Italian destroyer Ardito (1912)
Ardito was the lead ship of the Italian destroyers. Commissioned into service in the Italian Regia Marina in 1913, she served in World War I, playing an active role in the Adriatic campaign. Reclassified as a torpedo boat in 1929, she was discarded in 1931.
Design
The ships of the Ardito class were long at the waterline and long overall, with a beam of and a draft of. They displaced standard and up to at full load. They had a crew of 4 officers and 65 enlisted men. The ships were powered by two Parsons steam turbines, with steam provided by four Thornycroft water-tube boilers. The engines were rated to produce for a top speed of, though in service they reached as high as from. At a more economical speed of, the ships could cruise for.The ship carried an armament that consisted of a single gun and four guns, along with two torpedo tubes. The 120 mm gun was mounted on the forecastle and two of the 76 mm guns were mounted abreast the funnels, with the remaining pair at the stern. The torpedo tubes were in single mounts, both on the centerline.
Construction and commissioning
Ardito was laid down at the Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando in Leghorn, Italy, in 1912. She was launched on 20 October 1912 and commissioned in 1913.Service history
World War I
1915
World War I broke out in 1914, and the Kingdom of Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies with its declaration of war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May 1915. At the time, Ardito and the destroyers,,, and made up the 1st Destroyer Squadron, based at Brindisi, with the squadron under the command of Capitano di corvetta Caccia. On 24 May Ardito, Animoso, and Audace carried out an anti-submarine patrol in the Gulf of Drin off the coast of the Principality of Albania and subsequently off Cattaro, a major base of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. On 9 June 1915, Ardito, Animoso, Ardente, Audace, the destroyers,,,, and and the protected cruiser escorted the armored cruisers and as they participated in the bombardment of the lighthouses at the Cape of Rodon and Shëngjin on the coast of Albania.On 11 July 1915 Ardito, Animoso, Ardente, and Audace escorted Quarto to the Palagruža archipelago in the Adriatic Sea, where they landed the vanguard of an occupation force. The auxiliary cruiser, the protected cruiser, the destroyer, and the torpedo boats,,,,, and also took part in the operation, which went smoothly: Two Austro-Hungarian signalmen, who first hid from and then surrendered to the Italians, made up the archipelago's entire garrison.
At 04:00 on 17 July 1915 Ardito, together with Giuseppe Garibaldi, Vettor Pisani, Ardente, Strale, Airone, Arpia, Astore, Calliope, Clio, the armored cruiser, and the torpedo boats,, and, took part in a bombardment of the Ragusa–Cattaro railway. The Italian force broke off the bombardment when Vettor Pisani sighted an Austro-Hungarian submarine at 04:25. The Italians had begun their return voyage to Brindisi when the Austro-Hungarian submarine U-4 attacked the formation at 04:40 and torpedoed Giuseppe Garibaldi, which sank within minutes.
A few hours after an Austro-Hungarian Navy force subjected Palagruža to a heavy bombardment during the night of, Ardito, Quarto, Animoso, Intrepido, and the destroyer, which were on a cruise in the Adriatic Sea north of the line Brindisi–Cattaro, interrupted their operations to respond. They reached Palagruža at around 10:00 on 17 August 1915.
During the night of Ardito and the destroyer escorted the steamships and from Brindisi to Durrës in Albania, where the two steamers delivered supplies for the Serbian Army. After monitoring the unloading of the supplies, the destroyers escorted the steamers back to Brindisi.
1916
On 23 February 1916, Ardito, Indomito, Impetuoso, and the protected cruisers and positioned themselves in the harbor at Durrës to protect the withdrawal of the "Savona" Brigade. Starting on 24 February 1916, the five ships, together with the destroyers and and the auxiliary cruisers and, began to bombard advancing Austro-Hungarian troops who were about to occupy Durrës. In the following days they also bombarded Austro-Hungarian artillery positions on the mountain Sasso Bianco in the Dolomites near Durrës.While Ardito and Città di Siracusa were inspecting the Otranto Barrage in the Strait of Otranto on 31 May 1916, the Austro-Hungarian destroyers and attacked the barrage and sank Beneficent, a naval drifter that was one of the vessels responsible for laying and supervising the anti-submarine nets that formed the barrage. Centauro and the destroyer got underway from Brindisi to reinforce Ardito and Città di Siracusa, and the four ships intervened and forced the Austro-Hungarian destroyers to retreat.
