Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian destroyer, and one of a dozen s built for the Italian: [[Regia Marina]] (Royal Italian Navy) in the late 1920s. Completed in 1931, she served in World War II. She was captured by German forces, but was later sunk by Allied aircraft in 1945.
The Navigatori-class destroyers were designed to counter the large French destroyers of the and es.[1] They had an overall length of 107.30NaN0, a beam of 10.2m (33.5feet) and a mean draft of 3.5m (11.5feet).[2] They displaced 1900sp=usNaNsp=us at standard load, and 2580t at deep load. Their complement during wartime was 222–225 officers and enlisted men.
The Navigatoris were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by four Odero-Terni-Orlando water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 55000shp and a speed of 32kn in service, although the ships reached speeds of 38- during their sea trials while lightly loaded.[3] They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 3800nmi at a speed of .[4]
Their main battery consisted of six 120sp=usNaNsp=us guns in three twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and the third amidships.[5] Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Navigatori-class ships was provided by a pair of 40mm AA guns in single mounts abreast the forward funnel and a pair of twin-gun mounts for 13.2mm machine guns. They were equipped with six 533mm torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships. The Navigatoris could carry 86–104 mines.[3]
Antonio Pigafetta was laid down by Cantieri navali del Quarnaro at their Fiume shipyard on 29 December 1928, launched on 10 November 1929 and commissioned on 1 May 1931.[2] On 10 September 1943, the Italian destroyer Antonio Pigafetta was seized by German forces in Fiume. Following repairs, it was recommissioned as TA-44 on 14 October 1944, and became part of the 9th Torpedoboot Flotilla. The ship was sunk in the port of Trieste on 17 February 1945, after being hit by an allied aircraft bomb. The ship was likely sunk by the 461st Operations Group (Heavy), a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization, which typically flew the B-24 Liberator.
. 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.