Italian submarine Squalo (1930)

Squalo was the lead ship of her class of four submarines built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the late 1920s. The boat served in World War II and was decommissioned in 1948.

Design and description
The Squalo-class submarines were essentially repeats of the preceding Bandiera-class submarine. They displaced 920 t surfaced and 1125 t submerged. The submarines were 69.8 m long, had a beam of 7.21 m and a draft of 5.19 m. They had an operational diving depth of 90 m. Their crew numbered 53 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 650 bhp electric motor. They could reach 15.1 kn on the surface and 8 kn underwater. On the surface, the Squalo class had a range of 5650 nmi at 8 kn, submerged, they had a range of 100 nmi at 3 kn.

The boats were armed with eight internal 53.3 cm torpedo tubes, four each in the bow and stern. They carried a total of a dozen torpedoes. They were also armed with one 102 mm deck gun for combat on the surface. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of two 13.2 mm machine guns.

Construction and career
Squalo, named for the shark, was laid down on 10 October 1928 at the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico (CRDA) shipyard at Monfalcone. She was launched on 15 January 1930 and completed on 10 October.