Italian destroyer Borea (1927)

Italian destroyer Borea was a built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) during late 1920s. She was named after a northerly wind, Borea, bringing frigid, dry air to the Italian peninsula.

Description and Construction
warships were built in 1927-1928 and contained characteristics that can be described as transitional between the ships of the post-World War I period and those built in 1930s. Compared to both of their predecessors, and  vessels, their hull was elongated to accommodate a more powerful propulsion system to gain about 10% more power and increase their speed by 1 knot. Additional side fuel tanks were added which allowed to increase fuel stowage to 446 tons of fuel oil.

Borea like all other Turbine-class boats had a significant overload: their design standard displacement was 1073 LT but in practice it was around 1220 LT. Her deep load was 1670 LT as designed, and ended up being 1715 LT as built. The ship had an overall length of 307.5 ft, a beam of 30.5 ft and a draught of 10.75 ft. She was powered by 2 Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of 40000 shp and gave a maximum speed of 36 kn. During the trials the contract speed was exceeded, Borea was clocked at 36.5 kn during trials, but at full load the vessel could reach no more than 33 kn. Steam for the turbines was provided by three Thornycroft 3-drum boilers. Borea carried a maximum of 446 LT of fuel oil that gave her a range of 3800 nmi at 20 kn.

The ship mounted four 45-calibre 120 mm guns in twin mounts. For anti-aircraft (AA) defense, three 40 mm/39 pom-pom cannons in single mounts were deployed at the time of launching. In early 1930s one of the 40 mm/39 pom-pom guns was removed, and a single mount twin 13.2 mm machine guns were installed. She was fitted with two above-water triple 533 mm torpedo tube mounts, and could also carry 52 mines.

Borea was built at the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa. She was laid down on 29 April 1925 and launched on 28 January 1927. The ship was completed on 14 November 1927 and after sea trials officially entered the service with Regia Marina.

Service
Upon entry into service with Regia Marina Borea was briefly assigned to the 5th Destroyer Squadron. In March 1928 she participated in a training cruise in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Borea was then assigned together with ITALIAN DESTROYER Espero, ITALIAN DESTROYER Ostro and ITALIAN DESTROYER Zeffiro to the 1st Squadron of the I Destroyer Flotilla based at La Spezia. In 1928 the destroyer also visited Ibiza, followed up by another cruise to Tripoli in 1929. In the summer of 1930 Borea together with the ships of her squadron participated in the training cruise in the Aegean Sea visiting Nafplion, Thessaloniki, Rhodes and other Dodecanese islands. In 1931 Borea together with ITALIAN DESTROYER Turbine, ITALIAN DESTROYER Ostro and  ITALIAN DESTROYER Aquilone as well as older ITALIAN DESTROYER Daniele Manin, ITALIAN DESTROYER Giovanni Nicotera and ITALIAN DESTROYER Pantera formed 1st Destroyer Flotilla, part of II Naval Division. In 1934 after another reorganization Borea as well as ITALIAN DESTROYER Espero, ITALIAN DESTROYER Zeffiro and ITALIAN DESTROYER Ostro were again reunited, now forming the 4th Destroyer Squadron, part of II Naval Division.

During the Spanish Civil War Borea conducted 4 reconnaissance missions in autumn 1936 on behalf of the Nationalists. In August-September 1937 she was selected to participate in Italian blockade of Republican Spain and performed 3 missions enforcing the blockade. In summer 1938 she conducted several patrol and escort missions from her temporary base at Balearic Islands.

At the end of 1938 she was relocated to Tobruk, then briefly recalled in the spring of 1939 to participate in the invasion of Albania before returning to Tobruk in the autumn of the same year.

At the time of Italy entrance into World War II on 10 June 1940, Borea together with ITALIAN DESTROYER Espero, ITALIAN DESTROYER Ostro and ITALIAN DESTROYER Zeffiro was part of 2nd Destroyer Squadron based in Taranto. Borea was assigned escort duties, accompanying convoys from Sicily to Libya.

