Italian destroyer Audace (1916)

Audace at Brindisi, 1917
Class overview
Preceded by: Pilo class
Succeeded by: Sirtori class
Built: 1913–16
In service: 1917–44
Completed: 1
Lost: 1
History
Kingdom of Italy
Name: Audace
Ordered: 1913
Builder: Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun
Laid down: 1 October 1913
Launched: 27 September 1916
Completed: 23 December 1916
Acquired: 3 July 1916
Commissioned: 1 March 1917
Reclassified: As torpedo boat, 1 September 1929
Captured: By Germany, 12 September 1943
Nazi Germany
Name: Audace
Acquired: 12 September 1943
Renamed: TA 20
Fate: Sunk, 2 November 1944
General characteristics (as completed)
Class and type: Urakaze-class destroyer
Displacement: 922 metric tons (907 long tons)
Length: 87.59 m (287 ft 4 in)
Beam: 8.38 m (27 ft 6 in)
Draft: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 2 shafts, 2 steam turbines
Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 2,180 nmi (4,040 km; 2,510 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement: 5 officers and 113 enlisted men
Armament:
  • 7 × single 102 mm (4.0 in)/35 guns
  • 2 × twin 40 mm (1.6 in)/39 AA guns
  • 2 × twin 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes )

The Italian destroyer Audace was originally ordered by Japan from Yarrow Shipbuilders in Scotland under the name of Kawakaze, but was transferred to Italy in 1916 while still under construction. She served as the command ship for the radio-controlled target ship San Marco in 1937–40 and then was rearmed for convoy escort and patrolling duties when World War II began. Audace was captured by the Germans in 1943 and used by them as a minelayer and escort ship in the Adriatic Sea until she was sunk by a pair of British destroyers in late 1944.

Design and description

Audace had a length between perpendiculars of 83.9 meters (275 ft 3 in) and an overall length of 87.59 meters (287 ft 4 in). She had a beam of 8.38 meters (27 ft 6 in) and a draft of 2.5 meters (8 ft 2 in). The ship displaced 922 metric tons (907 long tons) at normal load, and 1,170 metric tons (1,150 long tons) at deep load. Her complement was 5 officers and 113 enlisted men.[1]

The ship was powered by two Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by 3 Yarrow boilers. Designed for a maximum output of 22,000 shaft horsepower (16,000 kW) and a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), Audace handily exceeded this, reaching a speed of 34.5 knots (63.9 km/h; 39.7 mph) during her sea trials while lightly loaded. Her intended German-built diesel cruising engines were not delivered because of the war. She had a cruising range of 2,180 nautical miles (4,040 km; 2,510 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) and 560 nautical miles (1,040 km; 640 mi) at a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph).[2]

Only two quick-firing (QF) 39-caliber two-pounder anti-aircraft guns had been installed before the ship was transferred to Italy in 1916.[1] The gun fired its 40-millimeter (1.6 in), 0.91-kilogram (2 lb), high-explosive shells at a muzzle velocity of 620 meters per second (2,040 ft/s).[3] The ship's main armament consisted of seven QF Cannone da 76/35 S Modello 1914–15 guns in single mounts.[2] This gun fired a 13.75-kilogram (30.31 lb) projectile at a muzzle velocity of 2,480 feet per second (755 m/s).[4] Audace was also equipped with four 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes in twin mounts, one on each broadside.[2]

Construction and career

The Imperial Japanese Navy ordered a pair of Urakaze-class destroyers from the British Yarrow Shipbuilders in 1913, and Kawakaze (as the ship was originally named) was laid down on 1 October 1913 at their Scotstoun shipyard. Construction was delayed by a backlog of previous orders and then by the outbreak of World War I in August 1914.[5] The Italians, desperately short of destroyers, began negotiations with the Japanese to acquire Kawakaze and succeeded on 3 July 1916 when they agreed to transfer the ship. The Regia Marina named their new acquisition Intrepido two days later, but renamed her Audace on 25 September.[2] She was launched on 27 September and completed on 1 March 1917.[6]

Audace was reclassified as a torpedo boat on 1 September 1929 and was modified to serve as the command ship of the radio-controlled target ship San Marco from 1937–40.[6] She was rearmed in 1940 for escort duties with her main armament reduced to three 102-millimeter guns. In 1943 one 102-millimeter gun and the two 2-pounder AA guns were replaced by five 20 mm (0.79 in)/65 Breda Model 35 autocannon in single mounts.[7]

The non-operational ship was captured on 12 September when the Germans occupied Venice and they redesignated her as TA 20. They augmented her anti-aircraft armament to 20 Breda guns in 10 twin mounts and assigned her to escort and minelaying work in the Adriatic Sea.[8] On 15 March 1944, she laid a minefield south of Ancona and others east of San Giorgio on the night of 17/18 and 29 March. The British destroyers Wheatland and Avon Vale ambushed and sank TA 20 and two accompanying corvettes on 1 November south of Lussino in the Adriatic.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Fraccaroli, p. 72
  2. 1 2 3 4 Gardiner & Gray, p. 269
  3. ↑ Friedman, p. 119
  4. ↑ Friedman, p. 241
  5. ↑ Fraccaroli, pp. 72, 74
  6. 1 2 Fraccaroli, p. 74
  7. ↑ Brescia, pp. 136–37
  8. ↑ Brescia, p. 137
  9. ↑ Rohwer, pp. 312, 370

Bibliography

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