Alfredo Oriani was the lead ship of her class of four destroyers built for the Italian: [[Regia Marina]] (Royal Italian Navy) in the mid-1930s. Completed in 1937, she served in World War II. Alfredo Oriani took part of the battle of Matapan and the attack on Harpoon convoy.
The Oriani-class destroyers were slightly improved versions of the preceding .[1] They had a length between perpendiculars of 101.6m (333.3feet) and an overall length of 106.7m (350.1feet). The ships had a beam of 10.15m (33.3feet) and a mean draft of 3.15m (10.33feet) and 4.3m (14.1feet) at deep load.[2] They displaced 1700- at normal load, and 2400- at deep load.[3] Their complement during wartime was 206 officers and enlisted men.[4]
The Orianis were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by three Thornycroft boilers.[4] Designed for a maximum output of 48000shp and a speed of 32kn33kn in service, the ships reached speeds of 38- during their sea trials while lightly loaded. They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 2600nmi2800nmi at a speed of and at a speed of .[3]
Their main battery consisted of four 50-caliber 120sp=usNaNsp=us guns in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure.[5] Amidships were a pair of 15-caliber 120-millimeter star shell guns. Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Oriani-class ships was provided by four 13.2mm machine guns. The ships were equipped with six 533mm torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships. Although they were not provided with a sonar system for anti-submarine work, they were fitted with a pair of depth charge throwers.[3] The ships could carry up to 56 mines.[5]
Alfredo Oriani was built at the OTO shipyard in Livorno, laid down on 28 October 1935, launched on 30 July 1936 and completed on 15 July 1937.[6]
Alfredo Oriani belonged to the 9th destroyer flotilla of the Royal Italian Navy, which also comprised her sisters Vittorio Alfieri, Giosue Carducci and Vicenzo Gioberti.[7] Oriani survived the Battle of Cape Matapan, where she was severely damaged by the 6inches secondary guns of battleship HMS Warspite.[8] The destroyer was part of the Italian squadron that engaged the Harpoon convoy on 15 June 1942, where Oriani hit the destroyer HMS Bedouin, and, along with the destroyer Ascari and the cruisers Raimondo Montecuccoli and Eugenio di Savoia, she sunk the already crippled tanker Kentucky and the freighter Burdwan. Oriani launched a torpedo to the drifting hull of Kentucky to secure her sinking.[9] The ship escaped from La Spezia during the Italian Armistice in 1943 and was interned in Malta.[10] The Italian destroyer was given to the French Navy as a war reparation, where she served as the D'Estaing until 1954.[11]
. Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland. 2005. Third Revised. 1-59114-119-2. Jürgen Rohwer.
. Destroyers of World War 2: An International Encyclopedia . 1988. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland. 1-85409-521-8 . Michael J. Whitley.