Italian cruiser Eugenio di Savoia

Career (Italy)
Laid down: July 6, 1933
Launched: March 16, 1935
Commissioned: 16 January 1936
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Displacement: 8,450 tons standard, 10,539 tons full load
Length: 186.9 m
Beam: 17.5 m
Draught: 6.1 m
Propulsion: 2 Belluzzo/Parsons geared turbines, 6 Yarrow boillers, 110,000 hp
Speed: 36.5 knots (68 km/h)
Range: 3,900 nautical miles (7,220 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement: 578
Armament: 8 × 152 mm
6 x 100 mm
8 × 37/50 mm AA
12 × 13.2 mm
Armour: 35 mm deck
70 mm main belt
90 mm turrets
100 mm conning tower
Aircraft carried: 2
Aviation facilities: 1 catapult

Eugenio di Savoia 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 Hellenic Navy in 1947. She was renamed Elli and served until 1964.

Contents

Design

Eugenio di Savoia was part of the fourth group of Condottieri light cruisers, also known as Duca d'Aosta class. The design of the 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.

Eugenio di Savoia was built by Ansaldo, Genoa, and named after Prince Eugene of Savoy. It is ironic that both Eugenio di Savoia and her Kriegsmarine namesake Prinz Eugen honour a General who was such a staunch ally of the British in an earlier era.

Career

As results of the pact between Franco and Mussolini, on February 13, 1937, the ship went into action off the coast of Barcelona (Spain), bombarding the city and causing 18 deaths.

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

She was hit during an air strike carried out by Liberator bombers while berthed in Napoli on 4 December 1942. Two other cruisers, Montecuccoli and Attendolo were badly hit and the latter sunk.[1] After the armistice in 1943, she was used as a training ship in Suez. She was transferred to Greece in 1949 as part of the Peace treaty. She was renamed Elli (Έλλη) and served until 1965.

Video

Italian newsreel footage of an IMAM Ro.43 reconnaissance floatplane launching from a catapult aboard Eugenio di Savoia can be viewed at I.M.A.M Ro 43 Hidroavion Catapultable Regia Marina.

References

Notes

  1. ^ History of the Second World War. Volume 4, Purnell and Sons Ltd., p. 1412