Italian destroyer Freccia (1930)

The Freccia-class destroyers were enlarged and improved versions of the preceding {{sclass|Turbine|destroyer|4}}.Brescia, p. 116 They had an overall length of {{convert|96.15|m|ftin|sp=us}}, a beam of {{convert|9.75|m|ftin|sp=us}} and a mean draft of {{convert|3.15|m|ftin|sp=us}}.Whitley, p. 165 They displaced {{convert|1225|t|LT|sp=us|lk=on}} at standard load, and {{convert|2150|t|LT|sp=us}} at deep load. Their complement during wartime was 185 officers and enlisted men.Roberts, p. 299

The Freccias were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by three Thornycroft boilers. The turbines were designed to produce {{convert|44000|shp|lk=on}} and a speed of {{convert|30|kn|lk=in}} in service, although the ships reached speeds of {{convert|38|-|39|kn}} during their sea trials while lightly loaded. They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of {{convert|4600|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|12|kn}}.

Their main battery consisted of four 120 mm Italian naval gun#50-calibre Ansaldo 1926 guns in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure.Fraccaroli, p. 51 Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Freccia-class ships was provided by a pair of QF 2 pounder naval gun AA guns in single mounts amidships and a pair of twin-gun mounts for Breda Model 1931 Machine Gun. They were equipped with six {{convert|533|mm|in|adj=on|sp=us|0}} torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships. Although the ships were not provided with a sonar system for anti-submarine work, they were fitted with a pair of depth charge throwers. From August 1942 she featured a Metox radar warning device. The Freccias could carry 54 mines.

Freccia was laid down by Cantieri del Tirreno at their Riva Trigoso shipyard on 20 February 1929, launched on 30 August 1930 and commissioned on 21 October 1931. Freccia was assigned to the 7th Squadron of destroyers, composed of four ships of her class.Matessini (2020), p. 130

In August 1937, the Italian Fascist government decided the intervention of the Italian navy in the Nationalist blockade of the Spanish Republic in the context of the Spanish Civil War. Freccia was part of a large naval force deployed to the Sicilian Channel. The operation began on 9 August 1937.Matessini (2020), p. 152

File:Freccia-Geo W McKnight danneggiata e assistita da Hercules e British Commodore (saggio Mattesini).jpg

On 14 August 1937, the Italian destroyer shadowed a Panamanian-flagged tanker, supported by the torpedo boat {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Cigno|1936|2}} and the Spanish Nationalist auxiliary cruisers Puchol and Mallorca. Freccia's commander was under the impression that they were tracking the Republican tanker Campeador, unaware that the latter had been torpedoed and sunk by her sister ship Saetta on 11 August. The tanker was actually the George W. McKnight, owned by the American Panama Transport Company and chartered by the German chapter of the Esso. The captain was American and the rest of the complement German. At 21:15, Freccia launched five torpedoes; only one of them struck home, hitting George W. McKnight's abreast the stern. The destroyer also fired 53 rounds from her 120 mm guns (29 armour-piercing and 24 high-explosive). Badly damaged, the tanker was abandoned by her crew and later assisted by the tanker British Commodore and the Italian tug Centauro. After transferring her cargo to the British tanker off Bizerte, the captain of the George W. McKnight ceded the ownership of the oiler to the Italian company Tripcovich, which towed the ship to Trieste to be repaired and, after several months of work, sold it to a British company under the name of Esso Edinburgh.Matessini (2020), pp. 163-70

{{Main|Italian invasion of Albania}}

As part of the 4th Naval Group, Freccia supported the Italian landings at Santi Quaranta on 7 April 1939. The destroyer, together with Baleno, landed 150 marines from the San Marco Battalion. The weak Albanian resistance ashore was routed with the assistance of the ships' main guns.{{Cite book|last=Sorini|first=Fabio|title=Dai fanti da mar alla forza di proiezione dal mare: la fanteria di marina e le truppe anfibie italiane dal 1500 ai giorni nostri, Volume 1|publisher=R. Chiaramonte|year=2008|pages=163|language=It}}

During the battle of the Mediterranean, the burden of escorting Axis convoys to Libya, Greece and Tunisia fell to the Freccia-class and the Navigatori-class destroyers.Giorgerini (2002), p. 426

At the head of the 7th Squadron, Freccia led her sister ships Dardo, Saetta and Strale to a fruitless torpedo charge against the British Fleet in the last stages of the battle of Calabria, on 9 July 1940.Giorgerini (2002), p. 180 The destroyer was also part of the 7th Squadron in the battle of Cape Spartivento.Mattesini (2000). p. 129 On 15 June 1942, when the Italian fleet drove back the Allied convoy Vigorous from Alexandria, Freccia rescued survivors from the Italian cruiser Trento, sunk by the combined attack of torpedo bombers and the submarine HMS Umbra.{{Cite web|title=Cacciatorpediniere Freccia|url=http://www.trentoincina.it/dbunita2.php?short_name=Freccia|access-date=2020-10-27|website=www.trentoincina.it|language=It}}

