Italian destroyer Ascari

Ascari was one of nineteen s built for the (Royal Italian Navy) in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Completed in mid-1939, she was the last of the first batch of a dozen ships to enter service.
Design and description.
The Soldati-class destroyers were slightly improved versions of the preceding . They had a length between perpendiculars of and an overall length of . The ships had a beam of and a mean draft of and at deep load. The Soldatis displaced at normal load, and at deep load. Their wartime complement during was 206 officers and enlisted men.
"Ascari" was powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by three Yarrow boilers. Designed for a maximum output of and a speed of in service, the Soldati-class ships reached speeds of during their sea trials while lightly loaded. They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at a speed of and at a speed of .
"Ascari"s main battery consisted of four 50-caliber guns in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. On a platform amidships was a 15-caliber 120-millimeter star shell gun. Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Soldatis was provided by eight Breda Model 1935 guns. The ships were equipped with six torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships. Although they were not provided with a sonar system for anti-submarine work, they were fitted with a pair of depth charge throwers. The ships could carry 48 mines.
Construction and career.
"Ascari", built at the OTO shipyard in Livorno, was laid down on 11 December 1937, launched on 31 July 1938 and completed on 6 May 1939. She was the last ship of the first (pre-war) group of the "Soldati" class to enter service.
When Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940, "Ascari" was part of the 12th Destroyer Division, together with sister ships , and . On 11 June "Ascari" and her sister ships carried out a reconnaissance mission in the Sicilian Channel.
On 9 July 1940 "Ascari" and her division participated in the Battle of Calabria; in the final phase of the battle, the 12th Destroyer Division was ordered to attack the British Mediterranean Fleet with torpedoes. "Ascari" fired a torpedo at a British cruiser, but without success. Between late July and early August "Ascari" was among the escorts in a large convoy operation to Libya, Operation "T.V.L".
On 5 October "Ascari" and the rest of the DesDiv 12 sailed from Taranto as part of the escort of a convoy heading for the Dodecanese (Operation CV), but the operation was cancelled after British battleships were sighted by aerial reconnaissance in the eastern Mediterranean. On 26–27 November 1940, "Ascari" participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento; during the battle, "Lanciere" was hit by a 6in shell from the cruiser HMS "Manchester" that left her dead in the water, and "Ascari" took her in tow and towed the crippled ship to Cagliari.
In February 1941 "Ascari" participated in convoy operations between Italy and North Africa, and on 25 February she rescued the survivors of the light cruiser , that had been torpedoed and sunk by . Between 26 and 29 March 1941 "Ascari" and the rest of her division escorted the 3rd Cruiser Division during the Battle of Cape Matapan.
Between March and September 1941 "Ascari" escorted a number of convoys between Italy and Libya. Most of these convoys were successful, but on 24 May 1941 the troopship was torpedoed and sunk by with the loss of nearly 1,300 men.
On 23 September 1941 "Ascari" and sister ships laid a minefield off Malta, and on the following day they participated in a sortie by the 3rd and 8th Cruiser Divisions aimed at intercepting a British convoy, without success. On 13 December she joined a large convoy operation between Italy and Libya, "M. 41", which failed due to heavy attacks by aircraft and submarines. On 16 December "Ascari" took part in another large convoy operation to Libya, "M. 42", which was successful, despite a brief encounter with the escort of an Allied convoy to Malta, in an action known as the First Battle of Sirte.
Between January and March 1942 "Ascari" participated in the escorts of four more large convoy operations to Libya, "M. 43", "T. 18", "K. 7" and "V. 5", that were successful; the only loss during these operations was the troopship "Victoria", sunk by Allied torpedo bombers on 24 January 1942. "Ascari" rescued survivors from the transport. On 21–22 March "Ascari" took part in the Second Battle of Sirte.
On 13–15 June 1942 "Ascari", attached to the 10th Destroyer Division, participated in Operation Harpoon, attacking a British convoy to Malta together with the 7th Cruiser Division and 14th Destroyer Division. In the subsequent battle "Ascari", together with "Alfredo Oriani", engaged the escorting British destroyers, scoring hits on , and later finished off the tanker "Kentucky" and the steamer "Burdwan", previously disabled by Axis air strikes. Researcher Francesco Matessini said that "Ascari" sank the drifting "Burdwan" with two torpedoes. Between late 1942 and early 1943, "Ascari" participated in a number of minelaying missions in the Sicilian Channel, as well as escort and troop transport missions between Italy and Tunisia.
On 23 March 1943 "Ascari" sailed from Palermo carrying German troops towards Tunis, and was joined at sea by the sister ship and two other destroyers, and , also carrying German troops. At 7:18 on 24 March, "Lanzerotto Malocello" struck a mine laid by about 28 miles north of Cape Bon and was left dead in the water. It was initially thought that the ship had been torpedoed, and Commander Mario Gerini, "Ascari"s commanding officer and also in command of the destroyer group, ordered "Leone Pancaldo" and "Camicia Nera" to proceed towards Tunis as he tried with "Ascari" to bring help to "Lanzerotto Malocello", that sank about 90 minutes later. While rescuing "Lanzerotto Malocello"s survivors, however, "Ascari" hit in turn three mines, losing her bow and stern and finally sinking at 13:12, about 25 miles north of Zembretta. Some MAS boats sent from Bizerta and Pantelleria reached the scene after about four hours, and could only rescue 59 of the 533 troops and crew aboard "Ascari". Commander Gerini was lost together with 193 of his crew and 280 German soldiers.