Italian WoWS tech tree – Part 2: Destroyers – from Maestrale to Soldati II

Source: Deamon93 (WoWS supertester)

Seb: The next few days I will be very busy. Sorry for that. Will try to post when I can.

Now, to the post:

Maestrale – tier VI/VII

Story

The Maestrale-class is basically an enlarged Dardo-class. Length was increased to improve sea worthiness, category in which the Dardo-class lacked. As a consequence weight increased but, thanks to a sound hull design, the maximum speed remained unchanged even without increasing the installed power. Also the armament remained unchanged although during WWII it saw many modifications. There are four ships of this class: Maestrale, Libeccio, Grecale and Scirocco. Three of them were lost during the war: Libeccio sunk by a submarine on 9/11/1941, Scirocco was lost due to a storm on 23/3/1942 and Maestrale was struck by a mine on 9/1/1943, towed to Genoa and then scuttled on 9/9/1943. Salvaged by the Germans who scuttled her yet again before the end of WWII. Grecale survived WWII and served with the MMI(Marina Militare Italiana, Italian Military Navy) as an ASW destroyer, after a post-war refit. She even became the flag ship of the Italian Navy when Duca degli Abruzzi was stricken and Garibaldi was under refit. She was stricken on 1964, thirty years later her completion.

Technical data

Standard displacement: 1615 tons

Full load displacement: 2207 tons

Length: 101.6 m(water line), 106.7(overall length)

Beam: 10.2 m

Draught: 3.31 m

Installed power: 44.000 hp

Maximum speed: 38 knots

Armament: 2×2 120/50, 2×1 40/39, 2×2 13.2/76, 2×3 533 mm TT

Refits:

-1939/1940, all: -2×1 40/39, 2×2 13.2/76; +6×1 20/65

-1942, all survived: +1×1 120/15

-1942, Maestrale: -1×1 120/15 – 1×2 120/50; +2×1 120/50

-1943, Grecale: -6×1 20/65, 1×3 533 mm TT; 2×1 37/54, 6×2 20/65

I have excluded the post war refits since they changed the role of the ship. Due to the margin of improvements i decided to split Maestrale into two tiers since i think the 1943 refit of Grecale is potentially overkill at tier VI, especially if the 120/15 gets replaced with the 120/50. In that configuration is surely superior to Mutsuki, the only destroyer we know for sure at tier VI. This of course may change.

Oriani – tier VI

Also known as Poeti-class this class is basically a Maestrale with more installed power. Most likely i will cannibalize this class for the engine as i did for Sauro and her triple torpedo tubes but this class is still worth mentioning. Four ships of this class were built: Oriani, Carducci, Gioberti and Alfieri(all Italian poets). Three of these ships were lost: Gioberti on 9/8/1943 due to a submarine, Alfieri and Carducci on 28/3/1941 at Cape Matapan. Those two destroyers were the escort of Zara and Fiume, two Zara-class cruisers, sent out by Admiral Iachino to tow back home the disabled Pola, another Zara-class cruiser. That night the Mediterranean fleet caused severe losses: all three cruisers plus their escort were lost and from that day on the Italian Navy never tried again to attack in force. The last surviving ship, Oriani, served with the Italian Navy after the Armistice until the end of WWII. After that she was given to France as war reparation.

Technical data

Standard displacement: 1675 tons

Full load displacement: 2254 tons

Length: 101.6 m(water line), 106.7(overall length)

Beam: 10.2 m

Draught: 3.42 m

Installed power: 48.000 hp

Maximum speed: 38 knots

Armament: 2×2 120/50, 4×2 13.2/76, 2×3 533 mm TT

Refits:

