Italian submarine Topazio


Topazio was one of a dozen s, the second sub-class of the 600 Series of coastal submarines built for the Regia Marina during the early 1930s. She played a minor role in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 supporting the Spanish Nationalists.

Design and description

The Sirena class was an improved and enlarged version of the preceding s. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of. Their crew numbered 45 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 Sirena 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 Škoda 10 cm K10#OTO 100.2F47 History| deck gun forward of the conning tower for combat on the surface. The anti-aircraft armament consisted of two or four Breda Model 1931 Machine Gun| machine guns.

Construction and career

Topazio was laid down by Cantieri navali del Quarnaro at their Fiume shipyard in 1931, launched on 15 May 1933 and completed the following year. During the Spanish Civil War, she bombarded Valencia with 34 shells on the night of 12/13 February 1937.