Italian cruiser Falco

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Aquila espl1.jpg
Plan and right elevation line drawing of the Vifor-class destroyers as completed for Italy as scout cruisers.
History
Naval Ensign of Romania (1922-1947).svgKingdom of Romania
NameViscol
Namesake Blizzard
Operator Royal Romanian Navy (planned)
Ordered1913
Builder Cantiere Pattison, Naples, Kingdom of Italy
FateRequisitioned by Kingdom of Italy 5 June 1915
Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svgKingdom of Italy
NameFalco
Namesake Falcon
Operator Regia Marina (Royal Navy)
Acquired5 June 1915
Laid down19 August 1916
Launched16 August 1919
Completed20 January 1920
Commissioned20 January 1920
Fate
  • Unofficially transferred to Spanish Nationalist Navy 11 October 1937
  • Officially transferred 6 January 1939
Reclassified Destroyer 5 September 1938
Stricken6 January 1939
Bandera del bando nacional 1936-1938.svgFlag of Spain (1945-1977).svgSpain
NameCeuta
Namesake Ceuta, a Spanish city on the coast of North Africa
Operator
Acquired
  • 11 October 1937 (unofficial transfer)
  • 6 January 1939 (official transfer)
Stricken1948
FateScrapped
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type Vifor-class destroyer
Displacement
Length94.7 m (310 ft 8 in) (overall)
Beam9.5 m (31 ft 2 in)
Draft3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines
Speed34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range3,000  nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement146
Armament

Falco was an Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) scout cruiser in commission from 1920 to 1937. She was laid down for the Royal Romanian Navy as the destroyer Viscol but the Kingdom of Italy requisitioned her before her construction bean. Falco was not completed until after the end of World War I, but served in the Regia Marina during the interwar period.

Contents

In 1937, Italy transferred Falco to Nationalist Spain. Reclassified as a destroyer and renamed Ceuta, she served in the Spanish Nationalist Navy during the Spanish Civil War and subsequently in the Spanish Navy. She was stricken in 1948 and scrapped.

Design

The Kingdom of Romania ordered the ship as Viscol, one of the first four of a planned 12-ship Vifor class of destroyers for the Royal Romanian Navy envisioned under the Romanian 1912 naval program. [1] Romanian specifications called for the Vifor-class ships to be large destroyers optimized for service in the confined waters of the Black Sea, with a 10-hour endurance at full speed and armed with three 120-millimetre (4.7 in) guns, four 75-millimetre guns, and five torpedo tubes. [2]

After Italy requisitioned the first four Vifor-class ships — the only four of the planned 12 ever constructed — the Italians completed them as scout cruisers to modified designs. Each ship was 94.7 metres (310 ft 8 in) in length overall, with a beam of 9.5 metres (31 ft 2 in) and a draught of 3.6 metres (11 ft 10 in). The power plant consisted of a pair of Tosi steam turbines and five Thornycroft boilers, generating a designed output of 40,000 shaft horsepower (29,828  kW ) powering two shafts, which gave each ship a designed top speed of 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph), although the ships actually achieved between 35 and 38 knots (65 and 70 km/h; 40 and 44 mph), depending on the vessel. The ships had a range of 1,700 nautical miles (3,150 km; 1,960 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) and 380 nautical miles (700 km; 440 mi) at 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph). Each ship had a complement of 146. Armament varied among the ships, and sources disagree on Aquila′s armament when she entered Italian service: According to one source, as completed Aquila had two twin 120-millimetre (4.7 in) guns, two Ansaldo 76-millimetre (3 in) guns, two twin 457-millimetre (18 in) torpedo tubes, two 6.5-millimetre (0.26 in) machine guns, and 38 mines, [2] but other sources claim that she was completed with three 152-millimetre (6 in) and four 76-millimetre (3 in)/40 guns as well as the torpedo tubes, machine guns, and mines. [3] [4] [5]

