The Capitani Romani class was a class of light cruisers acting as flotilla leaders for the (Italian Navy). They were built to outrun and outgun the large new French destroyers of the and 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 ( (lit. Roman Captains)). Design The Capitani Romani class were originally designed as scout cruisers for ocean operations ("ocean scout", ), although some authors consider them to have been heavy destroyers. After the war the two units still in service were reclassified as flotilla leaders (). 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 , equivalent to that of the 17,000-ton cruisers of the , the target speed was over , but the ships were left virtually unarmoured. As a result, the three completed warships achieved during trials. The Capitani Romani-class vessels shipped a main battery of eight DP guns, with a rate of fire of eight rounds per minute and a range of . They also carried eight torpedo tubes. The wartime load dropped the operational speed by , 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 enroute 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 . Attilio Regolo was torpedoed by the submarine 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