-1939/1940, all: -4×2 13.2/76; +8×1 20/65

-1942, Gioberti, Oriani: -1×3 533 mm TT; +1×1 120/15, 2×1 37/54, 2×2 20/70

Soldati I series – tier VII

Story

The Soldati-class I series is the pinnacle of evolution of destroyer development, started with the Palestro-class. Compared to the previous Oriani-class the Soldati-class had more efficient machinery, better AA and had installed from construction an additional 120/15, replaced in most ships with a 120/50. Twelve ships of this class were built: Alpino, Artigliere, Ascari, Aviere, Camicia Nera, Bersagliere, Carabiniere, Corazziere, Fuciliere, Granatiere, Geniere and Lanciere. They primarily served with the fleet but after the many losses substained they were forced to escort convoys. Between the twelve ships eight were lost during the war: Artigliere was sunk by HMS York and HMS Ajax on 12/10/1940, Lanciere was lost due to a storm on 23/5/1942, Aviere was sunk by a submarine on 17/12/1942, Bersagliere was sunk by US bombers on 7/1/1943, Geniere was sunk again by US bombers on 1/3/1943, Ascari struck mines and sank on 24/3/1943, Alpino was sunk by British planes on 19/4/1943 then raised by the Germans and scuttled again on 24/4/1943, Corazziere was scuttled by the crew on 9/9/1943 then raised by Germans and sunk by Allied planes on 4/9/1944. The last four surviving remained under Italian control: Carabiniere was one of the units which helped the survivors of the battleship Roma and then interned at the Balearic. After WWII she served with the MMI until 1965 after being refitted for ASW. Granatiere was already at Taranto when the Armistice became active and she served with what remained of the Italian Navy(and future MMI) until 1958, refitted as the Carabiniere. Camicia Nera, later on renamed Artigliere after the fall of Fascism in honor to the fallen sistership, was with the fleet as Carabiniere when the Armistice became active but she sailed on with the rest reaching Malta. She served with the Italian Navy until the end of WWII and then was given to the Soviet Union as war reparation. Also Fuciliere was with the fleet and helped saving the survivors of the Roma and sailed towards the Balearic with Carabiniere. After WWII she was given to the Soviet Union as war reparation.

Technical data

Standard displacement: 1830 tons

Full load displacement: 2460 tons

Length: 101.6 m(water line), 106.7 m(overall length)

Beam: 10.2 m

Draught: 3.5 m

Installed power: 48.000 hp

Maximum speed: 38 knots

Armament:

-Carabiniere: 2×2 120/50, 4×2 13.2/76, 4×1 13.2/76, 2×3 533 mm TT

-all others: 2×2 120/50, 1×1 120/15, 4×2 13.2/76, 4×1 13.2/76, 2×3 533 mm TT

Refits:

-1941/1942, all survived: -4×2 13.2/76, 4×1 13.2/76; +4×2 20/65

-1941/1942, Carabiniere: +1×1 120/50

-1941/1942, Ascari, Camicia Nera, Geniere, Lanciere: -1×1 120/15; +1×1 120/50

-1943, Carabiniere, Granatiere: -1×3 533 mm TT; +2×1 37/54

-1943, Fuciliere: -1×1 120/15, 1×3 533 mm TT; +2×1 37/54

-1943, all survived: +(4-5) 20/65

Maestrale Potenziato

Story

This is a project which was developed around the same time of Soldati I. It was a much larger destroyer(2100-2200 tons standard load) with many improvements over the original Maestrale and over the contemporary Soldati. The primary armament was based on six 120/50, in three twin turrets, and the anti aircraft armament was greatly improved: four 37/54 and ten 20/65(a huge improvement compared to the twelve 13.2/76 considered for the original Soldati I). What doomed this sound project was the high unit cost compared to Soldati: for the same cost it was possible to build either eight of these destroyers or twelve Soldati and the Navy, which was in desperate need for escorts, chose the Soldati. Sadly i don’t have much more information on them, at least not yet. I will update ASAP.

Soldati II series – tier VIII

Story

Soldati II was another project which had a lot of potential. Originally the second series was supposed to have twelve ships divided into two subclasses: four would have been similar to Carabiniere while the other eight were totally reworked. For this latter badge the important requirement was strong anti aircraft since the Navy required escorts for the new Littorio-class battleships plus the old Caio-Duilio which got extensive refits. Here are the armaments of the two designs:

-2×1 120/50, 4/5×1 90/50, 4/5×2 20/65

-2×2 120/50, 3×2 37/54, 5×2 20/65, 2×1 20/65, 1×3(later changed to 1×4) 533 mm TT

Between the two the second was chosen. It was soon abandoned due to the high losses substained during the early months of WWII and and the Soldati II became an iteration of the previous Soldati I with few modifications thanks to the battle experience obtained and with economy in mind(the engine power was reduced to 44.000 hp for that reason). The armament layout varied a lot between the ships which were completed but to make things simple i’ll consider just the most common(2×2 120/50, 1×1 120/50 as primary and 4×2 20/65, 2×1 20/65 as AAA). This class was also the first destroyers to mount radars. Between the twelve originally proposed only seven were laid up: Bombardiere, Carrista, Corsaro, Legionario, Mitragliere, Squadrista and Velite. Only five were completed(Bombardiere, Corsaro, Legionario, Mitragliere and Velite), the last two were still under construction and remained unfinished. Of the five completed two were lost during WWII: Bombardiere was sunk by a British submarine on 17/1/1943 and Corsaro was sunk by mines on 9/1/1943 while trying to help Maestrale(also hit by mines). The three surviving were with the fleet when the Armistice was active: Velite and Legionario stayed with the fleet after the loss of the Roma while Mitragliere helped with the recovery and followed the other ships to the Balearic. At the end of WWII all three were given to France as war reparation.

Since the main difference with the I series is the armament of the original II series and the reduced installed power due to economic reasons(which won’t have reason to exist in here since fuel isn’t an issue). Due to this i won’t write the technical data on this class.