Di Giussano class cruiser
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 Bartolomeo Colleoni sinking during the Battle of Cape Spada |
|
| Di Giussano class |  |
|---|---|
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 6570 tonne (standard); 6954 tonne (full load) |
| Length: | 169.3 metres |
| Beam: | 15.5 metres |
| Draught: | 5.3 metres |
| Propulsion: | 95,000 hp |
| Speed: | 37 knots (42 knots in trials) |
| Range: | 3800 miles at 18 knots |
| Complement: | 507 |
| Armament: | 8 152 mm (6 inch) in 4 twin mountings 6 100 mm (3.9 in) in 3 twin mountings 8 37 millimeter machine-guns 8 13.2 mm machine-guns 4 533 mm (21 inch) torpedo tubes |
| Protection: | Decks: 20 mm Sides: 24 mm Turrets: 23 mm Tower: 40 mm |
| Aircraft: | 2 Cant 25 AR (later Ro43) 1 catapult |
The Di Giussano class light cruisers were built before World War II for the Italian Regia Marina, to gain predominance in the Mediterranean Sea. They were designed by general Giuseppe Vian and were named after military commanders of the Italian Mediaeval and Renaissance periods.
Between the two World Wars, the world powers started a rush to gain the supremacy on the seas. In 1926, France started to produce the Le Fantasque class of destroyers, which were superior in displacement and firepower to the destroyers of that period. In order to counter the French menace, Regia Marina decided to produce a new class of cruiser that would be of intermediate size between the new French destroyer class and the cruisers built in that period. In fact, they roughly equated to the British Leander class cruisers.
There were 4 ships, all laid down in 1928:
They were fast ships with good firepower. Speed was the major design criterion and this resulted in minimal protection over critical areas and underwater protection was almost completely lacking. As a result, all 4 ships were sunk by torpedoes:
- Colleoni sank during the Battle of Cape Spada in 1940
- da Barbiano and di Giussano were sunk during the Battle of Cape Bon in December 1941 by a group of Royal Navy and Dutch destroyers
- Bande Nere was sunk by torpedo from British submarine Urge in 1942 while off Stromboli
