Cagni-class submarine

The Cagni class, also called the Ammiraglio Cagni class, was a group of four large ocean-going submarines built by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico at Monfalcone, laid down in 1939 and completed in 1941 for the Italian Regia Marina. They were designed as commerce raiders able to sail from Italy to Italian Somaliland without refuelling, with a heavy torpedo load of small 450 mm weapons and two 100 mm guns, and sixteen were planned although only four were completed before the war cut the programme short. Ammiraglio Cagni made a long Atlantic patrol in 1942 and 1943 and was the only one of the class to survive the war, while the other three served as transport submarines to North Africa and were lost.