Pegaso was an and escort aviso of the Italian (Royal Navy). She was one of the most successful Axis anti-submarine warships of World War II.
Design and construction The were enlarged versions of the torpedo boats of the with greater range and endurance. Compared to the Spica class, they had significantly more anti-submarine armaments, with six depth charge launchers compared to two on the Spicas, however, they were slower and had fewer naval guns (two versus three on the Spicas).
These ships had a total length between perpendiculars of and overall, a beam of and a draft of . They displaced at standard load and at full load. Their complement was 154 officers, non-commissioned officers and sailors.
The Orsa class were powered by two geared steam turbines, each driving a propeller shaft and using steam supplied by two boilers. The rated power of the turbines was at an operating speed of . They had a range of at a speed of .
Their main armament consisted of two /47-caliber OTO Model 1937 guns. The anti-aircraft (AA) defense of the Orsa-class ships as completed was provided by six Breda Model 1931 anti-aircraft machine guns in three twin mountings. They were fitted with four torpedo tubes in two twin mounts amidships. The Orsa class were also equipped with six depth charge launchers and equipment for transporting and laying up to twenty mines.
Pegaso was laid down on 27 April 1936 by the Bacini & Scali Napoletani shipyard in Naples, Italy. She was launched on 8 December 1936 and was completed and commissioned into the Regia Marina on 31 March 1938.
Service In her initial period of service the ship underwent a reclassification: already in 1938, the year of her commissioning, the ship, initially classified as an escort aviso (), was reclassified as a torpedo boat ().Marina Militare On 10 June 1940, the date of the Italian entry into World War II, Pegaso was part of VI Torpedo Boat Squadron at the naval base in Naples, which she formed together with her sister ships , and . Subsequently the formation took the name of XIV Squadron or IV Squadron.
As one of the very few ships of the Regia Marina specially designed for the task of escorting convoys (and being able to spend long periods at sea), during the Battle of the Mediterranean the ship was heavily used on the naval supply routes to North Africa. On 2 July Procione, Orsa, Orione and Pegaso escorted from Tripoli to Naples (a return route) two transport ships, Esperia and Victoria.Battle of Britain July 1940 On 6 July, Pegaso took part in the escort of the first large convoy to Italian Libya (named Operazione TCM): setting sail from Naples at 7.45pm, the convoy was made up of the troop transports Esperia and Calitea (carrying respectively 1,571 and 619 soldiers) and the modern cargo motorships Marco Foscarini, Francesco Barbaro (added on 7 July after arriving from Catania with the escort of the torpedo boats and ) and Vettor Pisani (whose load consisted of 232 vehicles, of fuels and lubricants and of other supplies); together with the four ships of the XIV Torpedo Boat Squadron, the light cruisers and and the X Destroyer Squadron (destroyers , , , and ).Giorgio Giorgerini, La guerra italiana sul mare. La Marina tra vittoria e sconfitta 1940-1943, pp. 168-452-454-465-466-511-551. The ships arrived unscathed in Benghazi on 8 July.
At 06:00 19 July, Pegaso, with the ships of her squadron, left Benghazi to escort a convoy made up of merchant ships Esperia, Calitea, Marco Foscarini, Francesco Barbaro and Vettor Pisani on the return route to Naples. The convoy arrived unscathed in the Neapolitan port, shortly after midnight on 21 July. On 27 July Procione, Orsa, Orione and Pegaso acted as escort for a convoy sailing from Naples to Tripoli during the operation "Trasporti Veloce Lento" (the convoy was formed by merchant ships Maria Eugenia, Gloriastella, Mauly, Bainsizza, Col di Lana, Francesco Barbaro and Città di Bari). The escort was reinforced by the arrival of destroyers Maestrale, Grecale, Libeccio and Scirocco, and the ships arrived in port without damage on 1 August, after evading an attack by the Royal Navy submarine on 30 July.Fall of France, July 1940 .
On 4 January 1941 Pegaso was attacked by torpedo bomber aircraft when, departing from Tripoli, she escorted the transports Ezilda Croce and Pallade off the coast of Cape Bon: the Italian ship escaped the attacks unscathed, arriving first in Palermo (5 January) and then Naples (9 January).Battle of the Atlantic, January 1941 . Between 1 and 3 March Pegaso, Orione and a third torpedo boat, , escorted a convoy (steamers Amsterdam, Castellon, Maritza and Ruhr) from Naples to Tripoli carrying supplies for the Afrika Korps.Royal Navy, World War 2, March 1941 . The trip went smoothly. From 5 to 7 March Pegaso, Orione and the auxiliary cruiser escorted the return convoy (Tripoli-Naples) of the steamships Castellon, Ruhr and Maritza.
From 4 to 5 May the ship, together with the destroyers , and and the torpedo boats Orione and , escorted from Naples to Tripoli a convoy made up of troop transports Victoria and Calitea and the freight ships Andrea Gritti, Barbarigo, Sebastiano Venier, Marco Foscarini and Ankara.Capture of U.110 and German Enigma, May 1941 . On 12 May Pegaso left Tripoli as escort, together with the torpedo boats Orione and Clio, for the steamships Maddalena Odero and Nicolò Odero. At 20:30 on the same day, off the coast of Tripoli, Pegaso bombarded a submarine with depth charges, and then saw a large patch of oil emerge. It is possible that the British submarine was sunk in this encounter, although she could also have been lost to naval mines.Allied Warships of WWII - Submarine HMS Undaunted (i) - uboat.net .HMS Undaunted, submarine .
