Italian submarine Ondina

Ondina was one of a dozen s, the second sub-class of the 600 Series of coastal submarines built for the Regia Marina during the early 1930s.

Design and description

The Sirena class was an improved and enlarged version of the preceding s. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of. Their crew numbered 45 officers and enlisted men.
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 Sirena class had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at.
The boats were armed with six torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern for which they carried a total of 12 torpedoes. They were also armed with a single [Škoda 10 cm K10|] deck gun forward of the conning tower for combat on the surface. The anti-aircraft armament consisted of two or four [Breda Model 1931 Machine Gun|] machine guns.

Construction and career

Ondina was laid down by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico at their Monfalcone shipyard in 1931, launched on 2 December 1933 and completed the following year.
On 23 June 1941 Ondina under the command of Corrado Dal Pozzo at location indicated as in Italian naval records. Ondina and Italian Naval records show the submarine fired a torpedo and sank the Turkish Transport vessel Refah of whom only 32 survived out of 200 on board.
Ondina was also sunk a year later by the warships HMSAS Protea, HMSAS Southern Maid and Supermarine Walrus warplanes near Cyprus At on 11 July 1942. However, the command of Ondina was under Lieutenant Gabriele Adolfi at that time. The Italian sailors from Ondina were recovered by the warships..