 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Kingdom of Italy | |
| Name | Giuseppe Missori |
| Namesake | Giuseppe Missori (1829–1911), Italian soldier |
| Builder | Cantieri navali Odero,Sestri Ponente, Kingdom of Italy |
| Laid down | 19 January 1914 |
| Launched | 20 December 1915 |
| Completed | 7 March 1916 |
| Commissioned | 7 March 1916 |
| Reclassified | Torpedo boat 1 October 1929 |
| Identification | Pennant number MS(1922–1943) |
| Fate | Captured byNazi Germany 10 September 1943 |
 Nazi Germany | |
| Name | TA22 |
| Acquired | 10 September 1943 |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Rosolino Pilo-classdestroyer |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 73 m (240 ft) |
| Beam | 7.3 m (24 ft) |
| Draught | 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power | 16,000brake horsepower (11,931 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 30knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
| Range | 1,200 nmi (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement | 69-79 |
| Armament |
|
Giuseppe Missori was an ItalianRosolino Pilo-classdestroyer.Commissioned into service in the ItalianRegia Marina (Royal Navy) in 1916, she served inWorld War I, playing an active role in theAdriatic campaign. Reclassified as atorpedo boat in 1929, she participated in theMediterranean campaign andAdriatic campaign ofWorld War II until the Italianarmistice with theAllies, promptingNazi Germany to capture her. Subsequently operating in theKriegsmarine asTA22, she participated in the Adriatic campaign until she was seriously damaged in 1944. She sank in May 1945.
Giuseppe Missori waslaid down at theCantieri navali Odero (English:OderoShipyard) inSestri Ponente,Italy, on 19 January 1914. She waslaunched on 20 December 1915 and completed andcommissioned on 7 March 1916.[1]
World War I was raging whenGiuseppe Missori entered service. On 3 May 1916Giuseppe Missori,under the command ofCapitano di corvetta (Corvette Captain) Ferrero, got underway with hersister shipFrancesco Nullo and thescout cruisersCesare Rossarol andGuglielmo Pepe to provide distant support to the destroyersFuciliere andZeffiro as theylaid aminefield[2] in theAdriatic Sea offŠibenik (known to the Italians as Sebenico) on the coast ofAustria-Hungary.[3] Off Punta Maestra, the Italian formation sighted fourAustro-Hungarian NavyHuszár-class destroyers and six Austro-Hungariantorpedo boats and steered to attack them.[2] While the Austro-Hungarian ships headed toward the Austro-Hungarian naval base atPola with the Italians in pursuit, three Austro-Hungarianseaplanes attacked the Italian ships. The Italians repelled the attack, but at 15:50, after an Austro-Hungariancruiser and two additional Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats departed Pola to support the Austro-Hungarian ships, the Italian force gave up the chase and withdrew.[2] Meanwhile,Fuciliere andZeffiro succeeded in laying the minefield during the night of3–4 May 1916.[3]
On 12 June 1916, escorted byCesare Rossarol andGuglielmo Pepe as far as the Austro-Hungarian defensivebarrage,Giuseppe Missori andFrancesco Nullo supportedFuciliere,Zeffiro, the destroyerAlpino, and the coastal torpedo boats30 PN and46 PN as they forced the port ofPoreč (known to the Italians as Parenzo) on the western side ofIstria, apeninsula on Austria-Hungary's coast, at dawn.[4] On1–2 November 1916,Giuseppe Missori,Francesco Nullo,Guglielmo Pepe, and the scout cruiserAlessandro Poerio made ready to provide possible support to an incursion byMASmotor torpedo boats into theFasana Channel on the southwest coast of Istria.[2]
An Austro-Hungarian Navy force consisting of the scout cruiserHelgoland and the destroyersBalaton,Csepel,Lika,Orjen,Tátra, andTriglav left the Austro-Hungarian naval base atCattaro on 18 October 1917 to attack Italianconvoys. The Austro-Hungarians found no convoys, soHelgoland andLika moved to within sight ofBrindisi to entice Italian ships into chasing them and lure the Italians into an ambush by the Austro-HungariansubmarinesU-32 andU-40.Giuseppe Missori got underway from Brindisi with the scout cruisersAquila andSparviero, the destroyersAntonio Mosto andIndomito, the Britishlight cruisersHMS Gloucester andHMS Newcastle, and the French destroyersBisson,Commandant Bory, andCommandant Rivière to join other Italian ships in pursuit of the Austro-Hungarians, but after a long chase which also saw some Italian air attacks on the Austro-Hungarian ships, the Austro-Hungarians escaped and all the Italian ships returned to port without damage.[2]
