La Masa-class Destroyer
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The ''La Masa'' class was a class of eight
destroyers In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
of the Italian ''
Regia Marina The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origin ...
'' (Royal Navy) constructed during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, during which one ship was lost in a collision. Like other obsolete Italian destroyers, the seven surviving ships were reclassified as
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s in 1929, and served during
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Two ships were sunk in air attacks while in Italian service during the Second World War, one was sunk by a mine, and two more were
scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...
. The remaining two ships survived the war and continued to serve in the post-war
Italian Navy The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...
(''Marina Militare'') before being decommissioned in 1957–1958.


Design and description

The ''La Masa'' class was developed from the ''Sirtori'' class destroyers. Four ships were ordered in 1915, four more in 1916. All eight ships were built by the Odero shipyard in
Sestri Ponente Sestri Ponente is an industrial suburb of Genoa in northwest Italy. It is part of the Medio Ponente ''municipio'' of Genoa. Geography It is situated on the Ligurian Sea four miles to the west of the city, between Pegli and Cornigliano. Its po ...
near
Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
. Their main armament was provided by four Schneider-Armstrong 1917 L/45 guns, the two bow ones side by side, the two aft one behind the other on the centre line. These guns were Italian-made licensed copies of the British QF 4in Mk V gun. The secondary armament was provided by two L/40 Ansaldo
anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...
s (in place of the of the ''Sirtori''-class) and four Colt-Browning machine guns. Additionally, the destroyers carried four torpedo tubes in twin mounts. Also up to ten mines could be deployed. Because of these new and heavy armaments, the main armament was reduced compared to the ''Sirtori''-class from six to four. Because two aft guns were positioned on the center line, the broadside was still made up of three guns. The ships were long o/a, wide and had draught. Their displacement was standard and full load. The machinery consisted of four oil-fired Thornycroft boilers and two Tosi
steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...
s that delivered . The ships had two
shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection ...
. The maximum speed when commissioned was but it had dropped to just at the beginning of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The fuel storage amounted to 150 tons of oil, the range was at cruising speed of . The ship's complement was 4 officers and 74 ratings. In 1929 the ships were reclassified as
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s. Their armament was modified after Italy's entry into WW2, mainly in order to strengthen their anti-air capabilities. The modifications differed between ships. Between 1940 and 1942 five of the ships - , , , , - had two or even three of their 102 mm guns and one of their two torpedo tubes removed. Six Breda Model 35 L/65 anti-aircraft guns were installed in their place as well as two
depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...
throwers. On and a triple torpedo tube set was installed behind the third
funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...
, in addition to the 450 mm twin tube set on the aft deck. Moreover, these two ships had four 20 mm Breda Model 35 anti-aircraft guns installed in twin mounts. After the modifications, the displacement varied between standard and full load. The two ships that survived the war, and , were converted into
minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...
s in 1953-4 by the Italian Navy. As minesweepers, they retained only one 102 mm gun and three 20 mm AA guns, but were now equipped with
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
and mine clearing gear.


Service

The destroyers of the ''La Masa'' class, like their predecessors, were used in the
Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
against the
Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
'' k.u.k. Kriegsmarine''. One ship was lost on 10 April 1918, when the ''Benedetto Cairoli'' which had only been in service for two months, sank in the
Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea (, ; or , ; , ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, ...
after a collision with her
sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...
''Giacinto Carini''. When the armistice came into effect at the end of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, two ships of the class, ''Giuseppe La Masa'' and ''Nicola Fabrizi'', belonged to a squadron led by , which took
Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
with 200
Carabiniere The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...
. On the night of 8 October 1919, ''Agostino Bertani'', which was only completed in June 1919 as the penultimate ship of the class, was taken over by officers in Trieste, who wanted to join Gabriele D'Annunzio in
Fiume Rijeka (; Fiume ( fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and in 2021 had a po ...
. They sailed with the destroyer to Fiume. D'Annunzio declared Fiume
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
against the wishes of the Italian government. Italy captured Fiume in December 1920 and the ships that defected to D'Annunzio's legionaries returned to the ''Regia Marina'' in January 1921, where they were decommissioned. Along with the other defected ships, ''Bertani'' was renamed: she was put back into service as ''Enrico Cosenz''. The new namesake Enrico Cosenz (1820–1898) was the first chief of staff of the Italian army. In 1923, several destroyers of the class were deployed in the
Corfu incident The Corfu incident (, ) was a 1923 diplomatic and military crisis between Greece and Italy. It was triggered when Enrico Tellini, an Italian general heading a commission to resolve a border dispute between Albania and Greece, was murdered in ...
with the squadrons off Corfu and in the Dodecanese, which were intended to exert pressure on Greece.


Ships


Notes


Sources

* * *


External links


Italian Three Pipers
{{authority control destroyer classes destroyers of the Regia Marina World War I destroyers of Italy World War II torpedo boats of Italy