Luigi Settembrini was the lead ship of her class of two submarines built for the Italian: [[Regia Marina]] (Royal Italian Navy) during the early 1930s. She played a minor role in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 supporting the Spanish Nationalists.
The Settembrini class was an improved and enlarged version of the preceding s. They displaced 938LT surfaced and 1135LT submerged. The submarines were 69.11m (226.74feet) long, had a beam of 6.61m (21.69feet) and a draft of 4.45m (14.6feet). They had an operational diving depth of 80m (260feet). Their crew numbered 56 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 700hp electric motor. They could reach 17.5kn on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Settembrini class had a range of 6200nmi at ;[1] submerged, they had a range of 100nmi at .[2]
The boats were armed with eight 53.3cm (21inches) torpedo tubes, four each in the bow and stern for which they carried a total of 12 torpedoes. They were also armed with a single 102mm deck gun forward of the conning tower for combat on the surface. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of two or four 13.2adj=onNaNadj=on machine guns.[1] [2]
Luigi Settembrini was launched by Cantieri navali Tosi di Taranto at their Taranto shipyard on 28 September 1930 and completed later that year.[1] During the Spanish Civil War she made one patrol in the Eastern Mediterranean during which she attacked the Soviet cargo ship off the island of Skyros on 1 September 1937. Luigi Settimbrini missed with her first torpedo, but the boat surfaced and fired a warning shot, which caused the freighter's crew to abandon ship. The submarine then fired a pair of torpedoes which sank the Soviet ship.[3]