Soldato-class destroyer

The Soldato class (also known as the Soldati class[lower-alpha 1]) was a class of destroyers of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built by Ansaldo of Genoa prior to the First World War. Ten were built for the Regia Marina between 1905 and 1910, while an eleventh ship was built for China but purchased by Italy before completion. They served during the First World War, where one was lost, with the remaining ships sold for scrap in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Ascaro before launch
Class overview
Builders: Ansaldo, Genoa
Operators:  Regia Marina
Preceded by: Nembo class
Succeeded by: Indomito class
Built: 1905–1913
In commission: 1907–1932
Completed: 11
Lost: 1
Scrapped: 10
General characteristics [1]
Displacement: 395–424 long tons (401–431 t)
Length:
  • 64.4 m (211 ft 3 in) wl
  • 65.0 m (213 ft 3 in) oa
Beam: 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)
Draught: 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in)
Propulsion:
Speed: 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph)
Complement:
  • 55 (Artigliere group and Ascaro)
  • 50 (Alpino group)
Armament:
Ascaro at high speed

Design

The Soldato class was ordered from Ansaldo as an improved version of the Nembo-class destroyer, a class of six turtleback destroyers built for the Italian Navy by the Pattison shipyard of Naples to a modified Thornycroft design between 1899 and 1905.[1][4][5] The new design carried a more powerful armament than the earlier ships, with four 76 mm (3 in)/40 calibre guns (capable of firing a 5.9 kg (13 lb) shell to a range of 9,850 m (32,320 ft) at a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute per gun[6]) and three 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes instead of the five 57 mm guns and four 356 mm (14 in) tubes carried by the Nembo class.[1][4]

The ships were powered by two sets of triple expansion steam engines fed by three Thornycroft water-tube boilers and driving two propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at 6,000 ihp (4,500 kW) to give a speed of 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph). The ships were fitted with three funnels.[1] Six ships (the Artigliere group[2]) had coal-fired boilers, carrying 95 t of coal, sufficient to give a range of 1,500 nautical miles (1,700 mi; 2,800 km) at a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) or 400 nautical miles (740 km; 460 mi) at 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h; 27.0 mph).[1][7] Four more ships (the Alpino group[2]) were fitted with oil-fired boilers, with 65 t of oil giving a range of 1,600 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 12 knots.[1][8]

All 10 ships were laid down in 1905, with the first four ships of the Artigliere group completed in 1907, with the remaining ships delivered in 1910.[2] In 1910, China placed an order for a single destroyer based on the Soldato class, to be named Ching Po or Tsing Po. This ship was to have a gun armament of two 76 mm and four 47 mm guns, and was designed to use mixed fuel, with one boiler being coal-fired and two being oil-fired. In 1912, the under-construction ship was acquired by Italy, and renamed Ascaro. The ship's armament was revised to conform with the rest of the class, but the ship retained its non-standard machinery.[1]

Service

The Soldato class were the most modern destroyers in the Regia Marina when the Italo-Turkish War broke out. Soldato-class destroyers took place in both the Battle of Preveza, where Italian destroyers, including Artigliere and Corazziere sank three Turkish torpedo boats.[9][10] and the Battle of Kunfuda Bay, where the protected cruiser Piemonte, together with Artigliere and Garibaldino sank seven gunboats.[11][12]

One ship, Garibaldino, was lost following a collision on 16 July 1918.[13] The remaining ships were reclassified as torpedo boats on 1 July 1921 and were gradually discarded through the 1920s and early 1930s, with the final ship, Fuciliere stricken on 15 December 1932.[1]

Ships
Artigliere group
Ship Laid down[2] Launched[2] Completed[2] Operational History
Artigliere 24 July 1905 18 January 1907 26 August 1907 Stricken 14 June 1923[1]
Bersagliere 13 July 1905 2 October 1906 13 April 1907 Stricken 5 July 1923[1]
Corazziere 23 October 1905 11 December 1909 16 May 1910 Sticken 1 June 1928[1]
Garibaldino 23 October 1905 12 February 1910 1 June 1910 Sank following collision with trawler Cygnet[lower-alpha 2] off Villefranche-sur-Mer 16 July 1918.[13][17]
Granatiere 24 July 1905 27 October 1906 18 April 1907 Stricken 3 November 1927[1]
Lanciere 24 July 1905 27 February 1907 1 August 1907 Stricken 4 March 1923[1]
Alpino group
Ship Laid down[13] Launched[13] Completed[13] Operational History
Alpino 4 December 1905 27 November 1909 1 April 1910 Stricken 1 June 1928[1]
Carabiniere 7 November 1905 12 October 1909 26 January 1910 Stricken 7 May 1925[13]
Fuciliere 28 October 1905 21 August 1909 26 January 1910 Stricken 15 December 1932[1]
Pontiere 18 November 1905 3 January 1910 11 February 1910 Ran aground off Sardinia 14 September 1911, salvaged and repaired at Taranto and relaunched 1 November 1913. Stricken 1 July 1929.[1][13]
Ascaro
Ship Laid down[18] Launched[18] Completed[18] Operational History
Ascaro 1911 6 December 1912 21 July 1913 Stricken 31 May 1930[1]

Notes
  1. Fraccaroli[2] and the current Italian Navy[3] refer to the class as the Soldato class, while Gardiner and Gray refer to the class as the Soldati class.[1]
  2. Gardiner and Gray state that the collision was with the British destroyer HMS Cygnet[1] HMS Cygnet was based in British waters during the First World War, however,[14][15][16] and so is unlikely to be the ship involved.

Citations
  1. Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 268.
  2. Fraccaroli 1970, pp. 66–67.
  3. "Almanacco storico navale: Bersagliere: Cacciatorpediniere". Marina Militare. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  4. Chesneau and Kolesnik 1979, p. 356.
  5. Fraccaroli 1970, p. 65.
  6. Fraccaroli 1970, pp. 281–282.
  7. "Almanacco storico navale: Artigliere: Cacciatorpediniere". Marina Militare. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  8. "Almanacco storico navale: Alpino: Cacciatorpediniere". Marina Militare. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  9. Hythe 1912, pp. 160–161.
  10. Beehler 1913, pp. 22–23.
  11. Beehler 1913, pp. 50–51.
  12. Hythe 1912, pp. 166–167.
  13. Fraccaroli 1970, p. 67.
  14. Dittmar and Colledge 1972, p. 58.
  15. Thompson, Doug (26 July 1999). "A "Best Guess" of Royal Navy Destroyers Assigned to Home Defence and Patrols in August, 1914". The World War I Document Archive: The War at Sea. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  16. Maccormick, Bill (21 January 1999). "Royal Navy Destroyer Deployment, 1914-1918". The World War I Document Archive: The War at Sea. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  17. "Major Warships Sunk in World War 1 1918". worldwar1.co.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  18. Fraccaroli 1970, p. 68.

References
  • Beehler, William Henry (1913). The History of the Italian-Turkish War, Sept. 29, 1911 to Oct. 18, 1912. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Advertiser-Republican.
  • Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
  • Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
  • Fraccaroli, Aldo (1970). Italian Warships of World War 1. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0105-7.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Hythe, Viscount (1912). The Naval Annual 1912. Portsmouth, UK: J Griffin.
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