Italian submarine Galileo Galilei

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Galileo Galilei
Career (Italy)
Name:	Galileo Galilei
Launched:	19th March 1934
Fate:	Commissioned into the Royal Navy June 1942 as HMS X 2, BU 1 January 1946
Status:	Scrapped
General characteristics
Displacement:	880 tons surfaced 1230 tons submerged
Length:	70.5 metres
Beam:	6.87 metres
Draft:	4.12 metres
Speed:	17 knots surfaced 7.7 knots submerged
Complement:	55
Armament:	8 21-inch torpedo tubes (2 fore, 2 aft) two 3.9-inch 43 cal deck guns two 13.2 mm AA guns

Galileo Galilei was an Italian Archimede class submarine which served in the Regia Marina during World War II before its capture by the Royal Navy in 1940.

She was stationed in the Red Sea in June 1940 as a unit of the Italian Red Sea Flotilla. On 16 June 1940, she sank the Norwegian tanker James Stove approximately 12 miles south of Aden, following which aircraft from the cruiser HMS Leander carried out a search for her without success.

On 18 June, the ASW Trawler HMS Moonstone sighted the periscope of Galileo Galilei and carried out an attack with two depth charges, forcing the submarine to surface at the position 12.48N, 45.12E. The submarine surrendered after a brief engagement and was towed into Aden. Twelve members of the submarine's crew were killed during the action including the commanding officer, and four wounded. The submarine's codebooks and operational documents were captured intact by the Royal Navy, and revealed the exact position of other Italian naval units.

Galileo Galilei was commissioned into the Royal Navy in June 1942 as HMS X2 (later changed to P 711), and was operated as a training boat in the East. It was scrapped on 1 January 1946.

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