My Italy - Chapter 653 Submarine Warfare (Part 1)

How could the Italian government not know about the British resentment towards Italian East Africa? Not only do they know but also what makes the British resentful so deeply. It is the Italian Indian Ocean Fleet stationed in East Africa. To be more precise, it is the submarine formation in the Italian Indian Ocean Fleet.

To say which fleet currently has the most submarines, it must be the Indian Ocean Fleet based in East Africa.

You must know that the Italian Navy currently has a total of 39 submarines, 24 of which are in the Indian Ocean Fleet. Among these 39 submarines, there are three early-build submarines with poor performance and can only be used for teaching, seven offshore submarines, and two more that were put into service after the war. Look, it’s not like the Navy has basically placed all its submarines in the Indian Ocean.

To be fair, it is very reasonable for the Italian Navy to place submarines in the Indian Ocean. Italy in the Mediterranean has an advantage in surface ships. Coupled with the Suez Canal, the most urgent need for submarines is in the Indian Ocean. Because of the location of East Africa, the interception effect in the Indian Ocean is excellent. However, due to the lack of advantage in surface ships , so submarines that can navigate underwater have become the priority choice.

Due to the large investment in Italian submarines, their performance is very good. Take the C-5, which currently has the most equipment in the Italian Navy, as an example. The boat has a total length of 71.55 meters, a width of 7.6 meters, a water displacement of 1,230 tons, and an underwater displacement of 1,510 tons. Equipped with a 76mm deck gun, 4 torpedo tubes (three in the front and one in the back) and 16 torpedoes.

The maximum diving depth is 65 meters, equipped with two 400-horsepower diesel engines, with a maximum speed of 14 knots on the water and 5 knots underwater. The maximum endurance is 7,500 nautical miles/10 knots, and the crew strength is 27 people.

As for the newly developed C-6 submarine, it is even better. The total length is 81.4 meters, the width is 8.1 meters, the water displacement is 1590 tons, and the underwater displacement is 1910 tons. Equipped with a 76mm deck gun, 5 torpedo tubes (three at the front and two at the back) and 22 torpedoes.

The maximum diving depth is 55 meters, equipped with two 500-horsepower diesel engines, with a maximum speed of 14.5 knots on the water and 6 knots underwater. The maximum endurance is 8,000 nautical miles/10 knots, and the crew strength is 29 people.

The Italian Navy not only has excellent submarines, but its use of submarines is also unique in the world.

While countries are still using submarines as auxiliary warships and their combat targets are enemy warships, the Italian Navy has developed a new tactic for submarines, specifically targeting enemy maritime supply transportation lines. This tactic is named the Sea Wolf Tactics. As you can see from the name, it’s obvious that someone with a memory of later generations had a hand in it.

The East African Fleet also had its own countermeasures against the accumulation of British and French troops in Sudan and British East Africa. During this period, its submarine formations frantically attacked transport ships.

On the blue sea and clear sky, the officers and soldiers on the C-27 submarine who had just experienced a storm were relieved.

Although a submarine can travel underwater, it can only do so for two or three hours before it must surface. The reason is simple. Submarines also need to ventilate, otherwise the officers and soldiers inside will suffocate.

And a submarine of more than a thousand tons, although small, is still so helpless in the face of strong winds.

Of course, the officers and soldiers in the submarine also felt uncomfortable. The constant shaking was very uncomfortable, and some people almost vomited out the bitter bile.

The storm finally calmed down, and the captain of C-27 took into consideration everyone’s hard work and gave them a rare break. So in Class A of C-27, the submarine officers and soldiers lying in rows wearing only their underpants enjoyed a rare moment of relaxation.

Some people were not satisfied lying on the sunbath, so they took out the wine they had collected and took a sip. It felt so comfortable. Of course, it is impossible to drink wine alone. After sharing it with comrades, I came back with only half a bottle left. This caused a lot of curses and a lot of laughter from the comrades.

However, there were also people chatting while enjoying the sun bath.

“You said we would be so lucky if we had the U-9. Three 12,000-ton patrol ships were sunk in less than an hour.”

“Defoe, stop daydreaming. I know you also want to be a hero like Captain Widigan. But you only see the success of U-9 and don’t see that there are too many accidental factors. Even now Once again, the U-9 will not be able to reach that level. Look at how effective German submarines are in attacking warships. The failure rate is extremely high.”

This young man named Defoe entered the submarine force before the outbreak of the war. He was good in all other aspects, but he had serious dreams of heroism.

The other crew members on the C-27 told this good guy to wake up. Heroism is a must in the military, especially in the navy, which needs more cooperation. As for the failure of the submarine attack, the high probability means sinking or being captured.

Although he was educated by other crew members, Defoe is also a very persistent person and has no intention of changing his ideas.

Just like this time, Defoe ignored the other party’s words and continued. “Even if we don’t target warships, then why can’t we ask to go to the First Submarine Group? I heard that they achieved good results in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. And I heard that a large part of the ships they sunk They are all military supplies and personnel. If we can be in the first group, we can better attack the British. “

No one refuted Defoe’s words this time, because everyone present basically thought so.

It should be noted here that the submarine fleet is now divided into two groups, of which the first group is responsible for ships mainly passing through the Suez Canal in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Currently, after Italy occupies Malta, the maritime transport route into Western Europe through the Mediterranean Sea is cut off.

However, given the importance of the Suez Canal and the threat that Italian East Africa posed to the British and French colonies, there were also many Allied ships transporting military supplies and soldiers through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Coupled with the narrow waters of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, this also led to the fact that even though Britain and France deployed many warships here, they still could not stop the hunting of the first group.

As for their second group, it is responsible for the Indian Ocean region.

Currently, the shipping routes from India to Europe need to go around the Cape of Good Hope. As the most dangerous waters in East Africa, transport ships departing from India will not go there at all. Instead, they will go directly south to the Maldives Islands, then cross the central Indian Ocean to the Mauritius Islands, and then take the sea off Madagascar to the Cape of Good Hope.

The existing twelve submarines of the Second Brigade are responsible for such a large area. This is too difficult and the results are naturally much less than that of the First Brigade.

The suddenly quiet atmosphere made Captain Claudio, who was sitting aside looking at his wife’s photo, immediately feel something bad happened.

I saw him walking over and patting Defoe on the shoulder. “Defoe, if everyone goes to the Red Sea, Lieutenant Colonel Varela (Commander of the Second Group) will get his ass kicked by Lieutenant General Hilma. You don’t want to see the Lieutenant Colonel get his ass kicked.”

Captain Claudio’s words made the atmosphere lively again. Everyone admires Lieutenant Colonel Barrera for the captain of their submarine brigade.

So a uniform voice sounded. “Of course not.”

At this time, a soldier said funnyly. “Sorry, I wanted to say that I was really looking forward to it.”

“I’ll tell the lieutenant colonel you’re screwed.”

“Don’t worry, we will stop him from filing a complaint because we must all go together.”

Just as everyone was joking with each other, someone suddenly stood up and pointed into the distance.

“Look to the northwest to see if there is a plume of smoke.”

This sentence immediately made the resting crew members stand up and look around, and Captain Claudio even picked up a pair of binoculars to observe carefully.

“There is indeed a smoke column moving to the northwest. There are quite a few ships. Let’s go over and take a look.”

Following Captain Claudio’s words, C-27 immediately became busy, and soon the submarine slowly disappeared on the sea.