Italian submarine Argonauta (1931)

Argonauta was the lead ship of her class of seven submarines built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the early 1930s.

Design and description
The Argonauta class was derived from the earlier Squalo-class submarines. They displaced 650 LT surfaced and 800 LT submerged. The submarines were 61.5 m long, had a beam of 5.7 m and a draft of 4.7 m. They had an operational diving depth of 80 m. Their crew numbered 44 officers and enlisted men.

For surface running, the boats were powered by two 750 bhp diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 400 hp electric motor. They could reach 14 kn on the surface and 8 kn underwater. On the surface, the Settembrini class had a range of 5000 nmi at 8 kn; submerged, they had a range of 110 nmi at 3 kn.

The boats were armed with six 53.3 cm torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern for which they carried a total of 12 torpedoes. They were also armed with a single 102 mm deck gun forward 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
Argonauta was laid down by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico at their Monfalcone shipyard in 1929, launched on 19 January 1931 and completed the following year.