The Capitani Romani class was a class of light cruisers acting as flotilla leaders for the Regia Marina (Italian Navy). They were built to outrun and outgun the large new French destroyer)s of the Le Fantasque-class destroyer and Mogador-class destroyer classes. Twelve hulls were ordered in late 1939, but only four were completed, just three of these before the Italian armistice in 1943. The ships were named after prominent ancient Romans (Capitani Romani (lit. Roman Captains)).

Design

The Capitani Romani class were originally designed as scout cruisers for ocean operations ("ocean scout", esploratori oceanici), although some authors consider them to have been heavy destroyers. After the war the two units still in service were reclassified as flotilla leaders (caccia conduttori). The design was fundamentally a light, almost unarmoured hull with a large power plant and cruiser style armament. The original design was modified to sustain the prime requirements of speed and firepower. Given their machinery development of 93,210 kW, equivalent to that of the 17,000-ton cruisers of the Des Moines-class cruiser, the target speed was over 41 kn, but the ships were left virtually unarmoured. As a result, the three completed warships achieved 43 kn during trials. The Capitani Romani-class vessels shipped a main battery of eight 135 mm DP guns, with a rate of fire of eight rounds per minute and a range of 19,500 m. They also carried eight 533 mm torpedo tubes. The wartime load dropped the operational speed by 1 to 5 kn, depending on the source.

Operational history

Only Scipione Africano and Attilio Regolo saw combat. Scipione Africano detected and engaged four British Elco motor torpedo boats during the night of 17 July 1943 en route to Taranto, while passing the Messina straits at high speed off Punta Posso. She sank MTB 316 and heavily damaged MTB 313 between Reggio di Calabria and Pellaro. She laid down four minefields in the Gulf of Taranto and the Gulf of Squillace from 4 to 17 August, together with the old light cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Luigi Cadorna. Attilio Regolo was torpedoed by the submarine HMS Unruffled (P46) on 7 November 1942, and remained in drydock for several months with her bow shattered.

Ships

Four of the ships were scrapped before launch. Five were captured by the Germans in September 1943, still under construction. All five were sunk in harbour, one was raised and completed. Three were completed before the Italian armistice.

Post-war French service

Attilio Regolo and Scipione Africano were transferred to France as war reparations. They were renamed Chateaurenault and Guichen respectively. The ships were extensively rebuilt for the French Navy by La Seyne dockyard with new anti-aircraft-focused armament and fire-control systems in 1951–1954. The ships were decommissioned in 1961.

Post-war Italian service

Giulio Germanico and Pompeo Magno served in the post war Marina Militare, being renamed San Marco (D 563) and San Giorgio (D 562) respectively and reclassified as destroyers. Both ships were extensively rebuilt in 1951–1955 and fitted with American weapons and radar. Characteristics included: San Marco was further rebuilt as a cadet training ship in 1963–1965 when she was fitted with new CODAG machinery. New 76 mm guns replaced the 40 mm and 'X' 127 mm mounting. San Marco was decommissioned in 1971, San Giorgio following in 1980.