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By the late 1930s, Pallamara had begun modernization of their submarine arm, with the chosen design being a derivative of the Dutch O-21 Klasse of submarine. Pallamaran boats differed in one main respect, however--they followed the RN practice of eliminating the broad deck casings common on American, German, and Italian boats, which placed the guns in the conning tower as the resulting deck was too narrow for them. As a result of this, Pallamaran submarines generally had faster dive times than their Allied counterparts.
During the war, several boats were modified by removing all except the bare essentials needed for the conning tower in order to achieve still faster dive times.
Starting the conflict with no less than nine of these boats, more were constructed during the war, for it would be the Onderzeeboot arm that would play the greatest role in the war, with Japanese oil shipments from the occupied NEI being the preferred prey. Never able to build enough boats on its own, several allied boats were given over the Pallamarans to help keep up the tempo of operations. During the war, the Pallamaran subs became noted for their efficiency and aggressiveness. Casaulties were high in this arm, albeit slightly lower than the allied average, but morale was always excellent, and the service was considered an elite branch, a tradition which carries over to this day.