Premium Idea Italian DD Artigliere

[vonKaiser]

Italian Soldati Class Destroyer: Artigliere

 

Commissioned:     14 Nov 1938

Sunk:                    12 Oct 1940

Displacement:       1620 tons standard; 2550 tons Full Load   

Length:                 350 Feet

Beam:                   33 Feet

Draft:                    10 Feet

Propulsion:           3 Yarrow Type Boilers powering x2 Parsons Turbines into dual shafts producing 48,000 Shaft Horsepower

Speed:                 38 Knots

Range:                 2,200nm at 20 knots

Crew:                   206

Armament:           Four 4.72-in (120-mm) L/50 guns in two twin mounts. (I'd suggest the 50-caliber Ansaldo 1937 with 42 degrees of elevation)

Anti-Aircraft:        Twelve 13.2-mm anti-aircraft machine guns in four twin and four single mounts

Torpedo:              Two Triple banks of 533mm Torpedo tubes.

 

Going by what I could find the Torpedos in use would be the 53.3 cm (21") Si 270/533.4 x 7.2 "M". 

595lbs Explosive Charge, Wet Heater type motor.  It had 3 ranges depending on speed:

4,400 yards (4,000 m) / 46 knots

8,750 yards (8,000 m) / 35 knots

13,100 yards (12,000 m) / 29 knots

 

So why would i recommend this ship in game?  Well you want some history, this ship has it. The 'Artigliere's' final mission began at sunset on 11th October, 1940.  A friendly aircraft reported a large English formation to the East of Malta. The 'Artigliere' was the flagship of the assault fleets, it's motto "Always and Everywhere".  it's commander, Carlo Margottini, was already famous, a decorated official and veteran from the Great War and the Spanish conflict and involved in the battle of Calabria where he earned the Bronze Medal of Military Valor.  In a search pattern he set out to find the British Navy and, backlit by the moon, he spotted the silhouette of the British Cruiser Ajax.

 

He ordered to close in and launched his torpedo attack on the Ajax, who did not realize she was under attack until the first star shells and main battery shells pierced the darkness.  Unbeknownst to Carlo Margottini and the rest of the attacking ships however, Ajax was the first ship to be equipped with the Type 279 Radar.  Ajax avoided the torpedos and returned fire with devastating accuracy thanks to this.   The torpedo boats and destroyers pressed the attack firing at ranges as close as 100 meters.  Artigliere struck the Ajax in the bow, killing 13 of her crew and wounding 22, but the return salvo of the Ajax raked the bridge, set fire to her munitions and the ship broke out in flames.  Almost all of the officers on board were killed and the captain himself although mortally wounded urged his ship and crew to press the attack, he would shortly perish on the bridge of the ship. 

 

The remaining crew continued to try to save the ship, fighting the fires for hours and eventually repairing an engine before breaking down.  The destroyer Camicia Nera attempted to tow them but the British navy was closing in.  Ajax had been acting as lookout for the British Mediterranean fleet which was on convoy escort.  The British Fleet was led by Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham's flagship, HMS Warspite, and included three other battleships, two aircraft carriers, six cruisers, and 16 destroyers.  The Camicia Nera was surprised at first light by the HMS York.  She cut her tow cable and retreated under the cover of smoke.

 

The only remaining officer, Major Mario Giannettini, refused to surrender the ship and ordered her scuttled.  HMS York closed the distance, sending radio and flag signals to the Artigliere to abandon the ship and fired a warning shot across her bow.  The wounded crew were loaded into life boats and the remainder dove into the sea.  York raked the ship with gunfire and finally sent two torpedos into her.  22 survivors were collected by the British Destroyer Vampire before it sped away, worried about submarines in the area.  The location of the survivors of the Artigliere also included the survivors of 2 torpedo boats lost in the battle, the Airone and the Ariel.  Their location was radioed by the British fleet over multiple channels and frequencies.

 

100 crew of the Artigliere would be rescued out of a total of her 206 crew members. 

