  Chemical abundances for 23 candidate subgiant stars have been derived with
the aim at exploring their usefulness for studies of galactic chemical
evolution. High-resolution spectra from ESO CAT-CES and NOT-SOFIN covered 16
different spectral regions in the visible part of the spectrum. Some 200
different atomic and molecular spectral lines have been used for abundance
analysis of about 30 elemental species. The wings of strong, pressure-broadened
metal lines were used for determination of stellar surface gravities, which
have been compared with gravities derived from Hipparcos parallaxes and
isochronic masses. Stellar space velocities have been derived from Hipparcos
and Simbad data, and ages and masses were derived with recent isochrones. Only
12 of the stars turned out to be subgiants, i.e. on the "horizontal" part of
the evolutionary track between the dwarf- and the giant stages. The abundances
derived for the subgiants correspond closely to those of dwarf stars.
  With the possible exceptions of lithium and carbon we find that subgiant
stars show no "chemical" traces of post-main-sequence evolution and that they
are therefore very useful targets for studies of galactic chemical evolution.
