// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy was the Italian submarine F18 in a bad mood? It was having a whale of a deep-sea crisis.
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Italy | |
| Name | F18 |
| Builder | Odero, Sestri Ponente, Italy |
| Laid down | 7 October 1915 |
| Launched | 15 May 1917 |
| Commissioned | 27 July 1917 |
| Decommissioned | 1 November 1929 |
| Stricken | 1 October 1930 |
| Identification | Pennant number F18 |
| Motto | Excelsis sub aequore ("Though underwater, higher")[1] |
| Fate | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | F-class submarine |
| Displacement | |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in) |
| Draught | 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range |
|
| Test depth | 45 metres (148 feet) |
| Complement | 26 (2 officers, 24 men) |
| Armament |
|
| Notes | SOURCE:[2] |
F18 was an F-class submarine in commission in the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) from 1917 to 1929. She took part in the Adriatic Campaign of World War I. She also participated in the Italian occupation of Corfu during the Corfu incident in 1923.
Design
[edit]Construction and commissioning
[edit]F18 was laid down by Cantieri navali Odero (Odero Shipyards) at Sestri Ponente, Italy, on 7 October 1915. She was launched on 15 May 1917 and commissioned on 27 July 1917.[2][3][4][5]
Service history
[edit]In October 1917, the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) assigned F18 to the Ancona Submarine Squadron for operations in the Adriatic Sea during the Adriatic Campaign of World War I, and she began war patrols along the coast of Austria-Hungary.[1][5]
On 15 July 1918, F18 fired a torpedo at a large tugboat off the coast of Dalmatia about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) from Zaline Point near Cape Planka and the islands of Drvenik Veli and Drvenik Mali. The torpedo malfunctioned and missed. During the night of 15–16 July, she fired a torpedo at an Austro-Hungarian Navy torpedo boat, but the torpedo again malfunctioned and missed. She fired a torpedo at a steamer on 16 July, but the torpedo's gyrostat failed, causing the torpedo to go off course and explode on the nearby coast. By the time World War I ended in November 1918, F18 had carried out 10 war patrols, but without significant results.[1][5]
F18 operated under the control of the Venice Maritime Command from the end of the World War I until 1922, when she transferred to the Brindisi Squadron. During the Corfu incident in 1923, she took part in the Italian occupation of Corfu. She was transferred to Naples and participated in that year's naval maneuvers, winning first prize in the attack and torpedo-firing competitions. In 1925 she was transferred to Taranto, and in the 1925 naval maneuvers repeated her success, again winning first prize in the attack and torpedo-firing competitions. She took part in the 1926 naval maneuvers, and later that year was transferred to the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Flotilla of the Submarine Division Command, as part of which she took part in the naval maneuvers of 1927.[1][5]
F18 was decommissioned on 1 November 1929 and stricken from the navy list on 1 October 1930. She subsequently was scrapped.[1][2][3][4][5]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Regi Sommergibili F16-F17-F18" [Royal Submarines F16-F17-F18]. Grupsom - Sommergibili Mediterranei (in Italian). Archived from the original on 13 November 2014.
- 1 2 3 Conway's 1906–1921 1985, p. 277.
- 1 2 Conway's 1922–1946 1980, p. 288.
- 1 2 sonar (28 February 2008). "Classe F (1915)" [F Class (1915)]. Betasom - XI Gruppo Sommergibili Atlantici (in Italian). Retrieved 27 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "F 18". marina.difesa.it (in Italian). Marina Militare. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
Bibliography
[edit]- Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Favre, Franco (2008). La Marina nella Grande Guerra. Le operazioni aeree, navali, subacquee e terrestri in Adriatico [The Navy in the Great War: Aerial, Naval, Underwater, and Land Operations in the Adriatic] (in Italian). Udine: Gaspari Editore.
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0851772455.
- Giorgerini, Giorgio (2002). Uomini sul fondo. Storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi [Men at the Bottom: History of Italian Submarining from its Origins to Today] (in Italian). Milano: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. ISBN 978-8-80450-537-2.
- Maffi, Mario (1919). La Vittoria in Adriatico [The Victory in the Adriatic] (in Italian). Milano: Alfieri e Lacroix.
 Regia Marina | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Portuguese NavyFoca class | |||
  Spanish NavyA class | |||