Indomito-class destroyer

The Indomito class was a class of destroyers of the Italian Royal Navy (Règia Marina) before and during World War I. Six were built at Naples by Societa Pattison between 1910 and 1913. They were the first large Italian destroyers and the first fitted with steam turbines. The class is sometimes also called the I class. Two of the class were sunk during World War I, but the four surviving ships remained in service until 1937–38. One of the class, ITALIAN DESTROYER Insidioso, was reinstated during World War II and served in the Règia Marina and the German Kriegsmarine before being sunk by U.S. aircraft in late 1944.

Design and construction
The Indomito class was designed by Luigi Scaglia of Societa Pattison of Naples. The boats were the first large destroyers of the Règia Marina and the first fitted with steam turbines. The Indomito class were the first in the progression of Italian destroyers to be called either tre pipe or tre canne for their three funnels.

The ships were 237 ft at the waterline (239 ft overall) with a beam of 24 ft and a draft of 7 ft. They had twin shafts driven by two Tosi steam turbines that were fired by four Thornycroft boilers. The drivetrain was designed for a power output of 16000 hp to move the ships at 30 knots, but had a maximum output of 17620 shp which propelled the ships at 35.79 knots.

As built, the ships were armed with one 4.7 in/40 gun, four 3 in/40 guns, and two 17.7 in torpedo tubes. In 1914 they were augmented with an additional two torpedo tubes. During World War I, guide rails for laying up to ten mines were added to the ships. Later wartime changes replaced all the guns with five 5 in/35 and a single 40 mm/39 machine gun. Oil capacity was also increased during the war from 100 MT to 128 MT in order to increase endurance, but the increased weight had the opposite effect: slowing the ships and reduced their endurance.

Service career
All of the Indomito class saw action during World War I, with two of the ships, ITALIAN DESTROYER Impetuoso and ITALIAN DESTROYER Intrepido, sunk during the war. The remaining four ships all survived the war and were reclassified as torpedo boats in 1929. The remaining four ships were stricken 1937–38. ITALIAN DESTROYER Insidioso, however, was reinstated on 1 March 1941. Reduced to two funnels and rearmed, she served as a target ship, a convoy escort, and served in an ASW role. She was scuttled by her crew on 10 September 1943 at Pola, but was raised by the Germans who commissioned her as Wildfang on 8 November. Wildfang, the last surviving member of the Indomito class, was sunk by U.S. aircraft on 5 November 1944 after just under one year of German service.



Ships

 * ITALIAN DESTROYER Indomito (ID), launched 10 May 1912; stricken 11 July 1937
 * ITALIAN DESTROYER Impavido (IV), launched 22 March 1913; stricken 1 September 1937
 * ITALIAN DESTROYER Impetuoso, launched 23 July 1913; sunk 10 July 1916 by Austro-Hungarian U-boat SMU U-17 (Austria-Hungary)
 * ITALIAN DESTROYER Insidioso (IS), launched 30 September 1913; stricken 18 September 1938. Reinstated as a target ship and convoy escort on 1 March 1941 but scuttled at Pola on 10 September 1943; raised and renamed Wildfang by Germany, but sunk by U.S. aircraft on 5 November 1944
 * ITALIAN DESTROYER Intrepido, launched 7 August 1912; sunk 4 December 1915 by a mine from German U-boat SMU UC-14
 * ITALIAN DESTROYER Irrequieto (IR), launched 12 December 1912; stricken 11 October 1937