HSwMS ''Puke'' (19) was a of the
Swedish Navy
The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps ().
In Swedish, vessels o ...
from 1940 to 1947. The ship was purchased from Italy by Sweden in 1940, along with 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 ...
HSwMS ''Psilander''. Before that, she served in the (Royal Italian Navy) as ''Bettino Ricasoli'', one of four members of the Italian . ''Puke'' was
scrapped
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
in 1949.
Design and description
The ''Sella''-class destroyers were enlarged and improved versions of the preceding and es.
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 . They displaced at
standard load, and at
deep load
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
. Their complement was 8–9 officers and 144 enlisted men.
[
The ''Sella''s were powered by two ]Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
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 three Thornycroft boiler
Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...
s. The turbines were rated at for a speed of in service,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. The ships 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 .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 ...
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 one single-gun turret forward of it.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 ...
and a pair of machine guns. They were equipped with four 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 twin mounts amidships.[ The ''Sella''s could also carry 32 mines.][
]
Construction and career
''Bettino Ricasoli'', named after the Italian Prime Minister Bettino Ricasoli, 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 Pattinson at their Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
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 11 January 1923, launched on 29 January 1926 and commissioned on 11 December. The forward single-gun turret was replaced by a twin-gun turret in 1929.[
]
Sale to Sweden
In December 1939, a Swedish commission to Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
departed to investigate the possibility for Sweden to buy warships. This led to the acquisition of the ''Psilander'' and ''Romulus''-classes. On 14 April 1940, all four destroyers left La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest city ...
and on 10 July the ships arrived in Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
where the ship was renamed for Admiral Johan af Puke.
Swedish service
After arriving in Sweden, ''Puke'' was put into service in the Gothenburg Squadron
Gothenburg Squadron ( sv, Göteborgseskadern, GE) was a naval squadron of the Swedish Navy which has operated in various forms from 1939 to 1951. The unit was based at Gothenburg naval base at Nya Varvet in Gothenburg.
History
The oldest written ...
. Over time, the ship was found to be too weakly built and rolled heavily in heavy seas, which meant that reinforcements had to be made and bilge keel
A bilge keel is a nautical device used to reduce a ship's tendency to roll. Bilge keels are employed in pairs (one for each side of the ship). A ship may have more than one bilge keel per side, but this is rare. Bilge keels increase hydrodynamic re ...
s had to be mounted on the hull. In addition, the low freeboard of the stern caused it to be flooded in bad weather. In the years 1941–1942 the ships armament were modified. The air defense was changed to two 40 mm anti-aircraft automatic guns m/36 and two dual 8 mm anti-aircraft machine guns m/36. The 45 cm torpedoes was changed to 53 cm torpedoes and depth charge throwers and rack-deployed depth charges were installed.
Fate
''Puke'' was decommissioned on 13 June 1947, after which she was used for shooting and exploding tests before she finally was scrapped in Karlskrona
Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swed ...
in 1949.
References
Notes
Bibliography
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Web
Miramar Ship Index
External links
Bettino Ricasoli
Marina Militare website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puke (19)
Bettino Ricasoli
Ships built in Naples
1926 ships
Psilander-class destroyers