Lepanto was an Azio-class minelayer of the Royal Italian Navy. She was reclassified as gunboat in 1934 and remained in Italian service in the Far East from 1933 to 1943, when she was scuttled in China, during World War II. She was then recovered by the Imperial Japanese Navy and taken into service as Okitsu, spending the remainder of the war escorting convoys. She was surrendered to the Republic of China after the end of the war and served for a further ten years with the Republic of China Navy as the Hsien Ning; and then, according to some sources, with the People's Liberation Army Navy.
Construction and characteristics Built between 1925 and 1927 at the Cantieri Navali Riuniti shipyards in Ancona, the Lepanto belonged to the Azio class, designed in the early 1920s (the ships of the class were ordered in 1924 for service in the colonies). The project was developed by the naval engineer Colonel Francesco Rotundi.Achille Rastelli, Italiani a Shanghai. La Regia Marina in Estremo Oriente, pp. 42–49, 89, 91–95, 103, 105, 109, 113, 123–124, 127–134, 136, 139–140, 145–149, 157–158, 162–163, 168. The ships of this class were intended to serve both as minelayers and as colonial vessels: their principal task was to lay defensive minefields in the waters of Italian colonies and possessions in the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea, protecting their coastlines. In addition to laying defensive barriers along the sea lanes leading to Italian ports, these vessels could also deploy offensive minefields on routes used by enemy shipping, and they were also capable of operating as minesweepers. Thanks to their excellent seakeeping qualities, the ships of the Azio class proved suitable during the 1920s and 1930s for a wide variety of roles, including gunboats, training ships, colonial vessels, hydrographic ships or station ships in foreign waters (all tasks for which Lepanto was indeed employed), usable both in Italy and in colonial or even more distant waters.
During construction the ships of the class were modified with the addition of extra weight, which reduced the speed by one knot (from 16 to 15) compared with the design specification, but still allowed them to be used as escort ships. Since they had also been conceived for representation abroad and long stays in warm climates, the ships of the class had particularly comfortable and carefully arranged fittings, even luxurious. They were equipped with thermal insulation (allowing long deployments in tropical climates without excessive temperatures in interior spaces) and powerful radio stations. There were also extra accommodations in order to host additional personnel. Thanks to their shallow draft and versatility, the ships could also be used, when necessary, in river navigation.
The Azio-class minelayers had a straight stem, a high freeboard and more than one third of the hull occupied by the forecastle. Behind it was a large deckhouse extending to the stern. At the forward end of the forecastle deck were the bridge and wheelhouse (forming a single block) and an open upper bridge on two decks; behind them was the funnel, slightly inclined toward the stern, followed by the hatches of the engine room and the secondary steering position. There were two vertical pole masts without shrouds. Under the forecastle and in the forward part of the lower deck were the crew quarters, while aft of the engine room on the lower deck were the cabins of the officers and senior non-commissioned officers. Amidships, on the sides of the main deck, were the cranes used to handle various motor launches and boats used for service tasks. The hull was built of mild steel produced using the Siemens–Martin process.
The engine system consisted of two vertical triple-expansion steam engines powered by two water-tube boilers, developing a total output of 1,500 hp. This allowed a speed of 15 knots, with a range of 1,500 nautical miles at that speed. The arrangement of the machinery on two shafts, together with the hull design, gave the Azio-class vessels excellent seakeeping and maneuverability. While Lepanto, Azio and Legnano had oil-fired boilers (75 tonnes), Dardanelli, Ostia and Milazzo had coal-fired boilers (85 tonnes). According to some sources the ships were originally also equipped with auxiliary sails: a jib of 26 m², a staysail of 93 m², a mainsail of 98 m² and a topsail of 98 m². The rudder was not balanced.
The main armament consisted of two cannons Terni (or Ansaldo Schneider) 102/35 Mod. 1914, one mounted on the forecastle deck forward of the bridge and the other on the roof of the aft end of the deckhouse. As secondary armament, Lepanto carried one 40/39 mm autocannon (other sources state two), while the other ships of the class carried a 76/40 Ansaldo Mod. 1917 anti-aircraft gun. The ships were equipped to carry and lay 80 naval mines with a total weight of 86 tonnes.
The success of the Azio class was such that plans were made to reproduce the design in a larger number of improved vessels, but this proved impossible because of a lack of funds. Two improved Azio-type ships, the Babr class, were later built for the Imperial Iranian Navy. The lines of the Azio class were revisited in 1941 when the Gabbiano-class corvettes were designed.
History Royal Italian Navy service (1927–1943) In the period immediately following her entry into service, Lepanto took part in training cruises.
In October 1928 the minelayer was stationed at Thessaloniki as a station ship. In 1931 the unit was employed as a hydrographic ship to complete systematic surveys in Libyan waters.
