Italian submarine Archimede (1933)

Archimede was the lead ship of her class of four submarines built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the early 1930s. She was transferred to the Armada Española (Spanish Navy) of Nationalists in 1937, renamed General Sanjurjo, and served in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939.

Design and description
The Archimede class was an improved and enlarged version of the earlier Settembrini-class submarine. They displaced 970 LT surfaced and 1239 LT submerged. The submarines were 70.5 m long, had a beam of 6.87 m and a draft of 4.12 m. They had an operational diving depth of 90 m Their crew numbered 55 officers and enlisted men.

For surface running, the boats were powered by two 1500 bhp diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 550 hp electric motor. They could reach 17 kn on the surface and 7.7 kn underwater. On the surface, the Archimede class had a range of 10300 nmi at 8 kn; submerged, they had a range of 105 nmi at 3 kn.

The boats were armed with eight 53.3 cm torpedo tubes, four each in the bow and in the stern for which they carried a total of 16 torpedoes. They were also armed with a pair of 100 mm deck guns, one each fore and aft of the conning tower, for combat on the surface. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of two single 13.2 mm machine guns.

Construction and career
Archimede was laid down by Cantieri navali Tosi di Taranto at their Taranto shipyard in 1931, launched on 10 December 1933 and completed the following year. She was transferred to the Spanish Nationalist Navy in April 1937 and renamed General Sanjurjo.