Parona arrived in Bordeaux at the end of August 1940 and quickly organized the new base. Admiral Karl Dönitz and the Seekriegsleitung judged Parona favourably, for his cleverness, determination and readiness to cooperate with the German commands, while some Italian admirals considered him excessively "pro-German" and thought that he overestimated the capacity of the Italian submarines and their inexperienced crews, completely unprepared for the Atlantic conditions, to operate in the Northern Atlantic. Italian submarines started to operate in the Atlantic in the summer of 1940, but achieved little success; Parona, disappointed by the initial results of his submarines, reprimanded harshly several of his submarine commanders, whom he expected should be able to obtain a performance comparable to that of the U-Boats, disregarding their lack of experience, inadequate rules, and technical defects of the boats. Parona's excessive sternness caused frictions both between him and some of his commanders, and between him and Supermarina, the latter recommending that he should tone down his criticism and be less influenced by the Germans.
