Orsa class torpedo boat

Torpedo boat Pegaso
Class overview
Operators:	Regia Marina  Marina Militare
In commission:	1936–1964
Completed:	4
Lost:	2
General characteristics [1]
Type:	Torpedo boat
Displacement:	840 long tons (850 t) standard 1,575 long tons (1,600 t) full load
Length:	82.5 m (270 ft 8 in)
Beam:	9.69 m (31 ft 9 in)
Draught:	3.74 m (12 ft 3 in)
Propulsion:	2 shaft steam turbines 2 boilers 16,000 hp (11,900 kW)
Speed:	28 knots (32 mph; 52 km/h)
Complement:	116
Armament:	• 2 × 100 mm (3.9 in) guns • 10 × 20 mm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft guns • 8 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA machine guns • 4 × 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes[2] • 6 × depth charge throwers

The Orsa class were a group of large torpedo boats or destroyer escorts built for the Italian Navy in the late 1930s. They were an enlarged version of the Spica-class torpedo boat, with more endurance and a greater depth charge load but less powerful machinery and a lighter gun armament. The surviving pair were rebuilt as anti-submarine frigates in the 1950s.

Ships

Ship	builder	Launched	Operational History
Napoletani	8 December 1936	Sank British submarines HMS Upholder and HMS Thorn. She was part of the screen of destroyers and torpedo boats escorting a four-freighter convoy to Tripoli on 26 May 1941,[3] when two Blenheim bombers were shot down.[4] She also took part in the shooting down of a Beaufort bomber and a Beaufighter while escorting another convoy on 21 August 1942.[5] Scuttled 11 September 1943
Procione	BS Napoletani	31 January 1937	Scuttled 11 September 1943
Orione	CNR Palermo	21 April 1937	Survived the war and served in the post-war Marina Militare. Decommissioned 1964
Orsa	CNR Palermo	21 March 1937	Survived the war and served in the post-war Marina Militare. Decommissioned 1964

References

1. ^ Conway's All the World's Fighting ships 1922-1946
2. ^ Marina Militare
3. ^ Naval Events, May 1941, Part 2 of 2
4. ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia, p. 223
5. ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia (1991).Malta: The Spitfire Year 1942. Grub Street, p. 524. ISBN 094881716-X