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Turbine (TA14)

1927 WORLD WAR 2

The History of Turbines (TA14)

In the late 1920s, Regia Marina (Italian Navy) of the Kingdom of Italy invested in a new type of destroyer warship called the Turbine class. The class consisted of eight participants, led by Turbine herself. The eight named ships in the family are Aquilone, Borea, Espero, Euro, Nembo, Ostro, Turbine and Zeffiro. Surprisingly, all were killed in one way or another, and six were sunk in the fighting in 1940 (World War II) alone.

The turbine was completed by the shipyard Odero on August 27, 1927.

The

Turbine-class ships succeed the Sauro-class ships in service with the Italian Navy, with the main difference being that the new destroyers have been increased by nearly 10 feet in length for improved offshore performance. In order to improve survivability, the bridge section has been heavily reinforced. The Turbine class was also the last Italian destroyer to be equipped with the shorter 4 caliber/45 caliber.

The 7" gun was switched to the longer /50 caliber form as the main gun of the newer design.

The turbine displaces 1,100 tons under standard load and 1,700 tons under full load. The overall length is 305.8 feet, the beam is 30 feet, and the draft is 9.9 feet. Power comes from 3 x boiler units feeding 2 x Parsons geared steam turbines producing 40,000 hp and driving 2 x axles.

The boat was tested at 39 knots, but actually ran at close to 33 knots. Range is a useful 3,200 nautical miles.

The outline of the ship contains the bridge superstructure (with the main mast) in the design, just aft of the main tower above the forecastle. Midships are rows of smoke funnels, and behind them are torpedo tubes on trainable mounts. At the stern of the warship is the stern superstructure, covered by a second mast. These longships provide destroyers with a lot of maneuvering and armament, and their shallow draughts give them good inshore capabilities when needed.

About 180 men were on board.

The armament consists of 2 x 4.7" dual gun mounts (one front mounted and the other rear mounted), followed by 2 x 40mm anti-aircraft guns (AA) mounted on a single mount. A pair of 13.2mm AA machine guns mounted on a single gun mount were also mounted for additional anti-aircraft work.

The turbines carry 2 x 21" (533 mm) triple torpedo launchers. Warships can also carry approximately 50 mines to mine strategic waterways, preventing the passage of any ships.

Notable operations related to the turbines included the shelling of Sallum (or "Sollum", in the far northwest corner of the Egyptian state) and her two sisters on June 16 and June 24, 1940. On June 27 of the same year, she was credited for sinking the HMS Orpheus, a Royal Navy attack submarine, off the embattled coast of Tobruk during the North African campaign.

Her sailing career in the Kingdom of Italy came to an abrupt end with the surrender of Italy in September 1943. The warship was then taken over by the Germans and served under the designation "TA14" until she was killed by U.S. Army Air Force aircraft while docked at Salamis (Salamis, part of Greece) in August 1944 .