Italian R-class submarine

Class overview
Name:	Romolo
Builders:	Tosi, CRDA
Operators:	Regia Marina
Built:	1942-1943
In service:	1943
Planned:	12
Completed:	2
Cancelled:	10
Lost:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Submarine
Displacement:	2,155 tons (surface) 2,560 tons (submerged)
Tons burthen:	600 tons cargo
Length:	86.5 m
Beam:	7.86 m
Draught:	5.34 m
Propulsion:	(surfaced/submerged) diesel / electric , 2 shafts 2,600 hp / 900 hp
Speed:	14 / 6.5 knots (surfaced/submerged)
Range:	12,000 nm at 9 knots
Complement:	63
Armament:	2 x 450mm torpedo tubes bow, 3 - 20mm AA guns

The R-class or Romolo-class were a group of submarines built for the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina Italiana) during World War II. These submarines were designed as blockade running transport submarines for transporting high-value cargo from Europe to Japan and from Japan to Europe. Axis-occupied Europe lacked strategic materials such as tungsten, tin and some commodities such as rubber. The cargo capacity was 600 tons. A limited armament was fitted for self-defense.

Boats

Twelve boats were ordered, but only two were completed, by Tosi:

• Remo, named after Remus, launched 28 March 1943 — Sunk by British Submarine HMS United 15 July 1943 in the Gulf of Taranto
• Romolo, named after Romulus, launched 21 March 1943 — Sunk by Allied aircraft near Augusta 18 July 1943.

The remaining 10 hulls were scuttled incomplete and scrapped after the war.

See also

• Italian submarines of World War II
• Merchant submarine
• German submarine Deutschland, an unarmed transport submarine built by Germany in World War I.

References

• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946