The ''Maestrale'' class were a group of
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s built for the (Royal Italian Navy) and served in
World War II. They formed the basis for subsequent Italian destroyer designs; the and es.
Design and description
The ''Maestrale''-class destroyers were a completely new design intended to rectify the
stability problems of the preceding .
[ They had a length between perpendiculars of and an overall length of . The ships had a ]beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a mean draft of [Whitley, p. 168] and at deep load.[Brescia, p. 121] They displaced at normal load, and at deep load.[ Their complement during wartime was 190 officers and enlisted men.][Roberts, p. 300]
The ''Maestrale''s were powered by two Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
geared steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by a trio of three-drum boilers.[ The turbines were designed to produce and a speed of in service, although they reached speeds of during their sea trials while lightly loaded. The ships carried enough ]fuel oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
to give them a range of at a speed of and at a speed of .[
Their main battery consisted of four 50-]caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...
guns in two twin- gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
.[Fraccaroli, p. 55] Amidships were a pair of 15-caliber 120-millimeter star shell
A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Modern usage so ...
guns. Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the ''Maestrale''-class ships was provided by four machine guns. They were equipped with six torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships. Although the ships were not provided with a sonar system for anti-submarine work, they were fitted with a pair of depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
throwers.[ The ''Maestrale''s could carry 56 mines.][
]
Ships
* (North-West wind)
:Built by CT Riva Trigoso,
:completed 2 September 1934.
:Damaged by a mine on 9 January 1943, she was scuttled on 9 September 1943 during the Italian Armistice while being repaired in Genoa.
* (North-East wind)
:Built by CNR Ancona,
:completed 15 November 1934.
:She survived the war and served in the Marina Militare
"Fatherland and Honour"
, patron =
, colors =
, colors_label =
, march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...
until 1964.
* (South-West wind)
:Built by CNR Ancona,
:Laid down 29 Sep 1931
:Launched 4 July 1934
:completed 23 November 1934.
:She was sunk on 9 November 1941 by the British submarine .
* (South-East wind)
:Built by CT Riva Trigoso,
:Completed 21 October 1934.
:Sunk in a storm following the Second Battle of Sirte
The Second Battle of Sirte (on 22 March 1942) was a naval engagement in the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Gulf of Sidra and southeast of Malta, during the Second World War. The escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta held off a much ...
on 23 March 1942, with only two survivors among the 236-strong crew.
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
page from Uboat.net
Maestrale-class destroyer
Marina Militare website
{{WWII Italian ships
Destroyer classes
Destroyers of the Regia Marina