View Single Post
 
Old 02-16-2012, 04:18 PM
marco1971's Avatar
marco1971 marco1971 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Pieve San Giacomo Cremona
Posts: 1,315
Total Downloaded: 0
R.N. Scipione Africano 1:400

Scipione Africano (cruiser)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Scipio Africanus

Overview

Type light cruiser
Class Capitani Romani
Yard OTO Livorno
Set 28 September 1939
Launched January 12, 1941
Completed April 23, 1943
Radiata 1948
Final fate Ceded to France
Main Features
Displacement 5,035
Gross Tonnage 5,420
Length 142.2 m
Width 14.4 m
Draft 4.9 m
Propulsion Steam :

4 boilers Thornycroft
4 geared turbines Parsons
2 axes
Power: 110,000 HP

Speed 40 knots
Autonomy 4,352 miles at 18 knots
Crew 418
Board sensors Radar :

1 EC.3 Owl

Armament
Armament artillery to construction:

8 guns from 135/45 mm
(4 binary systems)
8 37/54mm guns
8 gunner from 20/65mm

torpedoes :

8 tube torpedo launchers from 533 mm

Armour only a few corazzetta


The Scipio Africanus was a small and fast light cruiser of the Royal Navy belonging to the class Capitani Romani . Of the 12 units planned only 3 entered service, taking part in the Second World War : Regulus , Scipio Africanus, and Pompey the Great . He was christened in honor of Publius Cornelius Scipio . The Scipio Africanus was the only one equipped with radar EC.3 Owl.


Its construction began in 1939 , took place in the shipyard shipyard OTO of Livorno . Launched on 12 January 1941 was delivered on 23 April 1943 and in the period May - July 1943 moored in the ports of La Spezia and Genoa .

After landing ally in Sicily and given the trend of land operations in the island in anticipation of a possible blockade by the Allied Strait of Messina, the unit was given a mission to force the Messina and reach Taranto . Left its moorings on 15 July 1943, the cruiser, while engaged in the difficult task of forcing the Straits, was involved on July 17 in a night encounter with four torpedo boat English including the MTB 315 and MTB 316, in the clash Scipio was hit by the fire of his artillery, sank with all hands, Scipio was able to avoid the other PT boats because of its speed, severely damaging another English torpedo boat and then arriving at Taranto without damage. Probably the fact that the ship was equipped with radar 3b EC Owl, who probably took over for the time the British motor torpedo boats, allowed the crew to apprestarsi defense.

Between 4 and 17 August the Scipio took place some mine laying missions in the Gulf of Taranto and off the coast of Calabria , challenging the Allied planes and ships that tried to prevent the evacuation of Axis forces by sea - from Sicily to Germany.





Armistice

The evening of ' September 8 when the radio came the news of ' armistice , the ship was in Taranto, where around 6 o'clock in the morning of September 9 by Supermarina received the order to reach as soon as Pescara , received the same order corvettes Scimitar Bayonet and who were in Brindisi and Pula . The Scipio arrived shortly after midnight in Pescara , where the bayonet under the command of Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant Peter Pedemonti around 21 head of government had embarked on Badoglio and the Minister of the Navy De Courten and had continued to Ortona , where some 1, 10 of 10 September was boarded the royal family, so the Scipio, reversed the route, around 7am in the morning reached the corvette escorting Bayonet up to Brindisi , where the King Vittorio Emanuele III and his entourage arrived the same day of the September 10 around 16, staying in the building of the Naval Commander Admiral Rubatelli.

The second corvette, the Scimitar, which arrived in Pescara to Brindisi, under the command of Lieutenant-Lieutenant Remo Osti, around 7pm on September 10, finding no one drove about four hours after receiving orders to go sailing in Taranto, where would come to the hours of 12 ' on September 11 .

In Brindisi, the landing took place while the royal family from the corvette, at some point, they saw six fighter who aimed low over the director of Scipio and the corvette was where the King Vittorio Emanuele III , the aircraft fire forced the Scipio aircraft to change direction.

On September 29 the Scipio sailed off to escort the Marshal Badoglio and the government in Malta , where the head of the Italian Government had signed with General Eisenhower aboard the Battleship British Nelson 's long armistice which were specified in the conditions of surrender taxes to ' Italy have generally contained in ' short armistice was signed on 3 September by General Giuseppe Castellano .

During cobelligerance carried out some trips to Alexandria in Egypt and the Bitter Lakes , where they had interned the battleships Italian Vittorio Veneto and Italy .
Postwar

After the war, according to the peace treaty , Scipio Africanus was among the units that ' Italy had to be made ​​available as reparations for war damages and 9 August 1948 was ceded to France under the symbol S7. [1]
Guichen (D 607)

Along with Scipio Africanus also the twin Regulus was ceded to the French. The two units in the Marine Nationale would have formed the Class Chateaurenault . Since 23 July 1948 the ship was renamed Guichen and after delivery was sent to Toulon to undergo a complete renovation that lasted a long time, during which the unit was rearmed with six guns former German 105 mm , the same people who formed the anti-aircraft armament of the cruisers Germans of Class Hipper , who replaced the guns 135/45 originate, these guns were a weapon lighter than the original but with the virtue of being dual weapons having the ability to perform essential an effective anti-aircraft fire. Even the light anti-aircraft armament was upgraded with 10 guns of 57 mm [2] in five plants combined.

At the conclusion of the ship entered service team on 9 April 1955 and reclassified destroyer , was assigned the serial number D 607 and became the flagship of Escadre Légère de l'Atlantique ( Atlantic ) based in Brest .

The ship was withdrawn from service on 1 April 1961 , he went to disarm the 21 June 1963 and used as a floating platform in Poulmic, was radiated on 1 June 1976 and was assigned serial number 554 Q awaiting demolition, which took place in 1979 .
__________________
Currently Building: RN Zara 1:400
Reply With Quote