''Nicoloso da Recco'' was one of a dozen s built for the (Royal Italian Navy) in 1930. Named after the Italian Renaissance seaman

Nicoloso da Recco Nicoloso da Recco was a 14th-century Italian navigator from Genoa, who visited the Canary Islands in 1341 on behalf of Afonso IV of Portugal. He is credited with providing the first reliable account of the language used by the aboriginal inhabitant ...

, she served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in which she was the sole survivor of her destroyer class. She shot down three

Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility * Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England * Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility Places Polar regions ...

bombers while escorting a two-freighter convoy on 21 June 1942 off Tunisia. On 2 December 1942 ''Nicoloso Da Recco'' took part of the Battle of Skerki Bank, where an Italo-German convoy carrying troops and supplies to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

was obliterated by

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

naval forces. ''Nicoloso Da Recco'' was the only vessel of her class to survive the war, and was eventually scrapped in July 1954.

Design and description

The Navigatori-class destroyers were designed to counter the large French destroyers of the and es.Ando, p. 15 They had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads in ...

of , a beam of and a mean draft of .Whitley, p. 162 They displaced at

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

load, and at deep load. Their complement during wartime was 222–225 officers and enlisted men. ''Nicoloso da Recco'' was powered by two Tosi geared

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by four Odero

water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...

s. The turbines were designed to produce and a speed of in service, although the Navigatoris reached speeds of during their

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s while lightly loaded.Roberts, p. 299 They carried enough

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

to give them a range of at a speed of .Ando, p. 16 Their

main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...

consisted of six guns in three twin-

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

s, one each fore and aft of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

and the third

amidships This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...

.Fraccaroli, p. 49 Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Navigatori-class ships was provided by a pair of AA guns in single mounts abreast the forward funnel and a pair of twin-gun mounts for machine guns. They were equipped with six

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in two triple mounts amidships. Unlike her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s, ''Nicoloso da Recco'' was unable to carry any mines because her aft superstructure had been enlarged to accommodate an admiral and his staff.

Construction and career

''Nicoloso da Recco'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

by Cantieri Navali Riuniti at their

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

on 14 December 1927, launched on 5 January 1930 and commissioned on 20 May.

Footnotes

Bibliography

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External links

Nicoloso da Recco
Marina Militare website {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicoloso da Recco Navigatori-class destroyers Ships built in Ancona Ships built by Cantieri Navali del Tirreno e Riuniti 1930 ships World War II destroyers of Italy