Built 1941–43 Planned 72 | Preceded by CA class In commission 1941–45 | |
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The CB class was a group of midget submarines built for the Italian Navy during World War II.
Contents
Design
The boats were designed as coast defence units with diesel-electric propulsion. There was a mini conning tower to aid navigation. The armament consisted of two torpedoes mounted externally which could be reloaded without removing the craft from the water.
Boats
Seventy two boats were ordered from Caproni of Milan, but only 22 were laid down. 12 boats were completed before the Armistice and nine after. Six boats were transferred to the Black Sea by rail and fought the Soviets sinking two submarines. In late 1942, the remaining five submarines were refitted at the Constanța Shipyard in Romania. After the Italian Armistice, the five survivors were transferred to the Royal Romanian Navy. Later, they were given to the navy of the Italian Social Republic.
Ten more boats were tansferred by the Germans to the RSI Navy and served in the Adriatic. One was used for spare parts, seven were sunk and two were captured by the Allies.
Four of the Black Sea submarines (CB 1, CB 2, CB 3 and CB 4) were captured by Soviet forces in 1944 and commissioned on 20 October as TM-4, TM-5, TM-6 and TM-7. They were stricken on 16 February 1945 and subsequently scrapped.