This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Italian. (June 2021)Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Italian article. Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consideradding a topic to this template: there are already 1,041 articles in themain category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at [[:it:Lepanto (cannoniera)]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template{{Translated|it|Lepanto (cannoniera)}} to thetalk page. For more guidance, seeWikipedia:Translation. You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Japanese. (June 2021)Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consideradding a topic to this template: there are already 1,629 articles in themain category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:興津 (砲艦)]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template{{Translated|ja|興津 (砲艦)}} to thetalk page. For more guidance, seeWikipedia:Translation. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Lepanto at Yokohama in 1938
History
Italy
Name	Lepanto
Namesake	Battle of Lepanto
Builder	Cantieri Navali Riuniti (CNR),Ancona
Laid down	1925
Launched	22 May 1927
Commissioned	1927
Fate	Scuttled 9 September 1943 atShanghai
Japan
Name	Okitsu (興津)
Namesake	Okitsu-juku
Builder	Navy 1st Construction Department at Shanghai
Acquired	8 November 1943
Commissioned	1 March 1944
Decommissioned	30 September 1945
Fate	Surrendered to Republic of China on 15 September 1945
Republic of China
Name	Hsien Ning (咸寧)
Namesake	Xianning
Acquired	15 September 1945
Commissioned	1946
Decommissioned	1956
Identification	Pennant number: 79
Fate	Scrapped in 1956
General characteristics asLepanto
Class and type	Azio-class minelayer
Displacement	615 long tons (625 t)
Length	66.0 m (216 ft 6 in) (overall)
Beam	8.7 m (28 ft 7 in)
Draft	2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
Propulsion	2 ×Yarrow three expansion stages reciprocating engines 2 × water tube boilers 2 shafts, 1,500 shp
Speed	15.0knots (27.8 km/h; 17.3 mph)
Complement	66
Armament	2 × 102 mm (4.0 in) naval guns 1 × 76 mm (3.0 in)76/40 Ansaldo Mod. 1917 AA gun 2 × machine guns 80 × naval mines
General characteristics asOkitsu
Class and type	Gunboat
Displacement	700 long tons (711 t) standing
Length	62.18 m (204 ft 0 in) Lpp
Beam	8.69 m (28 ft 6 in)
Draft	2.60 m (8 ft 6 in)
Speed	13.7knots (25.4 km/h; 15.8 mph)
Complement	approx. 80
Armament	2 × 76.2 mm (3.00 in)L/40 AA guns 10 ×Type 96 25 mm AA guns 36 ×depth charges 2 × Type 94 depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge throwers 1 × Type 93active sonar 1 × Type 93hydrophone
General characteristics asHsien Ning
Type	Frigate
Armament	in 1950 2 ×3-inch/50-caliber guns 2 ×1.1-inch/75-caliber guns 4 × 20 mm AA guns

Lepanto was anAzio-classminelayer of theItalian Navy. She was reclassified as gunboat in 1934 and remained in Italian service in thefar east from 1933 to 1943, when she was scuttled inChina, duringWorld War II. She was then recovered by theImperial Japanese Navy and taken into service asOkitsu, spending the remainder of the war escorting convoys. She was surrendered to theRepublic of China after the end of the war and served for a further ten years with its navy as theHsien Ning.

After remaining inactive at theItalian naval base in Tianjin^[1] since 1940,Lepanto was scuttled at her moorings by her own crew on 9 September 1943, afterItaly's surrender to theAllies.^[2]

On 8 November 1943,Lepanto was refloated by Naval 1st Construction Department (海軍第一工作部,Kaigun Dai-1 Kōsaku-Bu) of theImperial Japanese Navy (IJN). By 1 March 1944 repairs were completed, and she was registered in the IJN, and renamedOkitsu. She was sent toMitsubishi Heavy Industries to have her armament fitted, which was finished by 14 May.

Starting 5 June, she started escorting convoys in the Shanghai area. She was fitted with radar at theSasebo Naval Arsenal in April the following year. On 17 July 1945, she shot down threeNorth American P-51 Mustangs and oneNorth American B-25 Mitchell at Shanghai.

On 15 September 1945, her crew surrendered to theRepublic of China, being decommissioned on 30 September.

In 1946, the vessel was renamedHsien Ning (咸寧). Her known career in theRepublic of China Navy from that point was fairly uneventful, except for the capture of a British merchant ship in July 1950. Some time in 1956, she was decommissioned.

• 
  IJNOkitsu on 18 June 1945
• 
  ROCSHsien Ning around 1956

• "Rekishi Gunzō"., History of Pacific War Vol. 51, The true histories of the Imperial Japanese Vessels Part 2,Gakken (Japan), June 2002,ISBN 4-05-602780-3
• Ships of the World special issue Vol. 47, Auxiliary Vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy,"Kaijinsha"., (Japan), March 1997
• The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No. 45, Japanese gunboats,"Ushio Shobō". (Japan), November 1980

• Lepanto (1927) Marina Militare website

• Minelayers of the Regia Marina
• 1927 ships
• World War II minelayers of Italy
• Naval ships captured by Japan during World War II
• Maritime incidents in September 1943
• Ships built in Ancona
• Mine warfare vessels of the Republic of China Navy
• World War II minelayers of Japan

• Articles with Italian-language sources (it)
• Articles needing translation from Italian Wikipedia
• Articles needing translation from Japanese Wikipedia
• Articles with multiple maintenance issues
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• Articles containing Chinese-language text