Brin-class submarine
 Archimede in Bordeaux | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Brin-class submarines |
| Builders: | Tosi |
| Operators: |
_crowned.svg.png){kind=small} Regia Marina |
| Preceded by: | Archimede class |
| Succeeded by: | Liuzzi class |
| Built: | 1936–39 |
| In commission: | 1938–48 |
| Completed: | 5 |
| Lost: | 4 |
| Scrapped: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Submarine |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 72.47 m (237 ft 9 in) |
| Beam: | 6.68 m (21 ft 11 in) |
| Draft: | 4.54 m (14 ft 11 in) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: |
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| Range: |
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| Test depth: | 80 m (260 ft) |
| Complement: | 58 |
| Armament: |
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The Brin-class submarine was a group of five long-range submarines built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) during the 1930s.
Design and description
The Brin-class submarines were improved versions of the preceding Archimede class. Two boats were replacements for submarines of that class that were secretly transferred to the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. They displaced 1,000 metric tons (980 long tons) surfaced and 1,254 metric tons (1,234 long tons) submerged. The submarines were 72.47 meters (237 ft 9 in) long, had a beam of 6.68 meters (21 ft 11 in) and a draft of 4.54 meters (14 ft 11 in). The class was partially double hulled.[1]
For surface running, the boats were powered by two 1,500-brake-horsepower (1,119 kW) diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 550-horsepower (410 kW) electric motor. They could reach 17.3 knots (32.0 km/h; 19.9 mph) on the surface and 7.8 knots (14.4 km/h; 9.0 mph) underwater. On the surface, the Brin class had a range of 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph), submerged, they had a range of 90 nmi (170 km; 100 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph).[2]
The boats were armed with eight internal 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes, four each in the bow and stern. They carried a total of 14 torpedoes. They were also armed with one 100 mm (3.9 in) deck gun for combat on the surface. The gun was initially mounted in the rear of the conning tower, but this was re-sited on the forward deck later in the war in the surviving boats and the large conning tower was re-built to a smaller design. The light anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two pairs of 13.2 millimeters (0.52 in) machine guns.[1]
Ships
| Ship | Namesake | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brin | Benedetto Brin | 3 April 1938 | Surrendered to the Allies in 1943, discarded Feb 1948 |
| Galvani | Luigi Galvani | 22 May 1938 | Sunk by British sloop HMS Falmouth near Persian Gulf 26 June 1940 |
| Guglielmotti | 5 March 1939 | Sank the Greek cargo ship Atlas in the Red Sea on 6 September 1940. Torpedoed by HMS Unbeaten 17 March 1942 | |
| Archimede | Archimedes | 5 March 1939 | Escaped from East Africa in 1941 to Bordeaux, Sunk by US Navy Catalina flying boat off Brazil 16 March 1943 |
| Torricelli | Evangelista Torricelli | 26 March 1939 | Sunk in the Red Sea, 23 June 1940 by British destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Khartoum, HMS Kingston and sloop HMS Shoreham, The submarine was commanded by Salvatore Pelosi |
See also
- Italian submarines of World War II
- List of ships of the Second World War
- List of ship classes of the Second World War
Notes
References
- Bagnasco, Erminio (1977). Submarines of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-962-6.
- Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.