Duca degli Abruzzi

Duca degli Abruzzi at high speed, date and location unknown.

History

Design

The Abruzzi-class cruisers were considered the fifth and final subgroup of the Condottieri-class “family” of cruiser designs, incorporating the second major redesign and often considered the most balanced of all the cruisers of the class. Overall, the designers chose to reduce the speed and increase the size of the cruisers, while forfeiting agility for increased protection, stability, and armament.

Abruzzi looks superficially similar to her cousins, with the most striking difference being the arrangement of the funnels; the increased beam allowed the two catapults to be placed off-center, so the funnels could be brought closer together. Internally, the armor scheme was similar to the previous designs with some noticeable improvements. For instance, the main belt consisted of two parts: a forward 30mm plate with a thicker 100mm slab placed some distance inside. The first layer was meant to detonate the fuses of incoming shells, while the latter plate was there to absorb fragmentation and further penetration. Additionally, the main deck was increased to 40mm, the control tower was increased to 70mm in some areas, and the exposed barbettes were increased to 100mm. Interestingly, the Abruzzi-class was one of the few ships that had armoring along the base of the funnels, most likely to avoid shell splinters entering the boiler compartments.

The additional hull space meant that the class was able to carry eight boilers — two more than their predecessors — for further redundancy in machinery for safety. Feeding two geared turbines, the power plant generated close to 104,000 shaft horsepower. Although slower by two knots in comparison to the Duca d’Aosta-class, the ships still managed a respectable 34 knots in speed trials.

Although the caliber of the armament was standardized to 152mm, the Abruzzi-class carried the longer 55 caliber guns as main armament; the ones first installed on the Littorio-class as secondary armament. Furthermore, the class increased the battery count from eight to ten rifles. These were organized as a pair of two-gun and three-gun turrets fore and aft; two-gun turret super-firing over the three-gun turret. Additionally there were 100mm AA guns organized around the superstructure, and a triple-torpedo launcher found on each side of the beam. Wartime modifications included replacing the 13.2mm AA guns for 20mm auto-cannons, and the installation of a radar set on a modified foremast over the forward superstructure.

Cruiser Luigi di Savoia Duca Degli Abruzzi – named after the Prince Luigi Amedeo – was the lead ship of the Duca degli Abruzzi-class cruisers. She was laid down 28 December 1933 at shipyards in modern day Lerici, Italy. Launched on 21 April 1936, she was commissioned into the Regia Marina on 1 December 1937.

Service

Luigi di Savoia Duca Degli Abruzzi was commissioned into the Regia Marina the most advanced light cruiser in the Italian navy. On her trials in 1937, she achieved a speed of 34.78 knots at 103,991 shaft horsepower. Abruzzi and her sister-ship Giuseppe Garibaldi formed the 8th Squadron of the 1st Division. Her first missions were some of the last operations of the Spanish Civil War, participating in blockades of Republican Spanish shorelines, until the Nationalists won in April 1939. Following a visit to Portugal in later 1939, Abruzzi became the flagship of the 8th Division. When Italy declared war on France and Britain in 1940, Abruzzi and Garibaldi operated together frequently, eoyj their first major action being the indecisive Battle of Calabria against the British in mid-1940. Operating out of Taranto, Abruzzi remained on call throughout 1940, her only other major sortie ending up as a failed attempt to intercept troop convoys bound for Malta from Egypt.

Come mid-March 1941, however, Abruzzi and Garibaldi moved to the Adriatic to cover convoy traffic involved in the Italian invasion of Greece. On 26 March 1941, both ships set out for a raid into Cretan waters, supported by heavy cruisers, destroyers, and battleship Vittorio Veneto. This raid turned into the Battle of Cape Matapan, where three Italian heavy cruisers were sunk at British-Australian hands; Abruzzi and Garibaldi had already detached from the raiding force before the battle, so they escaped a similar fate. The pair returned to their duties of intercepting convoys around the island of Malta and protecting Italian-German convoys bound for North Africa. Abruzzi split off from her sister, deploying in response to the British Operation "Halberd" in late September 1941. After resuming convoy protection operations, she took an air-dropped torpedo to the stern in the early morning of 22 November, blowing off her stern in its entirety. She limped back to port in Messina, where she remained for several months while undergoing repairs. As 1942 opened — and the pendulum in the Mediterranean began to swing against Italy and her Axis allies — Abruzzi, still missing her stern, had to quickly sail from Messina to Taranto, which was a safer port for her while her repairs were completed.

Re-joining Garibaldi, the two cruisers transferred to Pilos, Greece in July 1942 to attempt to intercept British attacks on convoys, but shortages of fuel, bombing attacks, and the lack of enemy naval activity forced their withdrawal to Taranto by November that year. The severe shortage of fuel in Italy eventually left both ships permanently in port at La Spezia. Following the Italian Armistice, both ships surrendered at Malta in September 1943, then became two of the largest combat-capable ships in the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy. They were transferred to the Central Atlantic, settling at their new base of Freetown, Sierra Leone, where they escorted Allied convoys through the Atlantic.

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  Duca degli Abruzzi during sea trials, circa 1938.

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  Giuseppe Garibaldi, sister ship of Duca degli Abruzzi, heads to sea.

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  Garibaldi underway, location unknown, circa 1938.

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  Sketch of her sister ship, Giuseppe Garibaldi.

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  US Office of Naval Intelligence recognition drawing of an Abruzzi-class cruiser.

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  Abruzzi during a formal visit to Malta, 23 July 1955.