The Indomito class was a class of destroyers of the Italian Royal Navy () before and during World War I. Eight were built, six of which at Naples by Societa Pattison, between 1910 and 1913. They were the first large Italian destroyers and the first fitted with steam turbines. The class is sometimes also called the I class. Two of the class were sunk during World War I, but the four surviving ships remained in service until 1937–38. One of the class, , was reinstated during World War II and served in the Règia Marina and the German Kriegsmarine before being sunk by U.S. aircraft in late 1944.
Design and construction The Indomito class was designed by Luigi Scaglia of Societa Pattison of Naples. The boats were the first large destroyers of the Règia Marina and the first fitted with steam turbines. The Indomito class were the first in the progression of Italian destroyers to be called either tre pipe or tre canne for their three funnels.Fraccaroli, pp. 268–269Future destroyers, until the 1921–22 , were also called tre pipe or tre canne. See: Fraccaroli, p. 268
The ships were at the waterline ( overall) with a beam of and a draft of . They had twin shafts driven by two Tosi steam turbines that were fired by four Thornycroft boilers. The drivetrain was designed for a power output of to move the ships at , but had a maximum output of which propelled the ships at .
As built, the ships were armed with one /40 gun, four /40 guns, and two torpedo tubes. In 1914 they were augmented with an additional two torpedo tubes. During World War I, guide rails for laying up to ten mines were added to the ships. Later wartime changes replaced all the guns with five /35 and a single /39 AA gun. Oil capacity was also increased during the war from to in order to increase endurance, but the increased weight had the opposite effect: slowing the ships and reduced their endurance.
Service career
All of the Indomito class saw action during World War I, with two of the ships, and , sunk during the war. The remaining four ships all survived the war and were reclassified as torpedo boats in 1929. The remaining four ships were stricken 1937–38. , however, was reinstated on 1 March 1941. Reduced to two funnels and rearmed, she served as a target ship, a convoy escort, and served in an anti-submarine warfare role. She was scuttled by her crew on 10 September 1943 at Pola, but was raised by the Germans who commissioned her as Wildfang on 8 November. Wildfang, the last surviving member of the Indomito class, was sunk by U.S. aircraft on 5 November 1944 after just under one year of German service.
Ships Ship Builder Laid down Launched Completed Operational History (AE) Orlando, Livorno4 April 191215 December 191215 August 1913Stricken 12 October 1937Orlando, Livorno191220 October 19121914Stricken in summer 1931 (IV)Pattison, Naples191122 March 19131914Stricken 1 September 1937Pattison, Naples191023 July 19131914Sunk 10 July 1916 by Austro-Hungarian U-boat (ID)Pattison, Naples191010 May 191220 January 1913Stricken 11 July 1937 (IS)Pattison, Naples191230 September 19131914Stricken 18 September 1938. Reinstated as a target ship and convoy escort on 1 March 1941 but scuttled at Pola on 10 September 1943; raised and renamed Wildfang by Germany, but sunk by U.S. aircraft on 5 November 1944Pattison, Naples1910 7 August 19121913Sunk 4 December 1915 by a mine from German U-boat (IR)Pattison, Naples191012 December 19121913Stricken 11 October 1937
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References
Bibliography
External links
Indomito-class destroyer (1910) Marina Militare website