Leone class
_crowned.svg){kind=small} Leone class |
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 The destroyer Pantera of Leone class
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| overview | |
| Ship type : |
Reconnaissance (it .: esploratore leggero) 1938: Destroyer (it .: cacciatorpediniere) |
| Units: | 3 (planned 5) |
| Builder: | Ansaldo , Genoa - Sestri Ponente |
| Keel laying : | from November 1921 |
| 1. Launch : | October 1, 1923 Leone |
| 1. Commissioning: | July 1, 1924 Leone |
| Use until: | April 3, 1941 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement : | 1,771 ts standard 2,690 ts maximum |
| Length: | 113.40 m |
| Width: | 10.36 m |
| Draft : | 3.20 m |
| Drive : | 4 Yarrow steam boilers 2 steam turbines with single gearbox 42,000 HP (31,300 kW ) |
| Speed : | 34 kn (63 km / h ) |
| Fuel supply: | 400 t |
| Range : | 2,400 nm at 16 kn |
| Crew : | 206 |
| Armament: | 8 x 120 mm-L / 45-mm cannon (4 × 2) 2 × 76 mm L / 40- Fla - gun 4 × 6.5 mm Colt MG 1931 in addition: 2 x 40 mm L / 39- Pom-Pom from 1938 additionally: 4 × 13.2 mm Fla- MG (2 × 2) 6 × 450 mm torpedo tube (2 × 3) from 1930 replaced by: 6 × 533 mm Torpedo tube (2 × 3) 52 sea mines |
The Leone-class was a destroyer- class of the Italian Navy . The class consisted of three destroyers that were built in the early 1920s at the Cantieri Ansaldo shipyard in Sestri Ponente . The ships were big, fast, and well armed.
During the Second World War, the three destroyers were stationed in Massaua in Eritrea and were lost at the end of the Italian-British campaign in East Africa .
Building history
The ships were designed as scout cruisers ( esploratori leggere ) during World War I and were an enlarged version of the destroyers built at the time. The original construction contract from 1917 for five ships was postponed due to the prevailing steel shortage. The final order was placed in 1920, but the construction contracts for the Leopardo and Lince were canceled again in 1920 and 1921 respectively. The three remaining orders were built at the Cantieri Ansaldo shipyard in Sestri Ponente from 1921 to 1924.
The three ships carried four 120 mm L / 45 twin guns of the Italian design "Schneider-Canet-Armstrong 1918/19" in power-driven turrets on the midship line. One tower each stood on the forecastle and one at the stern; the two middle towers stood between the two chimneys and between the aft chimney and an aft deckhouse. The Leone-class units were the first destroyers in the world to have twin guns. They only had two cannons that could fire directly forwards or backwards, but with a broadside of eight cannons they were superior to most destroyers of the other sea powers until the mid-1930s. In addition, two twin torpedo tube sets were installed in front of and behind the third artillery tower. When the war began, the destroyers had two 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and two heavy twin anti-aircraft guns of the Breda type; they were also prepared as mine layers and could carry up to 50 mines.
Mission history
When the faster Esploratori of the Navigatori class came into service at the end of the 1920s , the units of the Leone class were mostly used as flotilla commanders of two destroyer squadrons (Italian: squadriglia cacciatorpediniere).
In the mid-1930s, Leone , Panterea and Tigre were converted for use in tropical areas and in 1935 they were stationed at the Italian naval base in Massaua on the Red Sea in Eritrea. In 1938 she was classified as a destroyer (cacciatorpediniere).
When Italy joined Germany in the war against France and Great Britain in June 1940, the three ships formed the 5th destroyer squadron. In addition to them, four other destroyers - two older torpedo boats, four gunboats, seven submarines and five older speedboats - were stationed in Massaua (Italian East Africa). The other destroyers were the 3rd destroyer squadron with the 1926/27 completed Nazario Sauro , Daniele Manin , Cesare Battisti and Francesco Nullo of the Sauro class , which were smaller with 1058 ts and only had two twin guns of the Vickers-Terni type decreed. The units of the Regia Marina in Italian East Africa remained cut off from home and the surface units were all lost during the East Africa campaign.
From June 6, 1940, the Italian Navy began to move more defensive mine barriers off the Italian coasts due to the impending entry into the war; the destroyer Pantera therefore moved two barriers with 110 mines off Assab on June 7th.
The attack on convoy BN 7
The destroyers' first battle with British units took place in the early morning of October 21, 1940 when Leone and Pantera attacked convoy BN 7 with the destroyers Francesco Nullo and Nazario Sauro of the smaller Sauro class . They scored an insignificant artillery hit on the convoy's leading transport. The Australian sloop Yarra was able to avoid torpedoes shot at them. When the cruiser Leander intervened in the battle, the Italians withdrew. Leone , Pantera and Sauro were able to break away from the British. The Nullo was pursued by the British destroyer Kimberley , fled to the shelter of the coast and finally landed on the island of Harmil . The Kimberley received two hits in the boiler room from a coastal battery and had to be towed by the Leander . The Nullo was destroyed before a possible salvage by Blenheim bombers of the Royal Air Force .
Whereabouts
The destroyers stayed in Massaua until the port was threatened to be occupied by British land forces. They were then ordered to sail on March 31, 1941, to attack targets at the end of the Suez Canal . Such an attack offered a chance of success, but would also mean the loss of the ships, as they could not reach their own base. The Leone ran aground when sailing, caught fire and was sunk by the sister ships.
It was then decided that the two remaining units should no longer run as far as Suez, as they could not arrive there in time for a planned attack by the German Air Force on the canal. They were to take part in a similar attack by the three remaining Sauro-class destroyers on Port Sudan . The association of the remaining roadworthy destroyers ran out on April 2, 1941 with Pantera , Tigre as well as Manin , Sauro and Battisti for the attack against Port Sudan. The Battisti was soon unable to keep up because of a machine failure. On May 3, 1941, about ten nautical miles from Port Sudan, Blenheim bombers of the Royal Air Force and land-deployed Fairey Swordfish from the aircraft carrier Eagle attacked the remaining formation and sank Sauro and Manin . The other two destroyers escaped. Pantera and Tigre sank themselves on the night of May 4, 1941 off the Arab coast near Jeddah . The British destroyer Kingston destroyed the ships sunk in shallow water to make any planned salvage impossible. The Italian occupations were interned in Saudi Arabia .
units
| Surname | Keel laying | Launch | in service | Whereabouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leone | 11/23/1921 | October 1, 1923 | 07/01/1924 | ran aground on April 1, 1941, self-destroyed |
| Pantera | December 19, 1921 | October 18, 1923 | 10/28/1924 | in the night from 3 to 4 April 1941 scuttled |
| Tigre | 01/23/1922 | August 7, 1924 | 10/10/1924 | Sunk in the night of April 3rd to 4th, 1941 |
literature
- MJWhitley: Destroyer in World War II. Motorbuch Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 (Original: Destroyers of World War Two. Arms & Armors Press, London), pp. 152-153.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Weyer's pocket book on the war fleets. 1941/1942, pp. 96f., 310
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. June 6 - July 10, 1940, Mediterranean / Red Sea, design of extensive defensive mine barriers on the Italian Mediterranean coasts.
- ↑ Vincent P. O'Hara: Struggle for the Middle Sea: the great navies at war in the Mediterranean theater, 1940-1945 . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2009, p. 103, ISBN 1-59114-648-8
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 1-10 April 1941, Red Sea / East Africa