Soldati-class destroyer Camicia Nera (Blackshirt, after the fascist militia) in port, likely pre-war. This unusual picture is compressed and makes her look much shorter. In reality there were two torpedo launchers afore and aft the island between the funnel and the gun turret. More in ALT. Facebook. - ThreadSky

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crusaderproject.bsky.social • 1 day ago

Soldati-class destroyer Camicia Nera (Blackshirt, after the fascist militia) in port, likely pre-war. This unusual picture is compressed and makes her look much shorter. In reality there were two torpedo launchers afore and aft the island between the funnel and the gun turret. More in ALT. Facebook.

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crusaderproject.bsky.social•1 day ago

The Soldati class of 19 vessels (17 were finished, 10 sunk) had an active war, serving as the most modern fleet destroyers with the battle fleet and heavy cruisers. Camicia Nera survived the war and was handed to the Soviet Union as reparations.

crusaderproject.bsky.social•1 day ago

Unlike designs in other navies in the 1930s, the Soldati-class was relatively weak in firepower, with only 4x120mm in two twin turrets fore and aft. On some vessels the single 120/15 starshell gun in the centre (not present here) was later replaced with a 120/50 main gun or 2x 37mm twin AA guns.

crusaderproject.bsky.social•1 day ago

The ships were fast, like all Italian designs, at 34/35 knots. They were small by the time war broke out with just about 1,800-2,000 tons displacement. Designed for the Mediterranean, their range was limited at 2,200 miles @20 knots. Again typically for Italian ships, they could deploy 64 mines.

crusaderproject.bsky.social•23 hours ago

It is always interesting to me to see the design choices navies made in their smaller vessels, and how this could lead to radically different ships at similar sizes. At about the same time the Royal Navy brought out their Tribals, same size, but bristling with guns and with a 5,500 mile range.

pibasedlifeform.bsky.social•23 hours ago

Aye, but as you say, one nation had a global empire and the other nation had far more local interests, and wanted ways to protect that from the navies from the global powers

crusaderproject.bsky.social•23 hours ago

Indeed. Good reasons for these choices. Just goes to show how flexible even smaller vessel sizes could be in accommodating specific needs.

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