 

Number of guns would make her a bit lacking in the gun boat department, horrible anti-Aircraft suite, but her shell velocity and ROF would make up for it.  Torpedo ranges would make her a lackluster torpedo boat but I'll be honest, I have NO IDEA how the distance compression is set in World of Warships, so perhaps that would skew the numbers a bit and make her more viable.  6 - 7 Rounds per minute with an elevation of 42 degrees.  23.15kg projectile.  The guns had a range of 22,000 meters with 45 degree elevation.  Muzzle velocity clocks in at 3,117 fps (950 mps) Later reduced to 3,018 fps (920 mps) the lower velocity was in effort to reduce the bad dispersion of the guns.  Studies done seemed to suggest that the barrels were located far too close to each other and the muzzle blast affected the projectiles. 

 

So they would have very good velocity compared to other nation Destroyers so I'm thinking it would lend it's way to a decent gun boat with good rate of fire, flat trajectory and given her tonnage perhaps a high hit point pool.

 

Sources used for the article:

 

 

http://www.zhanliejian.com/navweaps/WTIT_WWII.htm

http://www.navypedia.org/ships/italy/it_dd_soldati.htm

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNIT_47-50_m1926.php

http://ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=410

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldati-class_destroyer

http://uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=562&navy=IT

https://www.paulallen.com/artigliere-ship-wreck-expedition/

https://books.google.com/books?id=BZcTDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT194&lpg=PT194&dq=artiglieri+sinking&source=bl&ots=pwwHdc5HSy&sig=atrsYhSKwGev3iXLUlIVCzcQjuQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzoenm1KrUAhUC8j4KHRSlCUwQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=artiglieri%20sinking&f=false

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Passero_(1940)

http://www.cmchant.com/italian-soldati-destroyer-class

http://ww2today.com/12th-october-1940-hms-ajax-strikes-again

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/120_mm_Italian_naval_gun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Margottini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ajax_(22)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_British_naval_radar#Type_279

 

 

[Czevak]

It seems this would be a very good T7 - one that could fight Mahan or Sims on equal footing.

 

I like this idea.

[pastore123]

I would be interested in seeing this. 

[Phoenix_jz]

I like the idea - also, keep in mind that torpedoes in WoWs usually travel 20 knots faster than their historical speeds, and in-game the Si 270 'M' - these are the same fish that are mounted on the Duca d'Aosta, so they're extremely stealthy (1 km of detection) and deal 13,367 damage each.

 

 

 

[Baron_Von_Krieg]

Another Premium Italian ship ? Yes please !!  

 

[SinqueScheiDeMona]

I initially thought Italian destroyers would be gunships. However I wonder if this might be a torpedo spammer. It will only be six torpedoes with low alpha that can be easily dodged if paying attention. There are only two twin turrets firing every ten or so seconds and most didn't enjoy the harder hitting Ognevoi at tier VI from what I gather. Basically turning Soldati into the old Mutsuki with much weaker torpedoes?

[vonKaiser]

I initially thought Italian destroyers would be gunships. However I wonder if this might be a torpedo spammer. It will only be six torpedoes with low alpha that can be easily dodged if paying attention. There are only two twin turrets firing every ten or so seconds and most didn't enjoy the harder hitting Ognevoi at tier VI from what I gather. Basically turning Soldati into the old Mutsuki with much weaker torpedoes?

 

I think she'd be a gunboat balanced primarily around her shell velocity.  950m/s would put her on the same field at the Tier X Grozovoi and the Chapayev cruiser in terms of her gun handling.  Sure she might not have the best alpha given the caliber and the sheer lack of gun numbers but she'd be one of the flattest firing. 

 

[SinqueScheiDeMona]

Rate of fire would have to be buffed to 10 rounds a minute then I would guess for a viable gunboat? The smoke I would hope would actually generate aft of the vessel to encourage smoking up allies instead of yourself. That is my hope for Italian smoke generators. Something that benefits the team and not yourself. 

[WolfofWarship]

On 07/06/2017 at 4:05 AM, vonKaiser said:

Italian Soldati Class Destroyer: Artigliere

 

Thanks for your suggestion, vonKaiser! I'll bring it to the attention of our team :) great idea and very well researched!