/47 caliber guns; 4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns;

Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini was a World War II Italian Marcello-class submarine built for the Italian Royal Navy (Italian: Regia Marina). After Italy's surrender, the submarine was captured by the Japanese and handed over to Germany as UIT-24. Following the capitulation of Germany, the Japanese integrated the boat into their fleet as I-503 (Japanese: 伊号第五百三潜水艦).

The Comandante Cappellini and sister submarine Luigi Torelli were the only two ships to fly the flags of all three main Axis powers during World War II.