The Adua-class submarine was the fourth sub-class of the 600 Series of coastal submarines built for the (Royal Italian Navy) during the 1930s. There were 17 submarines in this class, almost all named after places in Ethiopia which had been occupied by Italy since 1936, but only one, , survived World War II. Three submarines of this class (Gondar, Ascianghi, and Neghelli) were sold to Brazil before the war and replaced with submarines of the same names.

Design and description The Adua-class submarines were essentially repeats of the preceding design. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of .Chesneau, pp. 309–10

For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Adua class had a range of at , submerged, they had a range of at .Bagnasco, p. 154

The boats were armed with six internal torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern. One reload torpedo was carried for each tube, for a total of twelve. They were also armed with one deck gun for combat on the surface. The light anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two pairs of machine guns.

Ships + List of Adua-class submarines Ship Builder Launched Fate CRDA 13 March 1936 sunk on 30 September 1941, by destroyers and , Western Mediterranean sea CRDA 15 November 1936 sold for scrap on 1 February 1948 CRDA 18 October 1936 sunk on 4 September 1944 in Genoa by Allied bombers OTO 5 December 1937 scuttled near Augusta, Sicily, on 23 July 1943, after attack by destroyers and CRDA 27 September 1936 scuttled near Morea on 28 December 1943, during a mission for the Allies OTO 22 May 1938 sunk by Allied air attack, May 1944 Tosi 22 November 1936 sunk during Operation Pedestal by the British destroyer Tosi 22 November 1936 sunk on 28 November 1942 by destroyers and , near Bona, Algeria. OTO 6 March 1938 scuttled on 18 October 1940 east of Gibraltar after attack by destroyers and OTO 3 October 1937 scuttled on 30 September 1940, near Alexandria, after a 14-hour-long attack by destroyers , and Sunderland flying boats OTO 10 April 1938 sunk on 20 October 1940, north of Melilla by destroyers , and OTO 29 October 1936 assigned to the Red Sea Flotilla and ran aground on 15 June 1940 when the crew was disabled by central nervous system poisoning from a chloromethane leak in the ship's air conditioning system. OTO 7 November 1937 sunk on 19 January 1941 by destroyer OTO 6 January 1938 sunk on 10 August 1942 off Haifa by OTO 6 February 1938 sunk on 2 August 1941, west of Malta, by Tosi 19 September 1937 sunk on 15 December 1942, south of Malta, by and the Greek destroyer Vasilissa Olga Tosi 3 October 1937 sunk on 29 June 1940 by and

Service

The boats, once commissioned, were assigned to complete the squadrons of "600" submarines strengthening the 11th and 14th Squadrons at La Spezia and 43rd at Taranto. After initial training, many of these boats carried out training cruises in the Dodecanese and along the coast of North Africa.

During the Spanish Civil War (1937–1938) five of the submarines already in service made seven special missions on behalf the Franco's regime without much success.

During 1938–39 the boats largely changed their assignment locations: there was at first a single squadron on four submarines at La Spezia four other submarines formed the 23rd Squadron at Naples, and five more were assigned to Leros. In 1939 there was not a single boat of the series at La Spezia, while the squadron at Leros was strengthened. In 1939 four boats from Naples and Taranto bases were sent to Tobruk.

At the outbreak of the World War II, there were four submarines assigned to each of the bases of La Spezia, Cagliari, Messina and Taranto, and one submarine, was located at the Red Sea base of Massawa.

See also Italian submarines of World War II

Notes

References

External links Italian Submarines Class "600"