The Orsa class (sometimes called the Pegaso class) were a group of large torpedo boats or destroyer escorts built for the Italian Navy in the late 1930s. They were an enlarged version of the , specifically tailored for the escort and anti-submarine role, with greater endurance and a heavier depth charge armament but less powerful machinery and a lighter gun armament. Four were built, with two being lost during the Second World War. The surviving pair were rebuilt as anti-submarine frigates in the 1950s.
Ships Ship builder Launched Operational History BS Napoletani 8 December 1936Sank British submarines , HMS Undaunted,Barrow Submariners Association and . She was part of the screen of destroyers and torpedo boats escorting a four-freighter convoy to Tripoli on 26 May 1941, when two Blenheim bombers were shot down.Shores, Cull & Malizia, p. 223 She also took part in the shooting down of a Beaufort bomber and a Beaufighter while escorting another convoy on 21 August 1942.Shores, Cull & Malizia (1991). Malta: The Spitfire Year 1942. Grub Street, p. 524. Pegaso was one of the most successful Axis anti-submarine warships of World War II. Scuttled 11 September 1943 Procione BS Napoletani 31 January 1937Shelled British positions around Bardia on 21 and 27 December 1940. Procione took part in the rescue of survivors of the troop transport ship Conte Rosso, torpedoed and sunk on 24 May 1941 by HMS Upholder. Scuttled 11 September 1943OrioneCNR Palermo21 April 1937Survived the war and served in the post-war Marina Militare. Decommissioned 1964OrsaCNR Palermo21 March 1937Along with the Spica-class Climene, she shot down three attacking British aircraft on 24 July 1942 while escorting the transport Vettor Pisani, which was beached and lost after the airstrike. Survived the war and served in the post-war Marina Militare. Decommissioned 1964
References
External links Orsa-class torpedo Marina Militare website