Altair (AT)

Altair

Ship data flag  Italy Ship type Torpedo boat class Spica class Shipyard Cantieri Ansaldo , Genoa Keel laying February 10, 1935 Launch July 26, 1936 Commissioning December 23, 1936 Whereabouts Sunk on October 21, 1941

Ship dimensions and crew length 81.4 m ( Lüa ) width 7.9 m Draft Max. 2.3 m displacement Standard: 679 t Maximum: 1,020 t

Machine system machine 2 × steam boiler 2 × steam turbine Machine performance 19,000 PS (13,974 kW) Top speed 34 kn (63 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 3 × Sk 10.0 cm 10 x flak 2.0 cm 8 × MG 13.2 mm 4 × torpedo tube ⌀ 45 cm 2 × depth charges 20 sea mines

The Altair (AT) was a Spica- class torpedo boat of the Italian Navy . It belonged to the second group of ten boats that were approved in connection with the Abyssinian War.

Construction and technical data

The boat was on 10 February 1935 on the shipyard Cantieri Ansaldo in Genoa set to Kiel . The launch took place on July 26, 1936, the commissioning on December 23, 1936.

The boat was 81.4 m long and 7.9 m wide, had a 2.3 m draft and displaced 679 tons (standard) or 1020 tons (maximum). The drive consisted of two boilers and two steam turbines with a total of 19,000 hp , which gave a top speed of 34 knots over two screws . The range of action was 1892 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 15 knots. The armament consisted of three 10 cm cannons, four 45 cm torpedo tubes and two depth charges . For anti-aircraft defense , the boat was equipped with up to ten 20 mm anti-aircraft guns and up to eight 13.2 mm anti -aircraft machine guns during the course of the Second World War . Up to 20 mines could be carried. The boat had a crew of 99 men .

fate

When Italy entered the war in June 1940, the Altair was stationed as part of the 12th torpedo boat division in La Spezia , together with her sister ships Aldebaran , Andromeda and Antares . The boats then performed security service in the Tyrrhenian Sea , after the start of the Italian attack on Greece on October 28, 1940 then in the sea area off Albania and Greece . On December 6, 1940, the Altair and the Andromeda attacked the British submarine Triton in the Strait of Otranto, without success . On January 6, 1941, the Altair - together with the destroyers Alfieri , Carducci , Fulmine and Gioberti and the torpedo boats Partenope , Pallade and Romeda - shelled the Greek positions near Porto Palermo south of Himara on the southern Albanian coast.

On October 20, 1941, the Altair operated with the Aldebaran and the Lupo near the island of Kea , at the exit of the Saronic Gulf . She got into a minefield laid by the British submarine Rorqual on October 8th. The Altair ran into a mine, which tore down the front of her. When the Aldebaran came to her aid, she too ran into a mine and sank. The Lupo took the Altair in tow in order to Piraeus to get, but the Altair dropped it on October 21 to 37 ° 22 '0 "  N , 23 ° 52' 0"  O coordinates: 37 ° 22 '0 "  N , 23 ° 52 '0 "  O .

Web links

• RM Altair (AT), at Wrecksite.eu

Footnotes

1. ↑ The letters AT could be seen on the hull of the Altair as a ship identification .
2. ↑ The same shipyard also built the sister ships Aldebaran , Andromeda and Antares .
3. ↑ The submarine was lost on this patrol with its entire crew of 54 men, probably due to a mine hit. ( [1] ).
4. ↑ http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3415.html