Mameli class
 Giovanni da Procida
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The Mameli-class submarines were built in the 1920s for the Italian Regia Marina and were used in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic during World War II , most recently for training and testing purposes.
history
After the First World War , the Italian Navy did not begin building new submarines until 1925. As an experiment, a few classes were built with only a few boats, on the basis of which improved types were then to be developed in larger series. At the beginning of this development there were two classes of medium-sized boats: the Mameli class designed by the marine engineer Virginio Cavallini and the Pisani class by the marine engineer Curio Bernardis .
In contrast to the Pisani class, the four Mameli class boats built in Taranto at the Tosi shipyard there proved to be stable and easy to maneuver. In 1927 the type boat Mameli set a new diving record with 117 meters. The too large towers of practically all Italian submarines proved to be disadvantageous, especially during World War II . On the one hand, with their closed bridge deck, they provided the crew members deployed there with a certain level of comfort; on the other hand, they made these towers above water extremely conspicuous and often fatally extended the submergence time. The boats of the Mameli class were single-hulled boats with a saddle tank , which is why they were also referred to as "partial double-hulled boats" or the "Cavallini type".
From February 1942, the Mameli boats were initially kept in reserve due to their age, but were then modernized. They received a new propulsion system that allowed the top speed to be increased from 15 to 17 knots. The boats used by the Allies after the Armistice of Cassibile operated from February 1944 to August 1945 from bases on the US east coast, from Bermuda and from Guantanamo in the Atlantic and the Caribbean.
Boats of the class
The four boats of the class formed the 34th submarine squadron of the 3rd submarine group in Messina in 1940 .
Goffredo Mameli
The after freedom fighter, philosopher and poet Goffredo Mameli named type boat was on 17 August 1925 on keel laid on the 9 December 1926 stack left and commissioned on 20 January 1929th Shortly before commissioning, there was a collision with the tug San Pietro on September 29, 1928 , with the submarine being damaged. In 1940 it operated off Malta , where it sank the Greek steamer Raula (1044 GRT) with the on- board cannon on the night of August 1st , after its crew had taken to safety. Further missions off Malta were unsuccessful until September 1941. Because of the poor condition of the propulsion system, it was assigned to the submarine school in Pola . After initial modernization work, it carried out three more unsuccessful patrols. At the time of the armistice, renovations were carried out again. Until 1945 it served the US naval aviators from Bermuda mainly for anti-submarine training. It returned to Italy from Key West on September 8, 1945 , remained there in reserve and was scrapped in 1948.
Pier Capponi
Named after the Florentine commander Piero Capponi called submarine was on 27 August 1925 on keel laid on from 1 April 1928 stack left and commissioned on 20 January 1929th In the summer of 1940 it operated in the Strait of Sicily , where it sank the armed Swedish steamer "Elgö" (or "Helge", 1888 BRT) rented by the British on the night of June 21st to 22nd. On the night of July 11-12, 1940, it attacked British battleships near Malta, but missed them. British destroyers hunted the boat and damaged it with depth charges . Shortly thereafter, there was an exchange of fire with a Maltese boat and Maltese coastal batteries. On September 1, the boat Capponi attacked a British destroyer near Malta without success and was able to evade its counterattack. On November 9, 1940, a torpedo attack on a British unit off Malta ( Operation Coat ) was unsuccessful. A patrol started on February 24, 1941 had to be canceled due to an accident. On March 31, 1941, the boat was sunk by the British submarine HMS Rorqual near Stromboli on the journey from Messina to La Spezia .
Giovanni da Procida
The after Procida Giovanni da named submarine was on 21 September 1925 on keel laid by on April 1, 1928 stack left and commissioned on 20 January 1929th It undertook a total of 16 patrols in the Strait of Sicily, Malta, the Aegean Sea, the Strait of Otranto and Liguria , but without success. From April 1941 to February 1942 it was used from La Spezia for anti-submarine training, after which it was modernized there. In 1945 it returned from Bermuda to Italy, where it was broken up in 1948.
Tito Speri
The after freedom fighter Tito Speri named submarine was on 18 September 1925 on keel laid by on May 25, 1928 stack left and put into service on August 20, 1929th In the early 1930s, the boat carried out a test mission in the Atlantic. On December 17, 1935, it accidentally collided with the Bragadin submarine in the Gulf of Taranto , both of which were badly damaged. In June 1938 it tested the so-called "Girosi apparatus", which allowed a submerged boat to ignite fuel that had previously been drained from the surface. During the Second World War it completed nine unsuccessful patrols off North Africa and in the Strait of Otranto. Because of its condition, it was placed under the submarine school in Pola in the spring of 1941, for which it undertook 65 training trips and four patrol trips. From February 1942 it was modernized in Taranto. After the armistice, it made 120 trips off the east coast of the USA and in the Caribbean, most of which served the aforementioned training purposes. In 1948 it was broken up in Italy.
literature
- Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II . Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1996. ISBN 3-613-01252-9
- Giorgio Giorgerini: Uomini sul fondo. Storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi. Mondadori, Milan 2002. ISBN 978-8804505372
- Robert Jackson: Submarines . Gondromverlag, Bindlach 2001. ISBN 3-8112-1874-3