CA-class submarine

The CA class were a group of midget submarines built for the Italian Navy during World War II.

Class overview
Builders: Caproni, Milan
Operators:  Regia Marina
Succeeded by: CB class
Built: 1938-41
In commission: 1938–1943
Completed: 4
General characteristics (series I, as completed in 1938)
Displacement:
  • 13.5 tonnes (13.3 long tons) (surfaced)
  • 16.4 tonnes (16.1 long tons) (submerged)
Length: 10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Beam: 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Draught: 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in)
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • 6.25 kn (12 km/h; 7 mph) (surfaced)
  • 5 knots (9 km/h; 6 mph) (submerged)
Complement: 2
Armament: 2 × 17.7 in (450 mm) torpedoes

Design

These submarines were designed by the Caproni Company and built in great secrecy. They were originally designed for coast defence but later modified as clandestine attack craft similar to the British X craft.

Boats
Name Series Builder Commissioned Fate
CA 1 I. Caproni, Taliedo, Kingdom of Italy 15 April 1938 scuttled on 9 September 1943
CA 2 late April 1938 scuttled in 1944
CA 3 II. January 1943 scuttled on 9 September 1943
CA 4 January 1943 scuttled on 9 September 1943

Service

In 1942, after the United States entered the war, Junio Valerio Borghese, commander of the Decima MAS (the Italian Navy's special operations unit), devised a plan to attack New York Harbor using a CA type midget submarine and commando frogmen. The midget submarine would be transported across the Atlantic by being carried on the deck of a larger submarine. The Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci was chosen for the task and modified at the Italian base in Bordeaux (BETASOM). CA 2 was transported by rail from Italy and trials, which were conducted near La Pallice, were supervised by Borghese himself during late 1942. Leonardo Da Vinci was sunk in May 1943 before the operation could be carried out. No new boat was available and the Italian Armistice stopped further planning.[1]

See also

References
  1. Operations

Bibliography
  • Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-46
  • Kemp, Paul: Underwater Warriors (1996, Arms & Armour Press)
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