Giovanni delle Bande Nere was an Italian light cruiser of the Giussano class, which served in the Regia Marina during World War II. She was named after the eponymous 16th-century condottiero and member of the Medici family. Her keel was laid down in 1928 at Cantieri Navali di Castellammare di Stabia, Castellammare di Stabia; she was launched on 27 April 1930, and her construction was completed in 1931. Unlike her three sisters, the finish and workmanship on the vessel were not rated highly. She was sunk on 1 April 1942 by the British submarine HMS Urge.
The Giussano type of cruiser sacrificed protection for high speed and weaponry, as a counter to new French large destroyers.
Contents
Design
In the aftermath of World War I, the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) received a group of light cruisers from the defeated German and Austro-Hungarian fleets. At the time, the Italian naval command was satisfied with these vessels as a supplement to their existing scout cruisers in the immediate postwar era. After the French Navy began building twelve large destroyers of the Chacal and Guépard classes, the Italian command responded by ordering the four Giussano-class cruisers. The Giussanos were intended to overpower the new French destroyers with superior armament and very high speed, at the expense of most armor protection.
Giovanni delle Bande Nere was 169.3 meters (555 ft 5 in) long overall, with a beam of 15.5 m (50 ft 10 in) and a draft of 5.3 m (17 ft 5 in). She displaced 5,130 long tons (5,210 t) at standard displacement and up to 6,844 long tons (6,954 t) at full load. The ship had a long forecastle deck that extended for the first third of the hull, before stepping down to the main deck that continued for the rest of the ship's length. Her hull was very lightly built to save weight. Her superstructure consisted of a large conning tower forward that incorporated a tripod mast and a smaller, secondary tower aft. She was fitted with an aircraft catapult on her forecastle, and could carry two reconnaissance aircraft; she initially carried CANT 25 seaplanes, but these were later replaced with IMAM Ro.43. She had a crew of 520 officers and enlisted men.
Her power plant consisted of two Belluzzo geared steam turbines powered by six oil-fired Yarrow boilers, which were ducted into two widely spaced funnels. The propulsion system was arranged on the unit system of machinery, which divided the engines and boilers into two separate pairs. Her engines were rated at 95,000 shaft horsepower (71,000 kW) and produced a top speed of 36.5 knots (67.6 km/h; 42.0 mph). During her sea trials, she reached a top speed of 38.2 knots (70.7 km/h; 44.0 mph) from 101,231 ihp (75,488 kW), though in service she could only maintain a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) at sea.
Giovanni delle Bande Nere was armed with a main battery of eight 152 mm (6 in) Mod 26 53-caliber guns in four gun turrets. The turrets were arranged in superfiring pairs forward and aft. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a battery of six 100 mm (4 in) 47-cal. guns in twin mounts, eight 37 mm (1.5 in) /54 guns in twin mounts, and eight 13.2 mm (0.52 in) guns in twin mounts. Her armament was rounded out by four 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes in two twin launchers on the main deck amidships.
The ship's armor belt was 24 mm (0.94 in) thick, extending only for the length of the hull that contained the propulsion machinery spaces and the ammunition magazines. The belt was closed on either end by 20 mm (0.79 in) transverse bulkheads and was capped by an armor deck of the same thickness. Inboard of the belt, an 18 mm (0.71 in) thick inner bulkhead was intended to catch shell fragments that penetrated the main belt. The main battery turrets received 23 mm (0.91 in) of protection, and her conning tower received 25 to 40 mm (0.98 to 1.57 in) of armor plate.
Service
Giovanni delle Bande Nere was built at the Regio Cantiere di Castellammare di Stabia (Royal Shipyard of Castellammare di Stabia); her keel was laid down on 31 October 1928, the last member of the class to begin construction. She was launched on 27 April 1930, and work on the ship was completed in April 1931. During the Spanish Civil War, Giovanni delle Bande Nere operated in the western Mediterranean as part of the non-intervention patrols intended to block arms shipments to the warring factions. Later in the decade, the ship served with the Training Command.
World War II
On 10 June 1940, Italy declare war on Britain and France, entering World War II on the side of Germany. At that time, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere was assigned to II Division of II Squadron, along with her sister ship Bartolomeo Colleoni. She served as the divisional flagship under Rear Admiral Ferdinando Casardi. The two ships were moved to Palermo, Sicily, and on the evening of 10 June, they sortied to lay mines in the Strait of Sicily. On 22 June, the two cruisers departed to search for French ships that were reportedly west of Sardinia, but they returned to port two days later, having failed to locate any French vessels. By the end of the month, France had signed the Armistice of Villa Incisa, ending their participation in the war. As a result, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni were moved to Augusta in eastern Sicily. On 2–3 July, the ships carried another sweep that failed to locate any British ships, and the next day they covered a convoy from Tripoli in Italian Libya to Italy.
On 7 July, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni sortied as part of the escort for a large convoy sailing to Benghazi in Libya. The convoy consisted of five freighters and a passenger liner that were carrying some 2,200 men, 72 tanks, 237 other vehicles, and a large amount of supplies and fuel; these were intended to fortify the planned invasion of Egypt. II Division, along with the 10th Destroyer Squadron (which consisted of Maestrale, Libeccio, Grecale, and Scirocco) and the torpedo boats Pegaso, Orione, Orsa, Procione, Abba, and Pilo, formed the convoy's close escort. Significant elements of the Italian fleet were at sea as part of the convoy, which the British attempted to intercept. In the ensuing Battle of Calabria on 9 July, the ships of II Division were assigned to make sure the convoy arrived in port undamaged. The convoy arrived in Benghazi the next day, but Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni soon moved to Tripoli to avoid attacks from British aircraft based in Egypt. The Italian naval command considered sending the two cruisers to bombard British positions on the coast at Sollum, but decided against it; instead, they were to be sent to Portolago in the Dodecanese. From there, they were to attack British convoys in the Aegean Sea.
Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni left Tripoli on the evening of 17 July and sailed to the north of Crete, bound for the Aegean. On the 19th, the four British destroyers HMS Hyperion, Ilex, Hero, and Hasty were sent on an anti-submarine patrol in the area, while the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the British destroyer Havock searched the Gulf of Athens. At around 06:00 on 19 July, the Italians spotted the four British destroyers off Cape Spada of western Crete, which were some 17,000 m (19,000 yd) away; Sydney and Havock were around 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) to the north. The British ships immediately signaled Sydney and turned to flee at high speed. Casardi ordered his ships to pursue the retreating British ships, believing them to be part of the escort for a convoy he hoped to attack. At 06:27, the Italian cruisers opened fire on the destroyers, but the faster destroyers were able to pull out of range without having been hit. At around this time, a Greek freighter passed between the formations but quickly withdrew from the area.
Discovery
On 9 March 2019, the Italian Navy reported that the minesweepers Vieste had discovered the wreck of Giovanni delle Bande Nere. Vieste used remotely operated vehicles (ROV) Hugin 1000 and Multipluto 03 to search for the wreck. The ROVs obtained images of the wreck that confirm the ship broke into three sections as it sank. From photos shown, at least part of the cruiser lies on its port side at a depth of 1,460 to 1,730 m (4,790 to 5,680 ft) of water.