Italian submarine Uebi Scebeli was an built for the Royal Italian Navy during the 1930s. It was named after Shebelle River in Ethiopia.
Design and description
The Adua-class submarines were essentially repeats 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 Adua 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 torpedo was carried for each tube, for a total of twelve. They were also armed with one Škoda 10 cm K10#OTO 100.2F47 History| deck gun for combat on the surface. The light anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two pairs of Breda Model 1931 Machine Gun| machine guns.
Construction and career
Uebi Scebeli was built at the Tosi shipyard at Taranto. She was launched on October 3, 1937, and commissioned on December 21 of the same year. After delivery, Uebi Scebeli was assigned to 43rd Squadron based at Taranto. In 1938 she was reassigned to Tobruk but returned to Taranto by the end of 1939 and was assigned to the 46th Squadron. On June 10, 1940, after the declaration of war, Uebi Scebeli was sent out to patrol off Cerigotto, but returned to the base five days later on June 15, 1940, without encountering any traffic. On her second mission Uebi Scebeli was sent out to a defensive patrol in the Gulf of Taranto. Her third, and last mission, started on June 27, 1940, when she left Taranto under the command of Capt. Bruno Zani, heading to her assigned area of operation, approximately 35 miles northeast of Derna. At 6:30 on June 29, 1940, while cruising surfaced on her way to the assigned area of operation, Uebi Scebeli had spotted three British destroyers, and, part of a screening "Force C" during the English operation "MA3". Uebi Scebeli had to make a quick dive to a periscope depth, and tried to launch an attack, but it was detected by the British destroyers, and was heavily bombarded with depth charges that caused serious damage. Two other destroyers, and from "Force C" joined in. Due to sustained heavy damage, the crew had to scuttle the submarine at approximately 7:00 in the position. The crew managed to throw overboard most of the secret documents, but some of them were retrieved by the British, including a copy of the Sommergibili Italiani SM 19/S code book. All crew members were rescued and captured by the British.
