Duca d'Aosta

Design

Built for the 1931-1933 naval programme, Emanuele Filiberto Duca d’Aosta was the lead ship of her class of light cruisers, and more-so the “fourth subclass” of the Condottieri-class light cruisers of the Italian Navy.

She shares the same bauplan set forth by the previous Montecuccoli-class light cruisers – which is considered to be the first major redesign seen in the “super-class” – albeit a more enlarged version.

Compared to the first two subclasses, Duca d’Aosta was over 2,000 tonnes larger, in order to accommodate a greater thickness of armour; one of the more glaring deficiencies of the earlier ships. The belt, bulkheads, and deck armour was increased by 45mm, 15mm, and 10-15mm respectively. Although this was a step in the right direction, the armour was still objectively inadequate, as there was no immunity to 203mm shells and only an approximate 2,000m immunity zone (14,000-16,000m) from 152mm shells.

In order to not compromise on speed – the one major strong suit of the “superclass” – Duca d’Aosta utilized upgraded propulsion machinery that was built in-Italy. Unique to Duca d’Aosta-class, her propulsion machinery was centered inline of the ship, and arranged in alternating firerooms (housing 3 boilers each) and engine rooms (housing a single turbine each). She was the first of the Condottieri to exceed 110,000 shaft horsepower and maintain a solid 36 knots.

Other discreet changes include the forward superstructure being simplified to a central tower design, which housed the main conning tower within. On top the main forward fire-directors were found and the base of the superstructure constituted on the enlarged bridge with its external platform. As well, due to her enlarge length; the aircraft catapult was positioned on the centre of the ship, in-between the two funnels.

The armament on Duca d’Aosta was something that was conserved through out the Condottieri “super-class”. She was armed with four turrets paired fore and aft, and each turret was armed with two Model 1929 152mm/53 naval guns. Compared to the earlier Model 1926 guns, the improved rifles could be loaded at a greater angle and had a larger breach ring, which lead to significant increase in rate of fire. Unfortunately, these guns were suffered from dispersion problems due to their close mounting on the gun cradle in the turrets, which were partially rectified by a decrease in muzzle velocity and a smaller AP shell weight.

Upon completion she was also armed with 2 triple torpedo tubes and an anti-aircraft artillery suite consisting of 3 dual-100mm guns, 4 dual-37mm guns, and 6 dual-13.2mm guns. In a retrofit in 1943, her torpedo tubes and 13.2mm machine guns were removed in order to make room for the addition of 20mm AA guns.

Italian cruiser Emanuele Filiberto Duca d’Aosta was laid down on 29 October 1932 at the OTO shipyards in Livorno. She was launched 22 April 1934, and commissioned into the Reiga Marina 13 July 1935.

Service

RN Emanuele Filiberto Duca d’Aosta joined the 7th Cruiser Division when she entered service, with her only notable pre-war event being her circumnavigation alongside her sister-ship RN Eugenio di Savoia in 1938; but their trip was cut short due to worsening international relations. Both ships joined the 2nd Squadron in early 1940, participating in the Battle of Punto Stilo (known otherwise as the Battle of Calabria) in July, later sailing with the fleet to intercept British Cruisers en route to Malta by the end of October. D’Aosta spent most of 1941 participating in minelaying duties; rotating between minelaying and convoy escorts between Italy and Benghazi to support the Italians and Germans fighting in North Africa. By December however, the Italian convoys of M41 and M42, whose escort including d’Aosta, coincided with a British attempt to run a convoy to Malta, resulting in the indecisive First Battle of Sirte.

In early 1942, her duties were still limited to convoy escorts. By mid-1942, the situation in North Africa was looking dire, but Italian sorties to counter British operations (“Operation Harpoon” and “Operation Vigorous”) intensified, with her sister-ship Savoia directly credited for the sinking of HMS Bedouin. Little of note happened from mid-1942 to 1943, owing to dwindling oil supplies on mainland Italy, with the main sorties that d’Aosta participated in were failed attempts to bombard Allied positions on Sicily, following the successful Allied Invasion of Sicily.