File:Beaufort 39 Sqn RAF at Luqa Malta 1943.jpg

Freccia was involved in several convoy actions in the course of the war. On 21 February 1941, Freccia led the escort of a three Axis merchant ships on their way back from Tripoli, Libya. In the afternoon, the British submarine HMS Regent torpedoed the German freighter Menes, which was hit amidships. Regent endured an intense depth charge attack by the destroyers Turbine and Freccia and received some damage. Menes was eventually towed to safety by the third destroyer of the escort, Freccia's sister ship Saetta.{{Cite web|title=HMS Regent (N 41) of the Royal Navy - British Submarine of the R class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net|url=https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3406.html|access-date=2020-10-23|website=uboat.net}}{{Cite web|title=Massawa, Red Sea, February 1941|url=http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4102-29FEB02.htm|access-date=2020-10-23|website=www.naval-history.net}} On 11 December 1941, Freccia was escorting the transport Calitea when the Italian motor vessel was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine HMS Talisman. Freccia counter-attacked Talisman with depth charges and rescued 230 survivors.{{Cite journal|date=1962|title=La Difesa del Traffico con L'Africa Settentrionale|journal=La Marina Italiana Nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale|language=It|publisher=Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare|volume=7|pages=384}} On 28 July 1942, nine Beauforts torpedo bombers from the 39 Sqn departing from Malta launched a sortie against the Italian motor vessel Monviso, escorted by Freccia and the torpedo boat {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Calliope|1938|2}} in a small convoy to Benghasi. The warships and the Axis fighter escort shot down two bombers, but Monviso was badly hit. Freccia towed the merchant ship to Navarino, where she was repaired, only to sink on a minefield some weeks later.{{Cite book|last=Nesbit|first=Roy Conyers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7XNDwAAQBAJ&q=Monviso+Freccia&pg=PT54|title=Reported Missing: Lost Airmen of the Second World War|publisher=Casemate Publishers|year=2009|isbn=978-1-78159-858-0|language=en}} On 6 September 1942, while escorting the motor vessels Luciano Manara and Ravello from Taranto to Benghasi along with the destroyers Bombardiere, Fuciliere, Geniere, Corsaro, Camicia Nera and the torpedo boat {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Pallade|1937|2}} the convoy came under torpedo attack from Malta's Beauforts from the 39 Sqn. The Italian ships shot down two Beauforts and two supporting Beaufighters, not before one of the aerial torpedoes struck Luciano Manara's stern. Freccia took the motor vessel in tow, and beached her in Arillas bay, Corfu. Luciano Manara was eventually salvaged and survived the war.{{Cite book|last1=Shores|first1=Christopher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wBriCwAAQBAJ&q=Arilla+Manara&pg=PA592|title=A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945: Volume 2: North African Desert, February 1942 - March 1943|last2=Massimello|first2=Giovanni|publisher=Grub Street Publishing|year=2014|isbn=978-1-910690-97-0|pages=591–92|language=en}} On 29 December 1942, Freccia, fitted by then with the radar warning system Metox,{{Cite book|last=Levine|first=Alan J.|title=The War Against Rommel's Supply Lines, 1942-1943|publisher=Praeger|year=1999|isbn=9780275965211|pages=108}} was lightly damaged when an aerial torpedo hit and blew up the ship she was escorting to Tunis, the transport Iseo, loaded with ammunition. After rescuing survivors, the destroyer was detached to reinforce the escort of a two-German merchant convoy.{{Cite book|last=Accini|first=Libero|title=La rotta della morte: canale di Sicilia, 1942-1943|publisher=U. Mursia|year=1970|pages=153–54|language=it}} While undergoing modernisation works at Genoa, Freccia was bombed and sunk at dock by RAF Lancaster bombers during an area air raid on the city on 8 August 1943. Her hull was eventually refloated and scrapped in 1949.Brescia, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8h7OAwAAQBAJ&dq=Freccia+Genoa+1943&pg=PA116 116-17]

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|last=Brescia|first=Maurizio|title=Mussolini's Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regina Marina 1930–45|year=2012|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-1-59114-544-8}}
• {{cite book |last1=Fraccaroli |first1=Aldo |title=Italian Warships of World War II |date=1968 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=Shepperton, UK |isbn=0-7110-0002-6}}
• Giorgerini, Giorgio (2002). La guerra italiana sul mare: la marina tra vittoria e sconfitta, 1940-1943. (In Italian) Mondadori. {{ISBN|978-88-04-50150-3}}.
• Matessini, Francesco (2020) La battaglia di Capo Teulada (27-28 novembre 1940). (In Italian) Ufficio storico della Marina Militare.
• Matessini, Francesco (2000) La Guerra Civile Spagnola e la Regia Marina Italiana. (in Italian). Soldiershop Publishing. {{ISBN|8893276143}}.
• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau |editor1-first=Roger |publisher=Mayflower Books|location=New York|year=1980|isbn=0-8317-0303-2 |chapter=Italy |last1=Roberts |first1=John|pages=280–317}}
• {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2|author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}
• {{cite book|first=M. J.|last=Whitley|title=Destroyers of World War 2: An International Encyclopedia |year=1988|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=1-85409-521-8|author-link=Michael J. Whitley}}

• [https://www.marina.difesa.it/noi-siamo-la-marina/mezzi/mezzi-storici/Pagine/EFGHI/freccia02.aspx Freccia (1930) ] Marina Militare website

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{{Freccia class destroyer}}

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Category:Freccia-class destroyers

Category:Ships built in Riva Trigoso

Category:1930 ships

Category:World War II destroyers of Italy

Category:Maritime incidents in August 1943

Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Ships sunk by British aircraft