Italian destroyer Aviere (1937). Aviere ("Airman") was one of seventeen s, built for the  (Royal Italian Navy) in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Design and description
The Soldati-class destroyers were slightly improved versions of the preceding . They had a length between perpendiculars of  and an overall length of . The ships had a beam of  and a mean draft of  and  at deep load. The Soldatis displaced  at normal load, and  at deep load. Their wartime complement during was 206 officers and enlisted men.

Aviere was powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by three Yarrow boilers. Designed for a maximum output of  and a speed of  in service, the Soldati-class ships reached speeds of  during their sea trials while lightly loaded. They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of  at a speed of  and  at a speed of .

Avieres main battery consisted of four 50-caliber  guns in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. On a platform amidships was a 15-caliber 120-millimeter star shell gun. Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Soldatis was provided by eight  Breda Model 1935 guns. The ships were equipped with six  torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships. Although they were not provided with a sonar system for anti-submarine work, they were fitted with a pair of depth charge throwers. The ships could carry 48 mines.

Construction and career

Aviere, built at the OTO shipyard in Livorno, was laid down on 16 January 1937, launched on 19 September 1937 and completed on 31 August 1938.

When Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940, Aviere was part of the 11th Destroyer Division, together with sister ships ,  and . On 11 June Aviere and her sister ships carried out a reconnaissance mission in the Sicilian Channel, and on 19 June they carried supplies from Augusta to Benghazi, Libya.

On 9 July Aviere and her division participated in the Battle of Calabria; in the final phase of the battle the 11th Destroyer Division was ordered to attack the Mediterranean Fleet with torpedoes and did so (overall, ten torpedoes were launched), but scored no hits.

On 11–12 October Aviere participated in the Battle of Cape Passero, where she was seriously damaged by gunfire from .  Between March and September 1941 she escorted a number of convoys with troops and supplies from Italy to Libya; on 23 September 1941 she took part in a minelaying operation, escorting sister ships , ,  and  that laid a minefield south of Malta.

On 21 November and 13 December 1941 Aviere participated in two large convoy operations between Italy and Libya, which failed due to heavy attacks by aircraft and submarines; in both instances, she was detached to escort back to base damaged warships of the heavy cover groups (heavy cruiser , that had been torpedoed by  on 21 November, and battleship , torpedoed by , on 13 December).  On 16 December Aviere took part in another large convoy operation to Libya, which was successful, and participated in the First Battle of Sirte.

Between January and March 1942 Aviere participated in the escorts of four more large convoy operations to Libya, "M. 43", "T. 18", "K. 7" and "V. 5", that were successful, with the only loss of the transport Victoria, sunk by Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers on 24 January. On 21–22 March she took part in the Second Battle of Sirte, and on 11–12 August she participated in Operation Pedestal, where she towed the damaged heavy cruiser , torpedoed by , to the island of Panarea.

Between September and December 1942 Aviere carried out a number of escort and transport missions between Italy and North Africa.  On 16 December 1942 she sailed from Naples together with sister ship Camicia Nera, escorting the German freighter Ankara towards Bizerta; at 11:15 on the following day, the submarine  attacked the convoy and torpedoed Aviere, which blew up, broke in two and quickly sank in 38°00' N, 10°05' E. About one hundred of Avieres 250 crew survived the initial sinking, but only 30 could be eventually rescued by the torpedo boats  and  on that afternoon, the rest having perished. 220 men were lost, among them the commanding officer of Aviere and DesDiv 11, Captain Ignazio Castrogiovanni, who was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor.

References

Bibliography

External links
 Aviere (1937) Marina Militare website

Soldati-class destroyers
Ships built in Livorno
Ships built by OTO Melara
1937 ships
World War II destroyers of Italy
Maritime incidents in December 1942
Ships sunk by British submarines