Poerio class

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marina Regia
Poerio class
RN Cesare Rossarol.jpg Cesare Rossarol 1915
overview
Ship type : Scout-cruiser esploratore leggero
from 1921: destroyer cacciatorpediniere
Units: 3
Builder: Ansaldo , Genoa
Keel laying : from June 1913
1. Launch : 4th August 1914 Alessandro Poerio
1. Commissioning: May 25, 1915 Poerio
Use until: 1953 in Spain
Technical specifications
Displacement : 1028  ts
1216 ts maximum
Length: 85.0 m above sea level, 83.1 m pp.
Width: 8.0 m
Draft : up to 3.3 m
Drive : 3 Yarrow boilers
2 Belluzzo turbines , 20,000 hp
Fuel supply: 200 tons of oil
Speed : 31.5 kn
Range : 2,100 nm at 13 kn
Crew : 129
Armament: 6 × 102 mm L / 35 guns
2 × 2 457 mm torpedo tubes
42 sea ​​mines
Armament 1922: 6 × 102 mm L / 45 guns
2 × 40 mm L / 39 flak
2 × 2 457 mm torpedo tubes
42 sea mines
Armament from 1939:
Spain 		6 or 5 × 102 mm L / 45 guns
1 × 40 mm L / 39 flak
2 × 20 mm L / 80 C / 30 - automatic cannons
2 × 2 457 mm torpedo tubes
up to 50 sea mines
2 × depth charges

The Poerio class was a class of three scout cruisers ( esploratori leggeri ) of the Italian Regia Marina . The ships were started in 1913 at Ansaldo in Genoa . When Italy entered the World War on May 23, 1915 on the Entente side , three units were still in the equipment and were put into service until August 20, 1915.

The Cesare Rossarol was lost to a mine hit on November 16, 1918 during the armistice at the end of the World War.

The two remaining units were downgraded to destroyers ( cacciatorpediniere ) in July 1921 and left to the Spanish nationalists in June 1938. They were used by the Spanish Navy as training ships Teruel and Huesca until 1948 and 1953 respectively.

History of the Poerio class

In 1913, the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa began building the three large destroyers of the Poerio class, which were originally intended to be armed with four 102 mm cannons and eight torpedo tubes. During the construction, the Italian Navy decided to reinforce the artillery of the ships.
The keel-laying of the three units of the class took place in June / July 1913. After the ships were launched in August / September 1914, when Italy entered the First World War, they were in the final equipment and were put into service for the next three months.
The namesake of the ships, Alessandro Poerio (1802–1848), Cesare Rossaroll (1809–1849) and Guglielmo Pepe (1783–1855), were, like those of the smaller Pilo class destroyers procured around the same time , important men of the Italian liberation - and unification movement ( Risorgimento ).

Technical specifications

Rift of the Poerio class

In its external form, the Ansaldo design was largely similar to that of the previously ordered destroyer, but with only two funnels. With a hull length of 85.0 m over all (83.1 m wl.), The ships of the Poerio class were about 10 m longer than the three-chimney destroyers of the Indomito and Pilo classes that were ordered at about the same time . They had a hull width of up to 8 m and a draft of up to 3.1 m. The ships of the class were powered by two sets of Belluzzo turbines , which were supposed to deliver 24,000 hp and which were supplied with steam from three Yarrow boilers . The machinery gave the ships a top speed of 31.5 knots (kn) . The oil supply of 200 t enabled a range of 2100 nm at a cruising speed of 13 kn. The ships displaced 1028 t and with maximum payload 1216 t.
While replicas of the smaller Pilo-class destroyers were only made with different armament until 1922, no replicas of the Poeri-class were ordered. The Ansaldo shipyard delivered six more esploratori with the Mirabello and Leone classes by 1924 , but they were much larger.

Armament

The original design of the shipyard provided for a main armament of four 102 mm L / 35 cannons, a license production of the Ansaldo company based on the British model. To this end, four 450 mm twin torpedo tube sets were to be installed. The Italian Navy considered it necessary to reinforce the artillery for the future use of the ships and had six main guns installed and halved the number of torpedo tubes. The ships were also prepared as mine layers, which could carry up to 42 sea ​​mines .

