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Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci

Rm-Da-Vinci.jpg
Leonardo da Vinci in 1940
History
Italy
Name: Leonardo da Vinci
Builder: CRDA (Monfalcone, Italy)
Launched: 16 September 1939
Homeport: BETASOM, Bordeaux
Fate: Sunk 24 May 1943
General characteristics
Class and type: Marconi-class submarine
Displacement:
  • 1,175 long tons (1,194 t) standard
  • 1,465 long tons (1,489 t) full load
Length: 76.5 m (251 ft)
Beam: 6.81 m (22.3 ft)
Draught: 4.72 m (15.5 ft)
Propulsion:
  • Diesel engines, 3,600 hp (2,685 kW) (surfaced)
  • Electric motors 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) (submerged)
  • 2 shafts
Speed:
  • 17.8 knots (33.0 km/h; 20.5 mph) surfaced
  • 8.2 kn (15.2 km/h; 9.4 mph) submerged
Complement: 57
Armament:
  • 1 × 100 mm (4 in) gun
  • 4 × 13.2 mm anti-aircraft guns
  • 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 4 stern)
  • 12 torpedoes

Leonardo da Vinci was a Marconi-class submarine of the Italian navy during World War II. It operated in the Atlantic from September 1940 until its loss in May 1943, and became the top scoring non-German submarine of the entire war.

Leonardo da Vinci was built at the CRDA shipyard in Monfalcone, near Trieste, Italy’s leading submarine builder. One of six boats of the Marconi class, which were laid down in 1938-39, Leonardo da Vinci was launched in September 1939. Designed as an ocean-going vessel, she was intended for operations both in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic.

With Italy’s entry into World War II in June 1940 Leonardo da Vinci was dispatched to the Atlantic to Bordeaux in occupied France to serve in the Italian submarine flotilla there, BETASOM. She arrived October 1940 after a successful transit of the Straits of Gibraltar, scene of a number of Axis submarine losses.

Leonardo da Vinci carried out 11 war patrols, sinking 17 ships of 120,243 GRT, which included the 21,500-ton ocean liner RMS Empress of Canada. Leonardo da Vinci was Italy's most successful submarine in World War II, and her captain, Lt. Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia, Italy's leading submarine ace. In July 1942 Leonardo da Vinci was assigned to a special operation aimed at mounting raids on harbours on the eastern seaboard of the United States. To this end she was converted to carry a CA-class midget submarine, and during the autumn engaged in trials with the new weapon. However, the operation was delayed due to the need for modifications to the CA craft and Leonardo da Vinci returned to action to the Atlantic.


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