Italy:
Turbine class destroyer
Espero passing through a canal in Taranto, 1930s
On 27 June 1940
Espero, commanded by
Captain Enrico Baroni, sailed from Taranto at 22:45 for the first war mission, along with
Ostro and
Zeffiro. The three vessels were to transport to
Tobruk two light anti-aircraft
batteries, 120 short tons (110 t) of ammunition (450,000 rounds) and 162 members of the
Voluntary Militia for National Security.
On 28 June 1940 at 12:10, about 50
mi (43
nmi; 80
km) west of
Zakynthos, the convoy was sighted by a British reconnaissance
Short Sunderland plane. As they were within striking range of the British 7th Cruiser Squadron, composed of light cruisers
Liverpool,
Orion,
Neptune,
Gloucester and
Sydney, Admiral John Tovey ordered them to intercept the Italians. The Italian column was sighted by the Allied ships around 18:30, about 100 miles north of Tobruk, and at 18:36
Liverpool opened fire from 22,000 yd (20,000 m) at the surprised Italian flotilla. At 18:59
Orion also opened fire from 18,000 yd (16,000 m). The Italian destroyers were theoretically faster than the British cruisers, but due to their age and heavy cargo on board their speed advantage was nullified. In addition,
Espero's third boiler turned out to be defective, limiting the destroyer's speed to just 25
knots (46 km/h; 29 mph). Captain Baroni, therefore, decided to sacrifice his ship in order to cover the escape of
Zeffiro and
Ostro, and ordered them to disengage and sail for
Benghazi at full speed.
Espero laid smokescreens and conducted evasive manoeuvres, engaging Liverpool's division with guns, and simultaneously firing three torpedoes at
Orion. While
Liverpool and
Gloucester took on
Espero, the other three cruisers tried to get around the smokescreens to attack the fleeing
Ostro and
Zeffiro, but were ordered to abandon their pursuit and concentrate on
Espero instead. Due to zigzagging
Espero managed to avoid being hit, but by 19:20 the range between her and
Liverpool had shortened to 14,000 yd (13,000 m). In fact, Italians drew first blood, when a single Italian 4.7 in (120 mm) shell hit
Liverpool just 3 ft above the waterline, with splinters penetrating the warheads of two torpedoes, but caused little damage otherwise. Despite heavy firing,
Espero was not hit until 20:00, when her engine rooms were struck bringing the vessel to a stop. The 7th Squadron expended about 5,000 shells, more than 1,600 of main calibre, before the Italian destroyer was sunk, after 130 minutes of fierce fighting.
Sydney rescued 47 out of 225 men from the Italian destroyer, and thirty six more escaped on rafts, but only six of them were later found alive by Italian submarine
Topazio almost 20 days later. Captain Baroni died aboard his ship, and was
posthumously awarded the
Medaglia d´oro al valor militare
Destroyer
FR 22, formerly the French
Panthère, ca. 1942-3
The
Chacal-class destroyer
Panthére was salvaged and restored to operational status by the Regia Marina after being scuttled by her crew at Toulon, one of four of those who saw actual service under the Italian flag; like the others, she was assigned a nonstandard alphanumerical denomination, to avoid furthering enraging the French.
Used as a fast troop transport, the
FR 22 most famously embarked, on the night between 6 and 7 August 1943, at Ponza, Benito Mussolini, arrested after being deposed on 25 July, and brought him to La Maddalena, arriving there at 1420h of 8 August, after a difficult trip because of heavy seas.
At the Armistice, the former French destroyer was at La Spezia for maintenance; unable to move, she was scuttled once more.
