Francesco Crispi was one of four s built for the (Royal Italian Navy) in the 1920s. Completed in 1927, she served in World War II.
Design and description The Sella-class destroyers were enlarged and improved versions of the preceding and es.Whitley, p. 160 They had an overall length of , a beam of and a mean draft of . They displaced at standard load, and at deep load. Their complement was 8–9 officers and 144 enlisted men.
Unlike the Parsons geared steam turbines used by her sister ships, Francesco Crispi used a pair of Belluzzo turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by three Thornycroft boilers. The turbines were rated at for a speed of in service,Roberts, p. 298 although the ship reached a speed of from during her sea trials while lightly loaded.McMurtrie, p. 281 The Sellas carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at a speed of .Whitley, p. 159
Their main battery consisted of four guns in one twin-gun turret aft of the superstructure and one single-gun turret forward of it.Fraccaroli, p. 43 Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Sella-class ships was provided by a pair of AA guns in single mounts amidships and a pair of machine guns. They were equipped with four torpedo tubes in two twin mounts amidships. The Sellas could also carry 32 mines.
Construction Francesco Crispi was laid down by Pattinson at their Naples shipyard on 21 February 1923, launched on 12 September 1925 and commissioned on 29 April 1927.
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links Francesco Crispi Marina Militare website