Glauco was the lead ship of her class of two submarines ordered by the Portuguese government, but taken over and completed for the (Royal Italian Navy) during the 1930s. She was scuttled by her own crew in mid-1941 after suffering heavy damage during a British naval attack.
Design and description The Glauco-class submarines were improved versions of the preceding . They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of . They had an operational diving depth of . Their crew numbered 58 officers and enlisted men.Chesneau, p. 305
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 Glauco class had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at .Bagnasco, p. 150
The boats were armed with eight internal torpedo tubes, four each in the bow and stern for which they carried a total of 14 torpedoes. They were also armed with two deck guns, one each fore and aft of the conning tower, for combat on the surface. The anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two machine guns.
Service Glauco was built by CRDA in its Trieste shipyard. The submarine had initially been ordered in 1931, but was acquired by the Italians when Portugal cancelled the order. She was launched in 1935, and saw action in the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. Glauco was badly damaged by the British destroyer HMS Wishart and scuttled by her own crew on 27 June 1941, west of Gibraltar.
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