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The Boats of the Early
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Weapons |
Torpedoes |
| All "Bernardis" excluding the "Pisani" were
fitted with four torpedo tubes aft and four forward. The "Pisani" had only
two tubes aft. All tubes were loaded before leaving port and two extra
torpedoes were stowed in each compartment giving the "Pisani" a total of 10
torpedoes, while all other boats had 12. Torpedoes were loaded through a
special hatch and the operation was very laborious. Once at sea, torpedoes
could be removed from the tubes for limited maintenance (fuel topping). Range, speed and direction of the weapons could be configured while they were inserted in the tubes. The tubes could take a variety of 21' (533 mm) torpedoes produced both by Whitehead and "Silurificio Italiano". Similar to the Royal Navy, the Regia Marina did not experience the kind of massive torpedo failure which plagued the U.S. Navy and the Kriegsmarine. |
Smaller weapons |
| Each boat was equipped with a small armory containing rifles and side arms. |
Deck Guns |
| The early "Bernardis" were fitted with a 4"
(102) mm deck gun caliber 35 produced by O.T.O. (Model 1931, 35 and 38).
These guns had a maximum range of 14,500 meters, but the practical range,
due to the simplicity of the optical range-finder, was much lower. |
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| The "Pisani" carried a total of 168 shells: 22 kg Ap or smaller 13.8 kg conventional shells. The "Bandiera" and “Squalo” had a reserve of 150 shells. The muzzle velocity, originally at around 730 m/s, was later increased to 840 m/s. A well-trained gunnery team could fire eight shells per minute. Shells were loaded from the stowage area below onto the main compartment and from there pushed up to the deck through a tube. The gunners also had access to a ready storage area built into the cunning tower and secured by a watertight hatch. |
Machine Guns |
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All "Bernardis" were equipped with the famous Breda
Model 1931 13.2 mm anti-aircraft machine gun. These guns were mounted on a
single support. The guns were installed on a retractable mount which would
recede into a water-tight tube protected by a small hatch. Upon emerging,
the gunners had to simply release the hatch, lift the guns out of the
enclosure, install a clip and fire. Each clip contained 30 rounds and the
gun could fire up to 400 rounds per minute at a range of 2,000 meters. These
boats had a reserve of 3,000 rounds. As with all Italian submarines, toward
the end of the conflict it was discovered that the 13.2 mm guns were
insufficient in downing large American bombers protected by a thick armor.
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| © 1996-2007 REGIAMARINA (TM) - Terms and Conditions | ||
