Folgore (ship, 1931)
 The destroyer Folgore 1931, the lead ship of its class
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The RN Folgore was an Italian destroyer and lead ship of the Folgore class . The name Folgore (Italian for lightning strike ) had previously been used by one of the first torpedo ships of the Regia Marina , a torpedo Aviso built in Italy from 1885 to 1887 , which was scrapped in 1900. The ship, put into service in 1932, was sunk by the British Force Q on December 2, 1942 in a naval battle in the Strait of Sicily while defending a convoy .
history
The folgore was built at Bacini e Scali Partenopei in Naples . Her keel was laid in January 1930 together with the sister ship Lampo . The destroyer was launched on April 26, 1931 as the second ship of the class and was also put into service as the second ship on July 1, 1932. Fifteen days earlier, the Baleno , built at Cantieri del Quarnaro in Fiume , was finished.
The destroyer with a standard displacement of 1220 t displaced 1450 t under normal conditions and 2100 t with full payload after modifications and by installing fixed ballast to improve seaworthiness at the start of the war. It had a length of 96.1 m over all (94.3 m in the waterline), a hull width of 9.2 m and a draft of up to 3.3 m. Three steam boilers of the Thornycroft design supplied two simple geared turbine sets of the Belluzzo design, arranged one behind the other, with the steam required to deliver up to 44,000 hp to the two screws. 38 kn could be reached under test drive conditions. After the necessary modifications, only a maximum of 32 kn could be achieved under operating conditions. The maximum oil supply of 510 t gave the destroyer a range of 3600 nm at a cruising speed of 12 kn.
The Folgore was equipped with two 120 mm L / 50 twin guns of the Ansaldo type (model 1926), two 40 mm L / 39 flak of the Vickers-Terni type (model 1917) and two single and two twin 13s, Armed with 2-mm-L / 76-Fla machine guns of the Breda type . In addition, the destroyer had two 533 mm triple torpedo tube sets and two depth charges and had the ability to carry up to 54 sea mines if necessary . This armament largely corresponded to the standard armament of Italian destroyers from the Sauro class up to 1940.
During the Second World War were to 1941 and the twin MGs by six 20 mm L / 65- the two 40-mm anti-aircraft automatic cannon of the type Breda replaced. In 1942, the Folgore dismissed one of their torpedo tube sets, which was replaced by two 37 mm L / 54 Breda automatic cannons.
Calls
In 1940 the Folgore was the lead ship of the 8th destroyer squadron in Taranto , which also included the other three destroyers of the class.
On July 7, 1940 the squadron ran out of Taranto together with the 5th Battleship Division ( Giulio Cesare , Conte di Cavour ) to secure a first convoy to Libya . On the way back, it took part in the naval battle at Punta Stilo on July 9, 1940, along with other units .
After minor renovations, the Folgore took part in the bombardment of Porto Palermo in Albania, which was occupied by the Greeks, on January 9, 1941, together with her sister ship Fulmine and the destroyers Ascari and Carabiniere of the Soldati class .
Until the end of 1941 it was used to protect a number of Italian and German troops and material transports to Libya, which were often attacked by British submarines or torpedo bombers. On the night of September 3, the Andrea Gritti (6338 GRT) was sunk south of Cape Spartivento by a Swordfish coming from Malta from a convoy of five motor ships (347 dead, only 2 survivors). In addition to the Folgore, the convoy was secured by the destroyers Nicoloso da Recco , Dardo and Strale . During attacks on convoys accompanied by the Folgore , several merchant ships were badly damaged, but could be brought into Italian ports. In 1941, the Folgore did not fight with allied surface units . During this time, the destroyer changed associations several times.
On March 3, 1942, the Folgore was slightly damaged in an air raid on the port of Palermo . On June 14, 1942, she belonged to a larger Italian naval formation that opposed the British vigorous convoy between Alexandria and Malta and forced him to turn back without a battle between the fleets. The Italian association, which came from Taranto, consisted of the battleships Littorio and Vittorio Veneto , the heavy cruisers Gorizia and Trento , the two light cruisers Giuseppe Garibaldi and Duca d'Aosta and twelve destroyers, including the 7th destroyer squadron with Folgore and Legionario , Freccia and Saetta . Until the end of November 1942, further convoy missions to Libya or Corfu with smaller skirmishes followed, with the destroyer again being slightly damaged on August 27, 1942.
The end of the folgore
On December 1, 1942, the Folgore set out from Palermo under the command of Corvette Captain Ener Bettica together with the destroyers Da Recco and Camicia Nera as well as the torpedo boats Procione and Clio in order to complete the "H-escort" to Bizerta with the Italian troop transporters Aventino (3794 BRT), Puccini (2422 BRT), Aspromonte (976 BRT) and the German KT 1 (850 BRT). 1766 soldiers, 4 tanks, 32 other vehicles, 12 guns and almost 700 tons of other material, especially ammunition, were transported. The British side learned thanks to Ultra Secret of the convoy and prepared a night attack the Force Q before. The latter consisted of three light cruisers ( Aurora , Argonaut , Sirius ) and two destroyers ( Quentin , Quiberon ).
On December 2, 1942 at 12:37 am, the British formation at the Skerki Banks started their attack on the convoy with radar support. All four troop transports with 1,527 soldiers went down in the one-hour heavy fighting. Since Recco was badly damaged, Camicia Nera and the two torpedo boats easily. The Folgore launched an unsuccessful torpedo attack against Force Q from just 1000 meters away , which focused its fire on the Italian destroyer and shot him incapable of maneuvering. Commander Bettica ordered the crew to leave the sinking ship, which was firing to the last, and at 01:16 a.m. went together with more than half of the crew (124 dead) to 37 ° 43 ′ N , 11 ° 16 ′ E, below.
literature
- Robert Jackson (Ed.): 101 warships , Tosa, Vienna 2009.
Web links
- Ener Bettica on marina.difesa.it
- Folgore Cacciatorpediniere , Ministero Della Difesa (Italian)