Archimede was the lead ship of her class of four submarines built for the Italian: [[Regia Marina]] (Royal Italian Navy) during the early 1930s. She was transferred to the Spanish; Castilian: [[Armada Española]] (Spanish Navy) of Nationalists in 1937, renamed General Sanjurjo, and served in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939.
The Archimede class was an improved and enlarged version of the earlier . They displaced 970LT surfaced and 1239LT submerged. The submarines were 70.5m (231.3feet) long, had a beam of 6.87m (22.54feet) and a draft of 4.12m (13.52feet). They had an operational diving depth of 90m (300feet) Their crew numbered 55 officers and enlisted men.[1]
For surface running, the boats were powered by two 15000NaN0 diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 550hp electric motor. They could reach 17kn on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Archimede class had a range of 10300nmi at ; submerged, they had a range of 105nmi at .[2]
The boats were armed with eight 53.3cm (21inches) torpedo tubes, four each in the bow and in the stern for which they carried a total of 16 torpedoes. They were also armed with a pair of 100mm deck guns, one each fore and aft of the conning tower, for combat on the surface. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of two single 13.2adj=onNaNadj=on machine guns.[1]
Archimede was laid down by Cantieri navali Tosi di Taranto at their Taranto shipyard in 1931, launched on 10 December 1933 and completed the following year.[1] She was transferred to the Spanish Nationalist Navy in April 1937 and renamed General Sanjurjo.[3]