Construction, acquisition, and commissioning

In 1913, [6] the Royal Romanian Navy ordered Viscol from Cantieri Pattison ("Pattison Shipyard") in Naples, Italy. [3] [5] World War I broke out in late July 1914, and Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies on 23 May 1915. The shipyard had not yet laid down Viscol when Italy requisitioned her on 5 June 1915 [3] for service in the Regia Marina. Renamed Falco and laid down on 19 August 1916, she still was under construction when World War I ended on 11 November 1918. She was launched on 16 August 1919 and was completed and commissioned on 20 January 1920. [2] [5]

Service history

Regia Marina

After the King of Montenegro, Nicholas I, died in exile in Antibes, France, on 1 March 1921, Falco transported King Victor Emmanuel III from Civitavecchia to Sanremo, Italy, between 4 and 5 March as he traveled to attend Nicholas's funeral. [7]

According to one source, Falco′s armament was modified in 1927, when five 152-millimetre (6 in) guns were removed and replaced with four 120-millimetre (4.7 in) guns. [6]

On 11 October 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the government of Fascist Italy handed Falco over to the navy of the Spanish Nationalists, although the ship officially remained on the rolls of the Regia Marina, which reclassified Falco as a destroyer on 5 September 1938. [8] The transfer finally became official on 6 January 1939, when the Regia Marina struck Falco from the navy list. [5] [3]

Spanish Navy

Before Fascist Italy transferred Falco to the Spanish Nationalists, the Nationalists controlled only one non-ex-Italian destroyer, Velasco. [9] Upon taking control of the ship, the Nationalists renamed her Ceuta. [5] [3] To conceal the transfer, Italy did not make it official, and the Spanish Nationalists took steps to confuse observers as to her identity: They installed a dummy fourth funnel to give her a greater resemblance to the four-funneled Velasco and often referred to her as Velasco-Ceuta rather than as Ceuta. [9]

By 1937, Ceuta was an old ship, so the Spanish Nationalists mainly employed her in surveillance and escort tasks. In August 1938, however, she took part — together with her sister ship Melilla (formerly the Italian scout cruiser Aquila) and the heavy cruiser Canarias — in an action that forced the Spanish Republican Navy destroyer José Luis Díez to give up on running the Nationalist blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar to reach Cartagena and to take refuge at Gibraltar on 29 August instead. [9] [10] [11] Ceuta also captured the French merchant ship Prado, which was operating in support of the Spanish Republicans. [11]

Ceuta′s transfer to the Spanish Nationalists became official and overt on 6 January 1939 when the Regia Marina struck her from the Italian navy list. [3] [5] After the end of the Spanish Civil War in April 1939, the Spanish Navy assigned Ceuta to training duties. [10] The Spanish struck her from the navy list in 1948 [5] and sold her for scrapping.

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References

Citations

  1. ↑ Fraccaroli, p. 421
  2. 1 2 3 Fraccaroli, p. 266
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Italian Aquila, Spanish Melilla (Nationalist Navy) - Warships 1900-1950". Warships of World War II (in Czech and English). Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  4. ↑ pbworks
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Marina Militare (in Italian).
  6. 1 2 Pier Paolo Ramoino, Gli esploratori italiani 1919-1938 in Storia Militare, No. 204, September 2010 (in Italian).
  7. ↑ Sanremo: il 5 marzo è il 90º anniversario della sepoltura del Re del Montenegro - Quotidiano online della provincia di Imperia (in Italian).
  8. ↑ Esploratori e Navigatori (in Italian).
  9. 1 2 3 Buques de la Guerra Civil Española (1936-1939) - Destructores (in Spanish).
  10. 1 2 La flota italiana de Franco (in Italian).
  11. 1 2 "Historia Naval de España y Países de habla española. - Ver Tema - Acorazado Felipe II InternetArchiveBot" (in Spanish). March 2018..

Bibliography

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