Ascaro (ship)

Ascaro

The Ascaro 1913 at full speed

Ship data flag  Italy other ship names Ching Po Ship type Destroyer 1921: torpedo boat class Soldato class Shipyard Ansaldo , Genoa Keel laying 1911 Launch December 6, 1912 Commissioning July 21, 1913 Whereabouts May 31, 1930 decommissioned and then scrapped

Ship dimensions and crew length 65.0 m ( Lüa ) 64.4 m ( Lpp ) width 6.1 m Draft Max. 2.1 m displacement 396 t standard, 414 t maximum   crew 56 men

Machine system machine 3 × Thornycroft boilers 2 × expansion machines Machine performance 6,000 PS (4,413 kW) Top speed 28.5 kn (53 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 4 × 76 mm L / 40 M.1897 gun 3 × torpedo tube Ø 457 mm

The Ascaro was the last destroyer of the first Soldati class of the Italian Regia Marina . The ship, begun for the Chinese Navy , was acquired by Regia Marina in 1912 before being launched.

Reclassified as a torpedo boat in 1921 , the Ascaro was separated and scrapped in 1930.

History of the destroyer

Since 1905 the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa has built ten destroyers of the first Soldati class (also Soldato class) for the Italian Navy. The destroyers were a further development of the British 30-knotter . The destroyers were named after the soldiers of various branches of service. In 1907 Ansaldo delivered the Bersagliere on April 13th and then three other coal-fired ships. The remaining six ships all follow in 1910, with the Fucilieri and Carabiniere being the first oil- fired destroyers to be delivered on January 26th . Two more oil-fired destroyers and another two coal-fired destroyers followed up to June 1, 1910 ( Garibaldino ). The six coal-fired destroyers were also converted to oil firing from 1912.

Soldati-class cracks

In 1910 the Chinese Empire ordered a number of ships in Italy, including a Soldati-type destroyer from Ansaldo. The destroyer, which was to be named Tsing Po , was bought by the Italian Navy before it was launched. The reason for the purchase was the uncertainty with regard to the client after the revolution in China and the war with Turkey , in which the small Italian torpedo boats were of little use, the sister ships proved themselves and not yet closed with a delivery of the larger Indomito class destroyers ordered was to be expected.
The front boiler of the destroyer was converted to oil-firing for service in the Italian Navy. The fuel supply comprised 50 tons of coal and 34 tons of oil. Of the ten predecessors already completed for Italy, six were coal-fired (90 tonnes of coal) and four were purely oil-fired (63 tonnes of stock).
Otherwise, the ship with 65 meters length overall (64.5 m pp.), 6.1 m width and 2.1 m draft corresponded to its sister ships ordered by Italy. The three built-in steam boilers were of the Thornycroft type , the two triple expansion engines developed up to 8000 hp on two shafts and enabled a top speed of 28.5 knots (kn) . Ascaro did not receive the mixed armament originally planned by China, consisting of two 76 mm and four 47 mm cannons, but like its Italian predecessors, four 76 mm L / 40 M.1897 cannons manufactured by Ansaldo, a replica of the British QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun . There were also three individual 457 mm torpedo tubes and, if necessary, 10 sea ​​mines . This gave it an operational displacement of 396 t and 414 t with maximum payload. The Ascaro , launched on December 6, 1912, entered service with the Regia Marina on July 21, 1913 as the eleventh ship of the class.

Mission history

When Italy joined the World War on the Entente side in 1915 , the Ascaro was part of the 4th Destroyer Squadron ( IV Squadriglia Cacciatorpediniere ) in Brindisi with the four oil-fired sister ships Pontiere , Alpino , Carabiniere , Fuciliere and the older Zeffiro of the Nembo class .

In October 1916, the Ascaro was involved in the Italian occupation of a section on the southern Albanian coast. The armored cruiser Francesco Ferruccio secured four transporters with several destroyers and torpedo boats, which brought Italian troops to Santi Quaranta . The occupation served to create another port on the Albanian side of the Strait of Otranto next to the already occupied Valona . Greek interests should also be warded off in this area. A small Greek garrison was forced to retreat.

Final fate of the Ascaro

Acscaro survived the First World War with nine sister ships. The obsolete destroyers were reclassified as torpedo boats on July 1, 1921. From 1923 the boats retired from the service of the Regia Marina. The Ascaro was retired as the penultimate boat in the class at the end of May 1930 and then scrapped.

The Soldati-class destroyers

see: Soldati class (1907)

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{A b c} Robert Gardiner, Randal Gray: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 , p. 268.
2. ↑ DiGiulian: "Britain 12-pdr, 3" / 40 (7.62 cm), 12cwt QF Marks I, II and V - NavWeaps ".  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

literature

• Robert Gardiner, Randal Gray: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .

Web links

• Ascaro destroyer (1913) on navypedia.org (accessed January 18, 2018)
• "Soldati", 1st (ARTIGLIERE) group destroyers (1907-1910) on navypedia.org (accessed January 18, 2018)
• "Soldati", 2nd (ALPINO) group destroyers (1910) on navypedia.org (accessed January 18, 2018)
• ASCARO on agenziabozzo.it (accessed January 18, 2018)
• Ascaro Cacciatorpediniere on marina.difesa.it (accessed January 18, 2018)
• Tony DiGiulian: Britain 12-pdr, 3 "/ 40 (7.62 cm), 12cwt QF Mark I, II and V . (Accessed on 20 January 2018.)