Italian submarine Flutto

The Italian submarine Flutto was the name ship of her class of submarines built for the Royal Italian Navy during World War II. She obtained no successes during her short career, and was sunk by British ships during the Invasion of Sicily in 1943.

Design and description

The Flutto-class submarines were designed as improved versions of the preceding. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of.
For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Flutto class had a range of at, submerged, they had a range of at.
The boats were armed with six internal torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern. One reload were stowed for each tube, which gave them a total of twelve torpedoes. They were also armed with one [Škoda 10 cm K10|] deck gun and two [Breda Model 35|] anti-aircraft guns for combat on the surface.

Construction and career

Flutto was built by CRDA at Monfalcone on the Adriatic coast, and was launched on 19 November 1942. After commissioning and working up Flutto saw action against Allied naval forces in the Mediterranean. She had no successes, and was lost in action in July 1943 operating against Allied forces involved in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. On 11 July 1943 Flutto was on patrol in the Straits of Messina when she was detected and sunk by three British Motor Torpedo Boats with her entire crew of 49.