Small submarine type CD (Italy)
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Type CD is a small submarine of the Italian Navy . The boat designed by Secondo Campini for the Caproni works during World War II had a water jet propulsion system for underwater travel. It did not get beyond the prototype stage until the end of the war.
Development history
In February 1942, the Italian Navy commissioned Secondo Campini to design a small, single-seat turbine-powered submarine. Campini had designed and successfully tested a turbine- powered boat as early as 1931, at that time under the company VENAR (abbreviated for Velivoli e natanti a reazione - German planes and ships with jet propulsion ) , which he founded himself .
In the design of micro-submarine he took to the inventiveness and practical experience of Mario de Bernardi back to this, among other things as a test pilot of also developed by Campini thermal Jets Campini-Caproni CC2 had made, which is why the submarine as a model Campini - De Bernardi is called. The company of the same name, headed by Gianni Caproni and with which VENAR had merged in 1934, was entrusted with the execution of the project .
When, in the course of the first half of 1943, as a result of the increasingly frequent air raids on Milan, the production of the mini submarine type CB manufactured by Caproni in Milan's Taliedo district was relocated to Rovereto , the development department for the type CD, headed by Campini, was also affected.
An increasing shortage of raw materials and materials as well as projects running in parallel meant that no prototype of the type CD had been completed by the armistice of Cassibile in September 1943.
In the period that followed, the Imperial Japanese Navy and the German Navy became interested in the project. The latter finally ordered over 50 boats from Caproni on March 22, 1944.
Following the award of the contract, a workshop was set up in Riva , in which the final assembly of at least one, and depending on the source, two prototypes with subsequent tests took place in Lake Garda .
Description and whereabouts
The type CD was designed according to fluid mechanics , based on the aerodynamic experiences made by Campini in aviation , especially with regard to underwater travel. It looked more like a manned torpedo than a miniature submarine in order to keep drag as low as possible. In the rear third of the hull was the fully retractable tower , which was extended less than a meter when crossing the water. The boat had a pressure hull in which the single-seat operations center was housed and a periscope with an aiming device for the two 450 mm torpedoes . The latter were attached under the hull and were the only armament.
The drive mechanism chosen for the diving trip was innovative. It consisted of a turbine operated with an oxygen- gas mixture, which generated the recoil necessary for propulsion. The oxygen was carried in several pressure bottles built into the fuselage and the oxygen supply to the turbine was controlled via a valve. In addition to the speed, the drive also had the advantage that the submarine was difficult to identify by means of acoustic tracking thanks to the lack of screw noises. By using oxygen instead of compressed air, no air bubbles rose to the surface that could have given away the position of the boat.
In addition to the variant armed with torpedoes, two other models were to be built, one designed for the transport of sticky mines and one for cutting up submarine nets. For the latter variant, special gripping arms were provided on the bow.
The CD type did not go into series production. There is no consistent information about the whereabouts of the prototypes tested in Lake Garda. Depending on the source, one or even both boats are said to have been sunk in the lake by the Germans shortly before the end of the war. According to other sources, American troops were able to secure a prototype when Riva was liberated in late April 1945, which was then brought to the United States .
literature
- Annalisa Cramerotti: Il mezzo d'assalto Campini - De Bernardi in: Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra (ed.): Annali N. 23 2015, Osiride Edizioni, Rovereto 2016.
- Achille Rastelli: Caproni e il mare. Progetti e realizzazioni per la guerra navale di un grande gruppo industriale milanese. Museo Aeronautica Gianni e Timina Caproni di Taliero, Milan 1999. ISBN 978-88-87261-05-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Annalisa Cramerotti: Il mezzo d'assalto Campini - De Bernardi , p. 226
- ^ Achille Rastelli: Caproni e il mare. Progetti e realizzazioni per la guerra navale di un grande gruppo industriale milanese. P. 63
- ↑ a b Achille Rastelli: Caproni e il mare. Progetti e realizzazioni per la guerra navale di un grande gruppo industriale milanese. P. 96
- ↑ Annalisa Cramerotti: Il mezzo d'assalto Campini - De Bernardi , pp. 227-228
- ↑ Annalisa Cramerotti: Il mezzo d'assalto Campini - De Bernardi , pp. 232-233