The W-class submarines were built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

as experimental boats. They were based on a French Schneider-Laubeuf design. The design for ''W3'' and ''W4'' was heavily modified to meet Royal Navy requirements, overcoming some of the deficiencies of the 'off the shelf' design. In particular, the drop collars were removed in the later boats. Only four W-class submarines were built from 1913 to 1916. The first two boats took 15 and 17 months to build, which at the time was a remarkable feat compared to other building times. The W class had very good performance, with excellent diving control and efficient venting and flooding systems. The class did have problems with habitability, but other than that, they were good submarines. All four of the W-class submarine were transferred to the

Italian Navy The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...

in August 1916, where they retained their numbering. * , launched 19 November 1914 * , launched 15 February 1915 * , launched 1 April 1915 * , launched 26 November 1915

References

* * {{British W class submarines W class