History
Italy developed the Sauro-class submarines in the 1970s to counter the underwater threat of the Soviet Union. Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri built these vessels in Monfalcone.
The class entered service in 1980 and replaced the mixed fleet of Toti, Tang and Tench class submarines. A further two units, Leonardo da Vinci and the Guglielmo Marconi were commissioned in 1981 and 1982. In 1983 and 1988 two additional pairs of boats were ordered to the Improved Sauro class design. They were delivered in 1988-89 and 1994-95 by Fincantieri. They were eventually succeeded by the Todaro-class (the joint German-Italian Type 212-based group).
Sauro and Cossato were Batch I boats while da Vinci and Marconi were Batch II boats. Pelosi and Prini made up Batch III and Longobardo and Priaroggia were the two Batch IV boats.
- Batches I and II boats displacement was 1,456 tons surfaced and 1,641 tons submerged. The boats carried SMA SPS-704 radar and Elsag-USEA IPD70/S sonar system.
- Batch III 1,476 tons surfaced and 1,662 tons submerged. These boats had SMA MM/BPS-704-V2 radar and STN Atlas Elektronik-ISUS 90–20 series sonar.
- Batch IV 1,653 tons surfaced and 1,862 submerged weight.
Lengths varied between the batches. Beams measured 6.8 meters for all of the class. Draught was increased progressively from 5.3 meters to 6.3 meters. Armament of all the batches was 6 x 533mm torpedo tubes with 12 reloads carried. Batches I and II used Whitehead A-184 torpedo series while batches III and IV used upgraded Whitehead A-184 Mod 3 series.
The Sauro and Marconi were retired in 2001 and 2002 respectively. In 2005, the remaining two original submarines were retired and the remaining four, the Salvatore Pelosi (S522), Giuliano Prini (S523), Primo Longobardo (S524), and Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia (S525) were upgraded. These upgrades included replacement of the acoustic sensors and weapons control system, improvements in the communications system, and extension of the service lines.
US approached Italy to purchase retired Sauro-class submarines. Italy tentatively agreed but Taiwan rejected the offer. The plan called for the US to purchase four submarines when decommissioned, then refurbish them in the US and sell them to Taiwan. Once refurbished, the Italian submarines were expected to be operational for another 15 years, and the deal included an extension program.
USS Volador (SS-490), a Tench-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the volador.
USS Pickerel (SS-524), a Tench-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for a young or small pike.
Nazario Sauro was an Austrian-born Italian irredentist and sailor.
The Marconi class was a class of six submarines built for the Royal Italian Navy. The submarines were all launched between 1939 and 1940, and all but one, Luigi Torelli, were lost in the Atlantic during the Second World War.
Carlo Fecia di Cossato was an officer in the Regia Marina, in command of submarines and torpedo boats during World War II. He was credited with the confirmed sinking of 23 enemy ships. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and of the Gold Medal of Military Valor, the highest decoration of the Italian Armed Forces.
Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia was an officer in the Italian Royal Navy, and was the highest-scoring Italian submarine captain of World War II.
BETASOM was a submarine base established at Bordeaux, France by the Regia Marina Italiana during World War II. From this base, Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from 1940 to 1943 as part of the Axis anti-shipping campaign against the Allies.
Leonardo da Vinci was a Marconi-class submarine of the Italian navy during World War II. It operated in the Atlantic from September 1940 until its loss in May 1943, and became the top scoring non-German submarine of the entire war.
Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia was the name of at least two ships of the Italian Navy named in honour of Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia and may refer to:
Enrico Tazzoli was one of three Calvi-class submarines built for the Regia Marina during the 1930s. Completed in 1936, she played a minor role in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 supporting the Spanish Nationalists. She operated in the Atlantic during the Second World War and was second only to the submarine Leonardo da Vinci as the highest scoring Italian submarine of the conflict. Enrico Tazzoli was converted in 1943 to be a submarine transport for blockade-running between Europe and the Far East. She was lost on her first voyage in this role.
Nazario Sauro was the lead boat of the Sauro-class submarines of the Italian Navy.
Carlo Fecia di Cossato was aSauro-class submarine of the Italian Navy.
Leonardo da Vinci was a Sauro-class submarine of the Italian Navy.
Guglielmo Marconi was a Sauro-class submarine of the Italian Navy.
Salvatore Pelosi is aSauro-class submarine of the Italian Navy.
Giuliano Prini is aSauro-class submarine of the Italian Navy.
Primo Longobardo is a Sauro-class submarine of the Italian Navy.
Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia is a Sauro-class submarine of the Italian Navy.
Primo Longobardo was an Italian naval officer and submariner during World War II.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Italian Navy 
