Italian cruiser Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta

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Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	29 October 1932
Launched:	22 April 1934
Commissioned:	13 July 1935
Fate:	Given to the Soviet Navy as a war reparation 1949, Scrapped in 1960's
General Characteristics
Displacement:	8,450 tonnes standard 10,539 tonnes full load
Length:	186.9 meters
Beam:	17.5 meters
Draught:	6.1 meters
Propulsion:	2 shaft Belluzzo/Parsons geared turbines 6 Yarrow boilers 110,000 horsepower
Speed:	36.5 knots
Range:	3,900 nautical miles at 14 knots
Complement:	578 men
Armament:	8 6 inch (152mm) guns (4 × 2) 6 3.9 inch (100mm) guns (3 × 2) 8 37&nbsp mm guns (4 x 2) 12 13.2 mm guns (4 × 2)
Aircraft:	2 aircraft, 1 catapult
Protection:	35 mm deck 70 mm main belt 90 mm turrets 100 mm conning tower

Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta was a Condottieri class light cruiser, which served in the Regia Marina during World War II. She survived the war but was given as a war reparation to the Soviet Navy in 1949. She was renamed Kerch by the Russians and served in the Black Sea Fleet until the 1960s.

[edit] Design

Duca d'Aosta was part of the fourth group of Condottieri light cruisers. The design of Duca d'Aosta class was based on the Montecuccoli class, with a slight increase in size and a significant increase in armour. The machinery was also re-arranged.

Duca d'Aosta was built by OTO Livorno and was named after Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta, an Italian Field Marshall of World War I.

[edit] Career

The ship joined the 7th cruiser division and went on a circumnavigation of the globe in 1938-39, returning to La Spezia in March 1939. During the war she fought in the following actions;

After the Italian Armistice she was employed by the Allies on blockade duties in the South Atlantic