Italian submarine Alagi was an built in 1930s serving in the Regia Marina during World War II. She was named after the Amba Alagi mountain 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. They were also armed with one deck gun for combat on the surface. The light anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two pairs of machine guns. Construction and Career Alagi was built in the CRDA shipyard, in Monfalcone. She was laid down on 19 March 1936, launched on 15 November that year and commissioned on 6 March 1937. On 11 May 1937 Alagi was assigned to the 23rd Squadron based in Naples, from where she conducted training in the Dodecanese. During the Spanish Civil War, between 27 August and 4 September 1937, she carried out a special mission. In 1939 she was reassigned for some time to the base in Cagliari and then to Messina. In 1940 Alagi was assigned to 71st Squadron (V Submarine Group) based at Cagliari. On 10 June 1940, at the outbreak of hostilities, Alagi was on patrol in the waters off Bizerta. She remained on station until 20 June without sighting any enemy ships. From 5 to 11 June 1941, Alagi, under command of captain Giulio Contreas, patrolled 20 miles northeast of Ras Azzaz. She sighted a small enemy ship and tried to launch an attack, but it was interrupted by a second ship which detected Alagi and headed in her direction, forcing her to disengage. At 10:47 on 12 June 1941, while returning to Messina, Alagi was attacked with two bombs and machine guns off Benghazi by a British Sunderland aircraft. The boat's crew responded with anti-aircraft weapons forcing the plane to turn away, probably because it was hit. On 18 July 1941 she patrolled off of Cap Bougaroûn. On 22 July she detected