At 04:40 on 24 May she left Naples as escort, together with the destroyer and the torpedo boats Procione and Orsa, with a convoy made up of troop transports , Marco Polo, Esperia and Victoria. Later the escort was reinforced by the 3rd Cruiser Division (heavy cruisers and ) with destroyers , and , as well as (for a short period of time, they returned to port at 19:10) torpedo boats , and . At 20:40 the British submarine , after sighting the convoy and approaching, launched two torpedoes: they struck Conte Rosso, which sank in ten minutes, dragging 1,297 men with her. Pegaso and the other units of the escort recovered 1,432 survivors. On 26 May she sailed from Naples on escort duty to Tripoli, together with the destroyers Ugolino Vivaldi and Antonio da and the torpedo boats and Procione, the motor ships Andrea Gritti, Marco Foscarini, Sebastiano Venier, Rialto, Ankara and Barbarigo; despite the air strikes, which damaged Marco Foscarini and Sebastiano Venier, the convoy reached its destination on the 28th.Hunt for Bismarck and sinking, May 1941 .
On 14 July she escorted from Tripoli to Naples, together with the destroyers , and Lanzerotto Malocello and the torpedo boats Orsa and Procione, the transports Rialto, Andrea Gritti, Sebastiano Venier, Barbarigo and Ankara. The British submarine torpedoed and sank Barbarigo and was then seriously damaged by the counterattack of the escort, while the rest of the convoy arrived in Naples on the 16th.Malta Convoys, 1941 .
On 17 August she served as escort, together with the destroyers Freccia, and and the torpedo boats Procione and , for a convoy made up of transports Maddalena Odero, Nicolò Odero, Caffaro, Giulia, Marin Sanudo and Minatitlan. The Royal Netherlands Navy submarine torpedoed Maddalena Odero; Pegaso and Sirtori escorted the damaged ship to Lampedusa but on the 18th the freighter was finished by an air attack (the other ships of the convoy arrived safely in Tripoli on the 19th).Russian convoy "Dervish" August 1941 . On 22 August Pegaso and Cigno sailed from Palermo to escort to Tripoli the military transport , the steamship Alcione (towed by Lussin) and the steam tanker Alberto Fassio; on the same day the British submarine HMS Upholder torpedoed and sank Lussin off Cape San Vito. On 27 August the torpedo boat, after departing Trapani, was sent to reinforce the escort - destroyers Euro and and torpedo boats Orsa, Procione and Clio - of a convoy formed by the steamships Ernesto and Aquitania, the motorship Col di Lana and the tanker Pozarica, sailing from Naples to Tripoli. On the same day the convoy was attacked twice by the submarine , which missed Pozarica but damaged Aquitania (which had to return to Trapani escorted by Orsa) and then evaded an attack by Clio; the other ships arrived at their destination on the 29th.
On 10 September the torpedo boats Pegaso, Procione, Orsa and (to which Perseo was added on the 13th) and the destroyers and Alfredo Oriani left Naples escorting a convoy (steamers Temben, Caffaro, Nicolò Odero, Nirvo, Giulia and Bainsizza) bound for Libya, which on 12 September was attacked by British Fleet Air Arm Fairey Swordfish planes of 830 Naval Air Squadron northwest of Tripoli. Caffaro sank at , while Tembien and Nicolò Odero were damaged; the latter was sunk the next day at by another air attack, after the rest of the convoy had reached Tripoli.10th Submarine Flotilla, Mediterranean, September 1941 . On 29 September Pegaso and another torpedo boat, Calliope, left Naples to escort steamships Savona and Castellon to Tripoli; on 2 October the convoy came under attack by the submarine which unsuccessfully attempted to torpedo Savona but struck Castellon, which sank about from Benghazi.Cruiser Force K, Malta, October 1941 .
On 4 November Pegaso sailed from Brindisi to Benghazi to escort the steamships Bosforo and Savona, but four days later, having left the Adriatic Sea, the convoy was heavily attacked by the aircraft stationed on Malta: Savona was damaged and returned to Brindisi, while Pegaso and Bosforo temporarily repaired in Navarino, from where they then departed for Benghazi arriving on the 12th.Action off Spartivento, loss of HMS Ark Royal, November 1941 . On 20 November the torpedo boat left Benghazi to escort the tanker Berbera, arriving in Navarino four days later.KMS Kormoran and HMAS Sydney, KMS Atlantis and HMS Dunedin lost, November 1941 . On 29 November Pegaso left the Greek port escorting, together with the torpedo boat , the tanker Volturno; on the same day Volturno was damaged by the aircraft stationed at Malta and forced to return to port.
On 13 December, as part of operation M 41, Pegaso left Taranto on escort duty to Benghazi, together with the destroyers and , the motor ships Monginevro, Napoli and Vettor Pisani, however, M 41 was suspended later.Action off Cape Bon, December 1941 . On 16 December she set sail from Taranto as part of operation M 42 to escort convoy N, composed of the German motor ship Ankara, to Libya, together with the destroyer : after having sailed in a group with the convoy L bound for Tripoli (3 motor ships and 6 destroyers) on the 18th the two ships, off the coast of Misurata, separated from the formation and headed for Benghazi.Battle of Convoy HG76, loss of HMS Audacity, December 1941 .