''Comandante Faà di Bruno'', also referred to by its shortened name ''Faà di Bruno'', was a built for the

Royal Italian Navy The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to ''Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origins ...

(''Regia Marina'') in the 1930s. It was sunk in 1940 by British and Canadian

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s escorting a convoy.

Design and description

The ''Marcello''-class submarines were designed as improved versions of the preceding . They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of .Chesneau, p. 305 For surface running, the boats were powered by two

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

. When submerged each propeller was driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the ''Marcello'' class had a range of at , submerged, they had a range of at . The boats were armed with eight internal

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, four each in the bow and stern. One reload were stowed for each tube, which gave them a total of sixteen

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es. They were also armed with two guns and four machine guns for combat on the surface.

Construction and career

It was sunk on 8 November 1940 by a combined effort from the destroyers of the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

, and of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

after attacking

Convoy HX 84 Convoy HX 84 was the 84th of the numbered series of Allied North Atlantic HX convoys of merchant ships from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Bermuda to Liverpool, England, during the Battle of the Atlantic. Thirty-eight ships escorted by the armed m ...

they were defending.Rohwer, p. 48

Notes

References

* * *
uboat.net Comandante Faà di Bruno (FB, I.5) Faà di Bruno Accessed 2 May 2022

External links

''Faa di Bruno'' at regiamarina.net

Comandante Faà di Bruno
Marina Militare website {{DEFAULTSORT:Comandante Faa di Bruno Marcello-class submarines Ships built by OTO Melara Ships built in La Spezia Lost submarines of Italy World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean 1939 ships Maritime incidents in November 1940 Submarines sunk by Canadian warships Submarines sunk by British warships

Design and description

Construction and career

See also

Notes

References

External links