Pier Capponi was one of four s built for the Italian: [[Regia Marina]] (Royal Italian Navy) during the 1920s.
The Mameli class was one of the Italian: Regia Marina's first classes of submarines to be built after the First World War. They displaced 810LT surfaced and 993LT submerged. The submarines were 64.6m (211.9feet) long, had a beam of 6.51m (21.36feet) and a draft of 4.3m (14.1feet). They had an operational diving depth of 90m (300feet). Their crew numbered 49 officers and enlisted men.[1]
For surface running, the boats were powered by two 15500NaN0 diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 550hp electric motor. They could reach 15kn on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Mameli class had a range of 4360nmi at ; submerged, they had a range of 110nmi at .[2]
The boats were armed with six 53.3cm (21inches) torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern for which they carried a total of 10 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 single 13.2adj=onNaNadj=on machine guns.[1]
Pier Capponi was laid down by Cantieri navali Tosi di Taranto at their Taranto shipyard on 27 August 1925, launched on 19 June 1927, and completed in 1929.[1] [3] She was commissioned on 19 January 1929.[3] During World War II, the Royal Navy submarine torpedoed and sank her in the Tyrrhenian Sea south of Stromboli at 38.5333°N 34°W on 31 March 1941.[3]
. Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland. 2005. Third Revised. 1-59114-119-2. Jürgen Rohwer.