Italian destroyer Giuseppe La Masa
![]() Giuseppe La Masa in 1923.
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History | |
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Name | Giuseppe La Masa |
Namesake | Giuseppe La Masa (1819–1881), Italian patriot, politician, and soldier |
Builder | Cantieri navali Odero, Sestri Ponente, Kingdom of Italy |
Laid down | 1 September 1916 |
Launched | 6 September 1917 |
Completed | 28 September 1917 |
Commissioned | 28 September 1917 |
Identification | Pennant number LM |
Reclassified | Torpedo boat 1 October 1929 |
Motto | Immutata fide (Unchanged Faith) |
Fate | Scuttled 11 September 1943 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type | Destroyer |
Displacement |
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Length | 72.5 m (237 ft 10 in) (waterline) |
Beam | 7.3 m (23 ft 11 in) |
Draught | 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 33.6 knots (62.2 km/h; 38.7 mph) |
Range |
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Complement | 4 officers, 74 non-commissioned officers and sailors |
Armament |
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/R.C.T._La_Masa%2C_1919.jpg/220px-R.C.T._La_Masa%2C_1919.jpg)
Giuseppe La Masa was the lead ship of the Italian La Masa-class destroyers. Commissioned into service in the Italian Regia Marina ("Royal Navy") in 1917, she served in World War I, participating in the Adriatic campaign. She also deployed to protect Italian interests during the Corfu incident in 1923. Reclassified as a torpedo boat in 1929, she took part in the Mediterranean campaign of World War II until the Italian armistice with the Allies in 1943, when her crew scuttled her to prevent her use by the Germans.
Construction and commissioning
Giuseppe La Masa was
Service history
World War I
The first La Masa-class ship to enter service, Giuseppe La Masa took part in the final stages of
By late October 1918,
Interwar period
On 20 August 1923, during the
World War II
World War II broke out in September 1939 with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Italy joined the war on the side of the Axis powers with its invasion of France on 10 June 1940. At the time, Giuseppe La Masa was based at La Spezia as part of the 16th Torpedo Boat Squadron, which also included the torpedo boats Calatafimi, Castelfidardo, Curtatone, Giacinto Carini, and Monzambano. During the war, she mainly operated on escort duty in the Tyrrhenian Sea.[7] After 1940 she underwent a revision of her armament which saw the removal of three 102-millimetre (4 in) guns, the replacement of her 76-millimetre (3 in) guns with eight 20-millimetre autocannons, and the replacement of two of her 450-millimetre (17.7 in) torpedo tubes with three 533-millimetre (21 in) tubes.[6]
On 9 February 1941, the British
On 8 September 1943, the Kingdom of Italy announced an armistice with the Allies and switched sides in the war, prompting Nazi Germany to begin Operation Achse, the disarmament by force of the Italian armed forces and the occupation of those portions of Italy not yet under Allied control. At the time, Giuseppe La Masa was undergoing overhaul at Naples. She was unable to put to sea, so her crew scuttled her at Naples on 11 September 1943 to prevent her capture by German forces.[7]
References
Citations
- ^ Fraccaroli 1985, pp. 252, 290.
- ^ a b c d e f Favre, pp. 250, 266, 284.
- ^ a b c THE ACTIVITIES OF DESTROYERS DURING THE WAR
- ^ a b La Racine, R. B. (March 2011). "In Adriatico subito dopo la vittoria". Storia Militare (in Italian). No. 210.
- ^ Il Periodo tra le Due Guerre Mondiali Archived 11 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Marina Militare (in Italian).
- ^ a b Trentoincina (in Italian).
- ^ Giorgio Giorgerini, La guerra italiana sul mare. La Marina tra vittoria e sconfitta 1940-1943, p. 262 (in Italian).
Bibliography
- Favre, Franco. La Marina nella Grande Guerra. Le operazioni navali, aeree, subacquee e terrestri in Adriatico (in Italian).
- Fraccaroli, Aldo (1970). Italian Warships of World War 1. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0105-7.
- Fraccaroli, Aldo (1985). "Italy". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 252–290. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
- Whitley, M.J. (2000). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN 1-85409-521-8.