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![]() Freccia | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Freccia class |
Operators | |
Preceded by | Navigatori class |
Succeeded by | Folgore class |
Subclasses | Kountouriotis class |
Built | 1929–1933 |
In commission | 1931–1946 |
Completed | 8 |
Lost | 6 |
Scrapped | 2 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Destroyer |
Displacement | |
Length | 96.15 m (315 ft 5 in) |
Beam | 9.75 m (32 ft 0 in) |
Draught | 3.3–4.3 m (10 ft 10 in – 14 ft 1 in) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines |
Speed | 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
Range | 4,600 nmi (8,500 km; 5,300 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement | 185 |
Armament |
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The Freccia-class destroyer was a class of destroyers built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) in the 1930s. Four modified ships were built and delivered in 1933 for Greece.
The Greek Navy ordered four destroyers from the Italian company Odero in October 1929 to a modified design, similar to the Dardo type, as the RUSI Journal notes, for about £ 500,000 (equivalent to £35.4 millionor US$ 43.99 million in 2023) [1] . [2] It was named the Kountouriotis class. The chief difference with the Italian ships was the substitution of four single 120 mm guns (Ansaldo Model 1926) for the twin turrets used in the Italian Navy ships. According to the RUSI Journal, the ships' armament was to consist of four 4.7 inch, three 2-pounder, AA guns and six 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. The ships were to have a displacement of 1,450 tons, and a maximum speed of 40 knots. [2]
The two surviving ships, Spetsai and Kountouriotis, served in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of the Free Greek Navy until late 1943. They were then laid up at Port Said, Egypt for want of Italian spare parts, and because their crews were needed for new ships built in the UK for the Free Greek Navy.
A contract was signed on 2nd October with the Italian firm of Odero for the construction of two flotilla leaders of the Dardo type at a cost of about £500,000. [...] the second in twenty-two months.