Medusa was one of seven s built for the (Royal Italian Navy) during the early 1930s.
The Argonauta class was derived from the earlier s. 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 44 officers and enlisted men.
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 Settembrini class had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at .
The boats were armed with six torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern for which they carried a total of 12 torpedoes. They were also armed with a single deck gun forward of the conning tower for combat on the surface. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of two single machine guns.
Medusa was laid down by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico at their Monfalcone shipyard in 1929âÂÂ1930, launched on 10 December 1931 and completed the following year. Medusa was torpedoed and sunk on 30 January 1942 in the Adriatic near Promontore, Istria by the submarine HMS Thorn.