Italian cruiser Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta

"Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta" was an Italian light cruiser of the fourth group of the Condottieri class, that served in the Regia Marina during World War II. She survived the war but was ceded as war reparation to the Soviet Navy in 1949. She was finally renamed "Kerch" and served in the Black Sea Fleet until the 1960s.

Design

"Duca d'Aosta" was one of the fourth, or "Duca d'Aosta", class of "Condottieri" light cruisers. The design of the "Duca d'Aosta"s derived from the preceding Montecuccoli class, with a slight increase in size and a significant increase in armour. The machinery was also re-arranged.

"Duca d'Aosta" was built by OTO Livorno and was named after Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta, an Italian Field Marshal of World War I.

Career

The ship joined the 7th Cruiser Division and in 1938 departed on a circumnavigation with her sister-ship, "Eugenio Di Savoia". The deteriorating world political situation caused this to be cut short after visits to the Caribbean and South America, and the ships returned La Spezia in March 1939.

World War II

At the Italian entry into the war, "d'Aosta" was part of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron and participated in the Battle of Punto Stilo over 6-10 July. In addition, she protected North Africa convoys, took part in a fleet sortie against British cruisers and bombarded Corfu on 18 December.

During 1941, "d'Aosta" served mostly with the 8th Cruiser Division, laying minefields off North Africa and protecting convoys. One of the convoy duties, in December, led to the First Battle of Sirte, in which "d'Aosta" took part.

Her duties in 1942 were much as before, but with agressive actions against Allied convoys, including the Operations "Harpoon" and "Vigorous", in June, to resupply the British controlled island of Malta. She sailed in August to intercept the critical "Pedestal" convoy, but, being without air cover, this sortie was abandoned. On 13 June 1942, the "d'Aosta" survived a torpedo attack by the British submarine HMS Unison, while south of Sardinia with the "Raimondo Montecuccoli". [ cite web
last = Chalcraft
first = Geoff
authorlink = [e-mail]
coauthors =
title = Unison
work = British Submarines of World War II
publisher =
date = 2000-2008
url = http://home.cogeco.ca/~gchalcraft/sm/page27.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 25 June 2008 ]

In 1943, the "d'Aosta" was inactive due to fuel shortages for most of the remainder of the year, but in August, she attempted, unsuccessfully, a bombardment of Allied positions around Palermo.

Allied service

After the Italian Armistice, the "d'Aosta" had a minor refit at Taranto and in October 1943, with the cruisers "Abruzzi" and "Garibaldi", she sailed to the South Atlantic, to serve with the Allies on shipping blockade duties, based at Freetown. There were seven patrols between November 1943 and February 1944; she returned to Italy in April and, thereafter, was used only for transport.

Postwar

After the war, the "d'Aosta" was inactive. On 2nd March 1949, transferred to the Soviet Union as "Z15". She was first renamed as "Stalingrad", then as "Kerch" and served with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet until she was stricken on 20 February 1959 [cite book
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors = Jürgen Rohwer, Mikhail S. Monakov
title = Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding
publisher = Routledge
date =
location =
pages = p268
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=xxRlzgYz2eoC&pg=PT304&lpg=PT304&dq=italian+cruiser+Emanuele+Filiberto+Duca+d'Aosta&source=web&ots=FTMTC0mXho&sig=zA3dAFe4m1fzccCipU4SmuI_G-c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result
doi =
id = ] and scrapped in the 1960s (possibly 1960).

References

cite book
last = Whitley
first = M J
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia
publisher = Arms and Armour Press
date = 1995
location = London
pages = pp.137-139
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 1-85409-225-1