In the early 1930s it was decided, because of age, to replace Sebastiano Caboto, one of the two gunboats deployed on the rivers of China to protect Italian interests (the other was Carlotto). To replace Caboto, Lepanto was selected (according to another source, her dispatch to the Far East and the Indian Ocean had been decided since her entry into service): on 11 November 1932, under the command of frigate captain Priamo Leonardi, the minelayer sailed from Italy for the Far East. After various stops at Port Said, Aden, Bombay and Singapore, the ship—following the route usually taken by small vessels not suited to face the force of the monsoons on the northern routes—coasted the Philippines and called at Manila, where she was welcomed triumphantly by the local Italian community; then, heading for China, she encountered heavy weather, being forced to heave-to and stop at San Fernando (Luzon) and then to lie-to for two days off Amoy. Lepanto then encountered a typhoon, which she overcame thanks to her good seakeeping qualities and the skill of her crew. The ship finally arrived at Shanghai on 10 March 1933 (other sources give 1934 or 1935), operating in China—especially on the Yangtze—for the next seven years, being used mainly as a gunboat. In December 1933 the ship was present during Guglielmo Marconi's visit to the local Italian community.
On the night of 9–10 October 1934 the unit, anchored at Kichow, was rammed by the British steamship Hopecrag due to an incorrect manoeuvre carried out by that ship while descending the river. Lepanto suffered minor damage to her bow.
Late in 1934 Lepanto carried out short coastal and river cruises, for which she was particularly well suited, thus protecting, by her presence, Italian citizens and Catholic missions (China was shaken by continuous internal conflicts and security was very poor), especially where larger ships could not reach. Returning to Shanghai on 26 November 1934, the gunboat remained there until early February 1935, while in March she steamed up the Yangtze as far as Hankou. After spending April and May at Shanghai, Lepanto put to sea calling at Chemulpo, Dairen, Taku, Ching-uan-tao, Ce-fu, Wei-hai-wei and Tsingtao, returning to Shanghai on 24 August. The ship then remained in the Chinese port until February 1936 for major maintenance work; after that, awaiting an improvement in wind and current (time spent carrying out exercises and gunnery trials), she steamed up the Yangtze again. After a stop at Nanjing for the Christmas holidays, during which she was visited by the Italian ambassador, Lepanto returned to Shanghai in April; then, instead of making a summer cruise, she served as a station ship for some months at Tsingtao, returning to Shanghai in September 1936.
After the departure, during 1935, of the scout cruiser Quarto, Carlotto and Lepanto remained for two years the only Italian ships in China, active mainly on the Yangtze, on the Huangpu and at Shanghai. From 1937 to 1938, as the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, the light cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli was sent to the Far East as a command ship, replaced from 1938 to 1939 by Bartolomeo Colleoni.
On 7 July 1937, following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, part of the crews of Lepanto and Carlotto formed a detachment tasked with defending Italian interests in China; the detachment was later joined by the San Marco Battalion from Tientsin. These units guarded the international concessions of Shanghai to defend them from the Japanese advance in the battle that led to the Japanese occupation of the city between September and November 1937. The commander of Lepanto, frigate captain Vittorio Bacigalupi, was placed in command of the first detachment formed with men from the two gunboats.
During her stay at Shanghai, the local Italian community presented the officers and petty officers of Lepanto with a "Ricordo della Campagna in Estremo Oriente", embroidered by hand on silk. In 1937–1938 the gunboat was repeatedly on the Huangpu. On 10 April 1937 Lepanto arrived at Shanghai, from where she departed on 14 April, reaching Nanjing the next day and leaving on 22 April for Kichow, where she arrived two days later. On 26 April the gunboat left Kichow for Hankow, where she arrived the same day, departing on 2 May; she then called at Juijiang (2 May), Woosog (arrived 7 May, departed 9), Fuzhou (arrived 14 May, departed 17) and finally returned to Shanghai on 19 May, departing again on 6 July and arriving at Tsingtao two days later. Leaving Tsingtao on 15 July, Lepanto reached Chingwantao on 17 July, departing only on 10 August for Dalian, where she arrived the following day. She then reached Weihai on 13 August, departed three days later, returned to Tsingtao on 17 August, departed on 20 August and arrived at Shanghai on 22 August, but departed again on 25 August.
On 30 October 1937 Lepanto arrived at Hong Kong, from where she departed on 11 November for Haiphong, arriving on 14 November; on 18 November she arrived at Xiamen, departed the same day, and arrived at Shanghai on 29 November. In October 1938 the ship made a cruise to Japan, calling at Tokyo, Kyoto and Yokohama.
By September 1939, on the eve of the outbreak of the Second World War, Colleoni and all detachments of the Regia Aeronautica, the Guardia di Finanza and the Carabinieri were recalled to Italy: in China only Lepanto and Carlotto remained, based at Shanghai, along with the ground detachment of the San Marco Battalion. With Colleoni returning home, the flagship of the Far East Naval Command became Lepanto.
Second World War and the armistice From 10 June 1940, the date of Italy's entry into the war, to 8 September 1943, the date of the armistice with the Allies, Lepanto and Carlotto lay almost inactive at Shanghai (where the ocean liner Conte Verde was also interned from June 1940), taking part in no combat action. Lepanto was commanded by frigate captain Vittorio Bacigalupi.
In the spring of 1942 Lepantos armament was reinforced with the addition of Carlottos 76/40 mm stern gun, transferred to the other unit together with the corresponding ammunition.