Marcello class

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Marcello class
Marina Regia
General data
Ship type : Submarine
Navy : Marina Regia
Builder : OTO ( Muggiano, La Spezia ), CRDA ( Monfalcone )
Units: 11 (see list)
Technical specifications
Crew: 58 men
Displacement :
  • over water: 1,060 ts
  • under water: 1,313 ts
Length : 73 m
Width: 7.19 m
Draft : 5.1 m
Drive :
Speed surfaced: 17.4 kn
Speed submerged: 8 kn
Driving range: 7,500 nm at 9.4 kn
Fuel supply: 59 t
Diving depth : 100+ m
Armament
Torpedoes : 8 × 533 mm torpedo tubes (16 torpedoes)
Guns : 2 × 100/47 mm
Air defense : 4 x 13.2 mm

The submarines of the Marcello class were from 1937 to 1939 for the Italian Navy built and in the Second World War, mainly in the Atlantic used.

Building history

Nine of the eleven boats in the class were built by the CRDA shipyard in Monfalcone , the last two by the OTO shipyard in Muggiano near La Spezia . The class was named after the Venetian admiral Lorenzo Marcello .

The Marcello class was a further development of the Glauco class and as such was one of the most technically sophisticated deep-sea submarine classes in Italy during World War II. Shortly before the outbreak of war, the Marcello class was followed by the somewhat larger Marconi class . In contrast to the two-hulled boats of the Balilla or later Calvi class , these relatively large long-haul boats only had one hull. As with some other Italian submarine classes, the Marcello class boats had too massive and too high a tower that had to be rebuilt during the war. Further technical and logistical difficulties arose from the fact that the Regia Marina had too many classes built with too few boats each. Two boats of the class were converted into transport boats.

Mission history

The Marcello class boats were among the most successful boats in the Italian Navy. They were all initially used in the Mediterranean. After the boat Provana was sunk there, the ten remaining ones were moved to the Atlantic, where they operated from Bordeaux against allied merchant ships. Three boats, Emo, Veniero and Mocenigo , were later recalled to the Mediterranean. Of the eleven boats, only Dandolo survived the war, which torpedoed the British cruiser HMS Cleopatra and badly damaged it on July 16, 1943 . In total, the boats of the class 28 merchant ships (136,020 GRT) and damaged 17 more (60,835 GRT).

Boats of the class

Until the autumn of 1940, the boats were under the 12th submarine squadron in La Spezia and the 21st and 22nd squadron in Naples. Then they were led by the Italian Betasom submarine command in Bordeaux, unless they were used again in the Mediterranean.

  boat   Namesake Shipyard Keel laying Launch Commissioning Whereabouts
R.Smg. Lorenzo Marcello Lorenzo Marcello CRDA Monfalcone January 4, 1937 September 20, 1937 March 5, 1938 sunk by HMS Montgomery in the North Atlantic on February 22, 1941
R.Smg. Giacomo Nani Giacomo Nani CRDA Monfalcone January 15, 1937 January 16, 1938 September 5, 1938 sunk by HMS Anemone near Iceland on January 7, 1941
R.Smg. Sebastiano Veniero Sebastiano Venier CRDA Monfalcone January 23, 1937 September 14, 1938 May 6, 1938 Sunk near Sardinia on June 7, 1942
R.Smg. Lazzaro Mocenigo Lazzaro Mocenigo CRDA Monfalcone January 19, 1937 November 20, 1937 August 16, 1938 Sunk by US aircraft in Cagliari on May 13, 1943
R.Smg. Andrea Provana Andrea Provana CRDA Monfalcone February 3, 1937 March 16, 1938 July 27, 1938 rammed and sunk on June 17, 1940 near Oran by Aviso La Curieuse
R.Smg. Agostino Barbarigo Agostino Barbarigo CRDA Monfalcone February 6, 1937 June 12, 1938 September 19, 1938 Sunk in the Bay of Biscay on June 19, 1943
R.Smg. Angelo Emo Angelo Emo CRDA Monfalcone February 16, 1937 June 29, 1938 October 14, 1938 Sunk in the Mediterranean on November 10, 1942
R.Smg. Francesco Morosini Francesco Morosini CRDA Monfalcone March 2, 1937 July 28, 1938 November 11, 1938 Sunk in the Bay of Biscay on August 11, 1942
R.Smg. Enrico Dandolo Enrico Dandolo CRDA Monfalcone June 14, 1937 September 20, 1937 March 25, 1938 handed over to the Allies on September 8, 1943, scrapped in 1947
R.Smg. Comandante Cappellini Alfredo Cappellini OTO Muggiano (SP) April 25, 1938 May 14, 1939 September 23, 1939 Transport boat, taken over by Japan on September 8, 1943 in Sepang
R.Smg. Comandante Faà di Bruno Emilio Faà di Bruno OTO Muggiano April 28, 1938 June 18, 1939 October 23, 1939 Sunk by HMS Havelock west of Scotland on November 8, 1940

See also

literature

  • Robert Jackson: Submarines . Gondromverlag, Bindlach, 2001, ISBN 3-8112-1874-3
  • Erminio Bagnasco: Submarines in World War II , Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 5th edition 1996, ISBN 3-613-01252-9

Web links