F17 was an F-class submarine in commission in the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) from 1917 to 1929. She took part in performing antisubmarine patrols during the Mediterranean U-boat campaign and seeing service in the Adriatic Campaign.
Design
Construction and commissioning F17 was laid down by Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando (Orlando Brothers Shipyard) in Livorno (Leghorn), Italy, on 1915. She was launched on 1917 and commissioned on 1917 under the command of Tenente di vascello (Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant) Angelo Parona, a future ammiraglio di divisione (divisional admiral).
Service history In August 1917, the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) assigned F17 to duty with the La Spezia Maritime Command during the Mediterranean U-boat campaign of World War I. Under its control, she conducted antisubmarine patrols in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea.
F17 became part of the 2nd Brindisi Flotilla on 1918 for operations in the Adriatic Sea and subsequently took part in the Adriatic Campaign of . She initially operated as part of the mobile defense of the naval base at Brindisi. In April 1918, she transferred to a base at Venice, from which she conducted six offensive war patrols along the coast of Istria and in the Fasana Channel, but without significant results.
World War I ended in November 1918. After the war, F17 was transferred to the Venice Submarine Squadron. In 1925 she moved to the Submarine Division Command based at Taranto. It took part in the naval maneuvers of 1926 from to , during which she called at Messina in Sicily and at Naples before returning to Taranto. With the other submarines of the 2nd Flotilla, she also participated in the 1927 naval maneuvers, held to , during which she made port calls in Sicily at Messina, Catania, and Syracuse before returning to Taranto.
In July 1929, F17 hosted a test in the Gulf of La Spezia by Tenente di vascello (Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant) Angelo Belloni of a submarine rescue device he had invented.
F17 was decommissioned and stricken from the navy list on 1929. She subsequently was scrapped.
References Citations
Bibliography
External links "A La Spezia il comandante Belloni collauda il suo nuovo apparecchio per il salvataggio dei" ("In La Spezia, Commander Belloni tests his new rescue device"), video on YouTube of F17 filmed in July 1929