Italian submarine Iride

Career (Italy)	48px
Name:	Iride
Laid down:	1935-09-3
Commissioned:	1936-7-30
Fate:	sunk 1940-8-22
General characteristics
Displacement:	622 tons surfaced 852 tons submerged
Length:	60.18 m
Beam:	6.34 m
Draught:	4.6 m
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h) surfaced 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h) submerged
Complement:	45
Armament:	6 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

Italian submarine Iride was an Italian 600-Serie Perla-class submarine, serving with the Regia Marina during World War II.

Iride was laid down on 3 September 1935 in the Odero-Terni-Orlando Navy Yard, Muggiani (La Spezia), and was completed on 30 July 1936, being delivered to the Regia Marina on 6 November that year.

She was originally armed with six 21 inch torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes, one 100 mm (3.9 in) deck gun and room for up to four 13.2 mm machine guns. During the course of the war, Iride was converted to carry human torpedoes, which were carried in cylinders mounted on her deck.

On 22 August 1940, in preparation for a human torpedo attack on the port of Alexandria, Egypt, Iride was performing a test in the Gulf of Bomba, Cyrenaica with four human torpedoes of the Calipso with the support of the Monte Gargano, when three Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers of the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle hit the submarine in shallow waters. A few crew members were rescued with the support of the human torpedo operators; most died in the sinking.

There were three Swordfish pilots who attacked the Bay of Bomba in this raid. They approached at sea level after a flight of several hours. They caught the Italian submarine Iride offshore, together with the depot ship Monte Gargano and the torpedo boat Calypso at anchor.

The leader, Captain Ollie Patch, Royal Marines, sank the Iride, while John Welham, with his observer, Petty Officer Marsh, and Lieutenant Cheesman attacked the others. The action resulted in the sinking of four ships with three torpedoes. ^{[citation needed]}

John Welham, low on fuel and wounded, returned to his desert base and was awarded the DSC.

See also

• List of shipwrecks in 1940