On June 30, 1940 a large Italian convoy sailed from Augusta carrying troops, supplies, ammunition and fuel. The convoy consisted of six cargo and passenger ships and was escorted by 6 destroyers, including Borea, and 4 torpedo boats. On July 5, 1940 there were seven s berthed in Tobruk harbor together with four torpedo boats, six freighters and several auxiliary vessels. Between 10:00 to 11:15 a Short Sunderland reconnaissance plane overflew the harbor at an altitude of 1,500-2,000 meters and despite the anti-aircraft fire opened against it, confirmed the presence of numerous ships in the harbor. In the late afternoon a group of nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers of 813 Naval Air Squadron took off from the airfield in Sidi Barrani and headed towards Tobruk. The air alarm was sounded at 20:06 but the Italians failed to detect the Allied aircraft until they were already over the harbor at 20:20. Destroyers had most of their personnel on board steamers Liguria and Sabbia with exception of dedicated air defense crews. . The attack commenced a few minutes later, and lasted only seven minutes and resulted in five Italian ships being sunk or damaged. Not encountering any aerial opposition, British torpedo bombers attacked from low altitude (around 100 feet), and released their torpedoes from 400-500 meters away, almost point-blank. Zeffiro was attacked first by a plane piloted by Nicholas Kennedy, whose torpedo hit Zeffiro in the bow, around the ammunition depot, between the bridge and a 120 mm cannon. The explosion broke the ship into two and sank it half an hour later. Freighter SS Manzoni was also hit, capsized and sank, while ITALIAN DESTROYER Euro and steamer SS Serenitas were hit, and had to be beached, and the ocean liner SS Liguria was hit and damaged. Two planes also attacked other destroyers, but failed to launch their torpedoes due to intense anti-aircraft fire. The air alarm was canceled at 21:31, and by that time all nine British planes were far away.

Throughout July and August 1940 Borea continued her escort duties, accompanying ships coming from Italy to Tripoli, as well as coastal Libyan convoys delivering supplies to Tobruk and Derna.

On September 13, 1940 the Italian Army invaded Egypt and captured Sollum. A convoy was sighted travelling east along the Libyan coast on September 15 by a Short Sunderland flying boat from 230 Squadron. In attempt to help their ground force, the Royal Navy designed attacks on Italian bases, in particular, Benghazi. During the day on September 16, British force consisting of battleship HMS Valiant (1914), heavy cruiser HMS Kent (54), anti-aircraft cruisers HMS Calcutta (D82) and HMS Coventry (D43), seven destroyers and an aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (87) sortied from Alexandria.

In the evening of September 16, 1940 Borea together with destroyers ITALIAN DESTROYER Aquilone and ITALIAN DESTROYER Turbine was berthed in Benghazi harbor. At 19:30 steamers Maria Eugenia and Gloria Stella escorted by ITALIAN TORPEDO BOAT Fratelli Cairoli arrived from Tripoli bringing the total number of vessels present in the harbor to 32. During the night of September 16 and 17, nine Swordfish bombers of 815 Squadron RAF carrying bombs and torpedoes, and six from 819 Squadron RAF armed with mines took off from HMS Illustrious (87) and approximately at 00:30 arrived undetected over Benghazi harbor. The anti-aircraft defenses opened fire but were unable to stop the attack. After passing over the harbor to determine their targets, Swordfish bombers made their first attack at 00:57 hitting and sinking SS Gloria Stella and severely damaging torpedo boat ITALIAN TORPEDO BOAT Cigno, harbor tug Salvatore Primo and an auxiliary vessel Giuliana. The bombers then conducted a second assault at 1:00 striking and sinking SS Maria Eugenia. Borea was also targeted during the second sweep, with the first bomb exploding between the destroyer and the steamer SS Città di Livorno but causing no damage to either ship. A short while later, a second bomb hit Borea on her port side, around 40/39 mm cannon platform. The bomb penetrated all the way down into the hold and exploded breaking the ship in two causing rapid flooding and sinking in shallow waters of the harbor. Due to rapid sinking most of the crew was able to easily abandon ship either by jumping or simply walking off the bridge and swimming towards destroyer ITALIAN DESTROYER Aquilone. There was a single casualty, a sailor who at the moment of the attack was sleeping in the engine room, near the area of bomb explosion.