On the night of1–2 July 1918Giuseppe Missori and the destroyersAudace,Francesco Stocco,Giovanni Acerbi,Giuseppe La Masa,Giuseppe Sirtori, andVincenzo Giordano Orsini provided distant support to a formation consisting of the torpedo boatsClimene andProcione and the coastal torpedo boats15 OS,18 OS,48 OS,3 PN,40 PN,64 PN,65 PN, and66 PN. While15 OS,18 OS, and3 PN, towing dummylanding pontoons, staged a simulatedamphibious landing to distract Austro-Hungarian troops in support of an Italian advance on theItalian front,48 OS,40 PN,64 PN,65 PN, and66 PN bombarded the Austro-Hungarian lines betweenCortellazzo andCaorle, proceeding at low speed between the two locations, withClimeme andProcione in direct support.[2] Meanwhile, an Austro-Hungarian force consisting ofBalaton, the destroyerCsikós, and the torpedo boatsTB 83F andTB 88F had put to sea from Pola late on the evening of 1 July to support an Austro-Hungarian air raid on Venice.[5] After an Italian MAS boat made an unsuccessfultorpedo attack againstBalaton, which was operating with a faultyboiler, at first light on 2 July,[5] the Italian and Austro-Hungarian destroyers sighted one another at 03:10 on 2 July.[2] The Italians opened gunfire on the Austro-Hungarians, who returned fire. During the brief exchange of gunfire that followed,Balaton, in a more advanced position, suffered severalshell hits on her forwarddeck, whileGiuseppe Missori,Audace, andGiuseppe La Masa fired onCsikós and the two torpedo boats, scoring a hit onCsikós in her aftboiler room and one hit on each of the torpedo boats.[2] On the Italian side,Francesco Stocco suffered damage which set her on fire[5] and killed and injured some of her crew.[6] WhileGiovanni Acerbi remained behind to assistFrancesco Stocco, the Austro-Hungarians withdrew toward Pola and the Italians resumed operations in support of their own torpedo boats.[2]
By late October 1918, Austria-Hungary had effectively disintegrated, and theArmistice of Villa Giusti, signed on 3 November 1918, went into effect on 4 November 1918 and brought hostilities between Austria-Hungary and the Allies to an end. On 3 November,Giuseppe Missori got underway fromVenice withAudace,Giuseppe La Masa, and the destroyerNicola Fabrizi and rendezvoused withClimene andProcione, which had departedCortellazzo. The Italian ships then proceeded toTrieste, which they reached at 16:10. There they disembarked 200 members of theCarabinieri andGeneralCarlo Petitti di Roreto, who proclaimed Italy'sannexation of the city to a cheering crowd.[2][7] On 5 November 1918,Giuseppe Missori,Giuseppe La Masa, thebattleshipAmmiraglio di Saint Bon, and the destroyersGiuseppe Cesare Abba andRosolino Pilo entered the port at Pola, the site of an important Austro-Hungarian Navy base, after which units embarked on the ships occupied the city over the following days.[7] World War I ended with anarmistice between the Allies and theGerman Empire on 11 November 1918.
After World War I,Giuseppe Missori′s armament was revised, giving her five 102-millimetre (4 in)/35-caliber guns, two 40-millimetre (1.6 in)/35-caliber guns, and four 450-millimetre (17.7 in)torpedo tubes,[8] and, according to some sources, two 65-millimetre (2.6 in)machine guns.[9] Her full-load displacement rose to 900 tonnes (886 long tons).[8]
On the morning of 6 August 1928Giuseppe Missori andGiuseppe Cesare Abba, serving asflagship of the 5th DestroyerFlotilla, got underway fromPoreč (Parenzo) to take part with numerous other ships in an exercise in the Adriatic Sea. Plans called for the flotilla to escort the light cruiserBrindisi and scout cruiserAquila while they cruised from Poreč to Pola and back and included a simulated attack on the formation by the submarinesF14 andF15.[10][11] At 08:40, under clear skies, with rough seas and rising winds,Giuseppe Cesare Abba sightedF14′speriscope only a few meters off herstarboardbeam, and signaled "submarine to starboard abeam" to the other ships, making no mention of theF14′s proximity to her.[10][11] Her signal prompted the crew ofGiuseppe Missori, a short distance astern ofGiuseppe Cesare Abba, to focus attention to starboard of their ship, the apparent direction of the expected simulated attack, rather than ahead, whereF14 had been sighted just abeam ofGiuseppe Cesare Abba.[10][11] By the timeGiuseppe Missori′s crew sightedF14 ahead of their ship, the two vessels were only 160 to 180 metres (170 to 200 yd) apart. BothGiuseppe Missori andF14 took evasive action, but too late to avoid a collision, andGiuseppe Missori rammedF14.[10][11]F14 sank quickly 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) west of theBrijuniarchipelago.[10][11] Efforts to rescue men trapped aboard the wreck ofF14 failed, and they eventually died of asphyxiation bychlorine gas.[10][11][12]Giuseppe Missori suffered a damagedbow in the collision and entereddry dock for repair.[13]
Giuseppe Missori was reclassified as a torpedo boat on 1 October 1929.[8] From 1936 to 1938, she took part in theItalian intervention on behalf of theSpanish Nationalists in theSpanish Civil War, patrolling theStrait of Sicily to prevent thesmuggling of supplies toSpanish Republican forces.[12]
