Italian submarines

[greenman407]

Might as well, right? They have some pretty interesting designs and are pretty well out of the main stream as far as modeling goes.

[greenman407]

[greenman407]

[greenman407]

Its of interest to note that on the Italian pre WW2 boats the first letter of the boats name and one of its letters was stinciled on the side of the conning tower. The practice was discontinued into the conflict, which for the Italians only lasted, for the most part until 1943. HA! You can probably tell from that comment that I got my new submarine book. Its Awesome, with a big section on Italian subs. Stay tuned you bubble heads.

[greenman407]

Its a great book to be sure. Not just Italian boats but everybody elses too. Keep a sharp Eye out(off the weather bow) for an upcoming review of this book under "Books I Have Read". Now, one thing that I have noticed is that pictures of some of the Italian boats that I find ,I can not find in this book. And some of the names of these boats have a different configuration to them than the one I find in the book. OH well. Here are some more.

[reddevil]

Regarding to 212 type subs and it's X tail shape. Last weekend a fellow took his to the pond (the robbe one). When surfaced, she needs a lot of space to turn.

[reddevil]

COrrection: It was the ENGEL one. A nice sub, by the way. The fellow was not happy about X tail performance. He said it was difficult to calibrate and operate.

[Subculture]

I've had a go of an Engel 212. I thought it was a very easy boat to drive, and nimble above and below the surface. No slouch either.

[greenman407]

[greenman407]

[roedj]

The difference between the pre-war and during-war subs is not surprising.

As the story goes when Adm. Doenitz first saw the subs of his new Italian ally he was appalled at the immense size of the superstructures. He ordered them to be cut down a lot. The Italians, who loved the ability to cook their food al fresco, had as many as two galleys in the tower, one for the officers and one for the enlisted. The Italians were not happy to lose their galleys. But if they managed to keep just one it was, of course, the officer's galley.

Dan