Italian submarine Argonauta (1931)
Argonauta was the lead ship of her class of seven submarines built for the (Royal Italian Navy) during the early 1930s. Design and description The Argonauta class was derived from the earlier s. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of . They had an operational diving depth of . Their crew numbered 44 officers and enlisted men. For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Settembrini class had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at . The boats were armed with six 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 deck gun forward of the conning tower for combat on the surface. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of two single 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