The Spica class was a class of torpedo boats of the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during World War II. These ships were built as a result of a clause in the Washington Naval Treaty, which stated that ships with a tonnage of less than 600 could be built in unlimited numbers. Thirty-two ships were built between 1934 and 1937, thirty of which entered service with Italy. Called torpedo boats due to their smaller displacement, the Spica class had armament similar to destroyers (influenced by the Maestrale-class destroyer) and were intended for anti-submarine operations but also had to fight aircraft and surface ships. Twenty-three vessels were lost during the war, two had been sold to the Swedish Navy in 1940. The class was called destroyers until 1953 and then renamed corvettes.
Design
=== Specifications === The London Naval Treaty (1930) put no limit on vessels of 600 long tons (610 t) or under. Design work started in 1932 supervised by the general engineer Gustavo Bozzoni. Two prototypes, Spica and Astore, were completed in 1935 and sold to the Swedish Navy. The hull was 81.4–65.72 m (267 ft 1 in – 215 ft 7 in) long, the beam was 8.1 m (27 ft), the draught was 2.55 m (8 ft 4 in) and the ships had an installed power of 19,000 hp (14,000 kW) from 2-shaft geared turbines Displacement was around 789.31–799.29 tonnes (776.84–786.67 long tons; 870.07–881.07 short tons) and 982–1,054.665 t (966.491–1,038.008 long tons; 1,082.470–1,162.569 short tons) standard rather than the 600 t (590 long tons; 660 short tons) permitted by the treaty. There was a complement of 6−9 officers and 110 crew.
=== Armament === The gun armament consisted of three 100 mm (4 in)/47 caliber dual-purpose guns in single mountings in 'A', 'X', and 'Y' positions and three or four twin 13.2 mm (0.52 in) anti-aircraft machine guns, later replaced by 6 to 11 Breda 20/65 modello 35 20 mm cannon in various configurations. Lupo replaced her eight machine guns by 1941 with three twin 20 mm guns; two abreast the bridge and one between the funnel and second main gun, leaving the former machine-gun platform immediately abaft the funnel vacant. The ships had minelaying equipment and room for twenty mines. They also carried four 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes; two tubes for each side in the first group, with later groups having varying configurations including a centreline twin- and two single-beam mounts, before settling on two centreline twin mounts in the last vessels. Some earlier ships were reportedly refitted with the all-centreline arrangement during the war. Twenty-one Spica-class torpedo boats were lost during the war, three mined by the submarine mine-layer HMS Rorqual, three sunk by submarines, seven by aircraft, seven by ships and one by a collision.
=== Construction batches === Six ships of the Climene group, Canopo, Cassiopea, Castore, Centauro, Cigno and Climene entered service from 1936 to 1937. Eight more Spica-class ships of the Perseo group comprised Aldebaran, Altair, Andromeda and Antares, Perseo, Sagittario, Sirio and Vega. The Alcione group was a batch of sixteen ships, Alcione, Airone, Aretusa, Ariel, Calliope, Calipso, Clio, Circe, Libra, Lince, Lira, Lupo, Pallade, Partenope, Pleiadi and Polluce that went into service in 1938. The Alcione ships carried two twin torpedo-tubes on the centre line, except for Libra, Lince, Lira, Lupo that had four single tubes until 1941, by when the four single tubes had been replaced with two twin tubes.
Ships
Notes to table
== See also == Ariete-class torpedo boat, an enlarged version of the class
Citations
Bibliography
== Further reading == Birchfield, B.; Borgenstam, Carl; Caruana, Joseph & Frampton, Viktor (1988). "Question 3/87". Warship International. XXV (2): 205–210. ISSN 0043-0374. Brescia, Maurizio (2012). Mussolini's Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regia Marina 1930−1945. Barnsley: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-115-1. Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: November 1940 – December 1941. Whitehall Histories. Vol. II. London: Whitehall History in association with Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-5205-9. Fioravanzo; Pollina; Ricciardi; Gnifetti (1971). I cacciatorpediniere italiani, 1900–1971 [The Italian Destroyers, 1900–1971]. Le navi d'Italia (in Italian). Vol. V. Roma: Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare. OCLC 249182201. Naval Operations in the Battle of Crete (BR 1732 (2) Battle Summary No. 4. Naval Staff History. London: Admiralty Historical Section (HMSO). 1960. OCLC 224008525. Pack, S.W.C. (1973). The Battle for Crete. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-810-7. Roskill, S. W. (1957) [1954]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). War at Sea. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. I (4th ed.). London: HMSO. OCLC 881709135. Retrieved 4 November 2015. Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War II: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell. ISBN 1-85409-521-8.
External links
Classe Spica (1933-1940) Marina Militare website History of the class at italie1935-45.com (in French) Archived 2018-05-28 at the Wayback Machine Diving around the wreck of Aldebaran Archived 29 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine
