The ''Orsa'' class (sometimes called the ''Pegaso'' class) were a group of large

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 or

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

s built for the

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 ...

in the late 1930s. They were an enlarged version of the , specifically tailored for the escort and anti-submarine role, with greater endurance and a heavier depth charge armament but less powerful machinery and a lighter gun armament. Four were built, with two being lost during the Second World War. The surviving pair were rebuilt as anti-submarine frigates in the 1950s.

Ships

References

External links

Orsa-class torpedo
Marina Militare website {{WWII Italian ships Torpedo boat classes Ships built in Italy Torpedo boats of the Regia Marina World War II torpedo boats of Italy