The Calvi class is a further development of the Balilla class built by the Ansaldo consortium from 1925 onwards . The later Argo and Tritone classes also descended from the latter . Like the Balilla boats, the Calvi class had a two-hull construction . Due to their size and improved fuel capacity, the Calvi class boats were very well suited for long-haul operations on the high seas. The maneuverability turned out to be very unsatisfactory, which is why these boats were unsuitable for pack operations against convoys and operated mainly as single drivers against slow merchant ships.
Mission history
The three boats were taken over by the Regia Marina until April 1936 and immediately afterwards used in the Spanish Civil War. When the Second World War broke out, the boats formed the U-Boat Squadron 11 in La Spezia and initially operated in the Mediterranean. From 1940, the boats were moved to the Atlantic and placed under the Italian Betasom submarine command in Bordeaux . They were relatively successful. Enrico Tazzoli sank 18 merchant ships with a total of 96,553 tonnes on eight patrols, including a 5,135 t freighter off the Portuguese coast, and rescued survivors of the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis . Pietro Calvi brought it to 34,193 tons, Giuseppe Finzi to 30,760. The boat Pietro Calvi was sunk south of the Azores on July 15, 1942 , while Enrico Tazzoli suffered the same fate in May 1943 in the Bay of Biscay .
Since the clumsy Italian long-haul boats were less and less suitable for offensive operations and the German navy lacked trained crews for their very good boats of the type VIIC , it was agreed in 1942 to use seven German boats with Italian crews and as many Italian boats for transport tasks, in particular to be converted for trips to Japan . From the Calvi class, the Enrico Tazzoli and Giuseppe Finzi boats were converted for this purpose. The former left Bordeaux on May 16, 1943 with 165 tons of material and was lost shortly afterwards. The boat Giuseppe Finzi was taken over by the German Navy as UIT 21 in September 1943 , but no longer used and sunk on July 25, 1944 in the port of Le Verdon ( Gironde department ).
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