The installed armament was changed and improved when the ship was in dock. After attempts on the Guglielmo Pepe with two 76 mm L / 40 guns manufactured under license in Italy for air defense, the three units received two 40 mm L / 39 guns from Vickers-Terni for air defense in 1917 . By the end of the war, the main armament on all three ships was changed to more modern 102 mm L / 45 guns , also a license production of a British gun.

Mission history

Surname Keel laying Launch in service Whereabouts
Allessandro Poerio 06/25/1913 4.08.1914 06/25/1915 November 1937 to Spain: Huesca . Retired in 1953.
Cesare Rossarol 06/30/1913 08/15/1914 August 6, 1915 Sank on November 16, 1918 off the southern tip of Istria after being hit by a mine, 93 dead
Guglielmo Pepe 07/02/1913 09/17/1914 08/20/1915 November 1937 to Spain: Teruel ; Segregated in 1948.

The new esploratori carried out their test and training program in the La Spezia area before moving to Taranto or Brindisi for the war . At the end of 1915 the three ships formed the II Gruppo Esploratori in Venice , which was seldom used as a closed unit. The ships mostly supported attacks or defense operations of extensive Italian units. There were seldom actual battles with the Austro-Hungarian Navy . Often both sides withdrew when individual ships were in combat or pursued each other in vain. Each ship in the class was involved in over 60 missions.
After the conclusion of the armistice at the end of the World War, Italy had greater territorial claims than agreed in the London Treaty and, as a result, conflicts with the newly formed state of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in Dalmatia . On November 10, 1918, Guglielmo Pepe and Rossarol transported troops to Pola to secure the naval port and the Austro-Hungarian fleet for Italy.

On November 16, 1918, the Cesare Rossarol was supposed to bring a South Slavic official from Pola to Fiume , who was supposed to convince Serbo-Croatian combat units there to tolerate the Italian occupation of the city. When the Rossarol circled the southern tip of Istria , it ran into a sea ​​mine . The mine hit broke the ship. Both parts fell within a few minutes to 44 ° 50 '  N , 13 ° 59'  O coordinates: 44 ° 49 '50 "  N , 13 ° 59' 15"  O before Lisignano . As the crew was having lunch, a large part was trapped in the hull. 93 crew members lost their lives, only 34 survived. In memory of the sunken ship, the destroyer B 97, taken over by the Germans, was renamed Cesare Rossarol again in 1924 .

The Pepe occupied on 27 November 1918, embarked troops the island of Rab . In 1921, the two remaining units of the class were downgraded to destroyers ( cacciatorpediniere ). The two ships made several trips abroad in the 1920s and visited a.o. a. Ports in the Aegean and Black Seas .
In the autumn of 1937 Poerio and Pepe were handed over to the Spanish nationalists. The official handover took place together with two ships of the Aquila class in January 1939.

Operations under the Spanish flag

Flag of Spain (1938–1945) .svg

In September 1937 the Spanish nationalists took over the two remaining ships of the Poerio class in Sardinia as Huesca and Teruel

The Teruel

The ships that were taken over moved to Mallorca and were employed with relief tasks. They controlled ship movements off the Spanish coasts on the Mediterranean Sea and brought up merchant ships with goods for the Republicans. In May 1938, the sister ships collided while securing an escort and were seriously damaged. Both were transferred to Cadiz and were only used again after a few months.
After the end of the Spanish Civil War , the ships were used for training purposes. The Teruel (ex Guglielmo Pepe ) was segregated and scrapped in 1948; 1953 followed the Huesca (ex Alessandro Poerio ).

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Gardiner: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921 , p. 265.
  2. ↑ https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?142465 sinking of the Cesare Rossorol

Web links

Commons : Poerio-class destroyer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Robert Gardiner, R. Chesnau: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921 , Conway Maritime Press, 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
  • Robert Gardiner, R. Chesnau: Conways All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1922-1946 , Conway's Maritime Press, 1987, ISBN 0-85177-146-7 .
  • Paul G. Halpern: A Naval History of World War I. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1995, ISBN 1-55750-352-4 .