Category:Guglielmo Marconi Class

The Marconi-class was a class of six ocean-going submarines built for the Regia Marina from 1938 to 1940; derived from the earlier Marcello-class, they sacrificed one deck gun for increased autonomy. As soon as they were commissioned, they were assigned to the Atlantic base of BETASOM at Bordeaux; their activity was overall successful, with one of the class (the Leonardo da Vinci) becoming the most successful Italian submarine in the war, and the most successful non-German submarine overall (with 17 ships and 120.243 GRT sunk). Only one member of the class, the Luigi Torelli, converted into a transport submarine, survived the war, being captured first by the Kriegsmarine after Italy's surrender and then taken over by the IJN after the surrender of Germany.