World War II broke out in September 1939 withNazi Germany'sinvasion of Poland. Italy joined the war on the side of theAxis powers with itsinvasion of France on 10 June 1940. At the time,Giuseppe Missori was part of the 6th Torpedo Boat Squadron, along withGiovanni Acerbi,Giuseppe Sirtori, andRosolino Pilo. During the war, she mainly served as an escort, operating on convoy routes in theMediterranean Sea between Italy andLibya, in the southernTyrrhenian Sea, in the waters ofSicily, and in the Adriatic Sea.[12] On27–28 June 1940Giuseppe Missori andRosolino Pilo transported supplies and 52 soldiers fromTaranto, Italy, toTripoli, Libya.[14]
From8 to 10 February 1941Giuseppe Missori, the destroyerTurbine, and the torpedo boatsCastore andOrsa escorted the first convoy carrying troops of the GermanAfrika Korps. The convoy, composed of thesteamersAlicante,Ankara, andArcturus, had to stop temporarily atPalermo, Sicily, to avoid the BritishRoyal Navy'sForce H.[15]Giuseppe Missori began her return voyage to Italy at 08:30 on 11 February 1941, when she and theauxiliary cruiserDeffenu departed Tripoli to escort the steamersBainsizza,Motia,Sabaudia, andUtilitas to Palermo andNaples. After two unsuccessful attacks by the British submarineHMS Truant, the first at33°36′N012°53′E / 33.600°N 12.883°E /33.600; 12.883 and the second at33°46′N012°57′E / 33.767°N 12.950°E /33.767; 12.950, the convoy returned to Tripoli. It got back underway at 23:30 on 11 February arrived in Italy without further incident.[15]
On 10 April 1941Giuseppe Missori got underway from Palermo with the torpedo boatsGenerale Carlo Montanari andPerseo to escort a convoy made up of the steamersBosforo andOgaden and thetankersPersiano andSuperga to Tripoli. A British formation composed of the destroyersHMS Jervis,HMS Janus,HMS Mohawk, andHMS Nubiansortied fromMalta to intercept the convoy but did not find it, and on 11 April, the British submarineHMS Upholder unsuccessfully attacked the convoy offCape Bon,Tunisia. On 12 April, however, the British submarineHMS Tetrarchtorpedoed and sankPersiano at33°29′N014°01′E / 33.483°N 14.017°E /33.483; 14.017 (Persiano).[16]
In the aftermath of the destruction of an Italian convoy by British destroyers on 16 April 1941 in theBattle of the Tarigo Convoy,Giuseppe Missori took part in operations to rescue the convoy's survivors.[17]
On 3 June 1941 the "Aquitania" convoy, composed of themerchant shipsAquitania,Beatrice Costa,Caffaro,Montello, andNirvo and the tankerPozarica, departed from Naples for a voyage to Tripoli escorted byGiuseppe Missori and the destroyersAviere,Camicia Nera,Dardo, andGeniere. On 4 June, while the ships were about 20nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) from theKerkennah Islands, they came under attack by British planes which hitMontello andBeatrice Costa.Montello exploded and sank with no survivors, whileBeatrice Costa suffered such serious damage that her crew abandoned ship andCamicia Nera sank her.[18][19]
In 1943Giuseppe Missori was assigned to the 3rd Torpedo Boat Group in theIonian and Lower Adriatic Maritime Military Department along withFrancesco Stocco,Giuseppe Cesare Abba,Giuseppe Sirtori, and the torpedo boatsEnrico Cosenz andGiuseppe Dezza.[20]
On 8 September 1943, the Kingdom of Italy announced anarmistice with theAllies andswitched sides in the war, promptingNazi Germany to beginOperation Achse, the disarmament by force of the Italian armed forces and the occupation of those portions of Italy not yet under Allied control. At the time,Giuseppe Missori was atDurrës (known to the Italians as Durazzo) on the coast of theItalian Protectorate of Albania. She,Rosolino Pilo, and the steamerMarco bombarded German positions, but German forces captured her on 10 September 1943.[12][21]
Nazi Germany incorporated the ship into theKriegsmarine with the nameTA22.[22] Her first operation in German service — with her Italian crew still aboard to operate her, supervised by German personnel — was to escort a convoy of other Italian ships captured at Durrës —Rosolino Pilo, the auxiliary cruiserArborea, and the steamersArgentina andItalia — on a voyage to Trieste. The convoy departedDurrës on 25 September 1943. During the voyage, the Italian crew ofRosolino Pilo overwhelmed the German guards aboard their ship on 26 September, took back control of her, and steamed her to Allied-controlled Brindisi.TA22 and the rest of the convoy arrived at Trieste later on 26 September.[12][21]
TA22′s Italian crewsabotaged her on 6 October 1943, but the Germans repaired her and returned her to service.[12] On 25 June 1944, however, she suffered serious damage in an attack by British aircraft while operating southeast of Trieste. Towed to theJulian March,[22][23] she was deemed beyond worthwhile repair, laid up on 11 August 1944,[22] and stripped of useful weapons and equipment.[24]
On 3 May 1945, TA 22 wasscuttled atMuggia.[12][22][1][25] Her wreck was refloated in 1949 and subsequently scrapped.[22]
 Regia Marina | |
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 Kriegsmarine | |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1928 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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