On 2 August 1916, Ardito and the French Navy destroyers,, and supported an incursion carried out by the motor torpedo boat MAS 6, supported by the torpedo boats and, into the harbor at Durrës. MAS 6 penetrated the harbor and launched a torpedo. Her crew believed they torpedoed a steamer, but Austro-Hungarian sources reported no ships sunk or damaged.
1917
On 11 May 1917 Ardito, under the command of Commander Gottardi, got underway from Venice together with Animoso, Ardente, Audace, and the destroyer to intercept an Austro-Hungarian Navy force consisting of the destroyer and the torpedo boats,, and sighted at 15:30 about away. However, the Italians were unable to engage the Austro-Hungarian ships before they reached the vicinity of the major Austro-Hungarian Navy base at Pola, and after approaching Pola the Italian ships gave up the chase and returned to Venice.On 29 September 1917 Ardito, now under the command of Capitano di corvetta Inigo Campioni, a future ammiraglio di squadra and commander of the Italian battlefleet during World War II, put to sea with Ardente and Audace and a second formation made up of Giuseppe Cesare Abba, the scout cruiser Sparviero, and the destroyers,, and to support a bombing raid by 10 Italian airplanes against Pola. They encountered an Austro-Hungarian force composed of the destroyers,,, and and four torpedo boats on a similar mission against an Italian airbase. The Italians opened fire just before midnight at a range of, but received the worst of the initial exchange as the Austro-Hungarians concentrated their fire on the leading ship, Sparviero. Sparviero was hit five times, but only three men were wounded, and one Italian destroyer was hit. As the Austro-Hungarians retreated towards the shelter of their minefields, the Italians crippled Velebit and set her on fire. Another Austro-Hungarian destroyer took her in tow and both sides returned to port after an inconclusive exchange of fire inside the minefields later that night during the predawn hours of 30 September..
On 28 November 1917, an Austro-Hungarian Navy force consisting of Huszár, Reka, Streiter, the destroyers,, and, and the torpedo boats,,, and attacked the Italian coast. While Dikla, Huszár, Streiter and the torpedo boats unsuccessfully attacked first Porto Corsini and then Rimini, Dinara, Reka, and Triglav bombarded a railway near the mouth of the Metauro, damaging a train, the railway tracks, and telegraph lines. The Austro-Hungarian ships then reunited and headed back to the main Austro-Hungarian naval base at Pola. Ardito, Animoso, Ardente, Ardito, Audace, Francesco Stocco, Giovanni Acerbi, Giuseppe Cesare Abba, Sparviero, Vincenzo Giordano Orsini, and the destroyers and departed Venice and, together with reconnaissance seaplanes, pursued the Austro-Hungarian formation. The seaplanes attacked the Austro-Hungarians without success, and the Italian ships had to give up the chase when they did not sight the Austro-Hungarians until they neared Cape Promontore on the southern coast of Istria, as continuing beyond it would bring them too close to Pola.
1918
On 10 February 1918 Ardito, Aquila, Ardente, Francesco Stocco, Giovanni Acerbi, and Giuseppe Sirtori — and, according to some sources, the motor torpedo boat MAS 18 — steamed to Porto Levante, now a part of Porto Viro, in case they were needed to support an incursion into the harbor at Bakar by MAS motor torpedo boats. Sources disagree on whether they remained in port or put to sea to operate in distant support, but in any event, their intervention was unnecessary. The motor torpedo boats carried out their raid, which became known in Italy as the Beffa di Buccari.By late October 1918, Austria-Hungary had effectively disintegrated, and the Armistice of Villa Giusti, signed on 3 November 1918, went into effect on 4 November 1918 and brought hostilities between Austria-Hungary and the Allies to an end. At 15:30 on 4 November, Ardito, after steaming from Venice, docked at Rovinj, taking possession of the city on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy. World War I ended a week later with the armistice between the Allies and the German Empire on 11 November 1918.
Post-World War I
After the end of World War I, Ardito′s armament was revised, giving her five /35-caliber guns, a single /35-caliber gun, and a pair of machine guns. The work was completed by 1920.Ardito was reclassified as a torpedo boat on 1 October 1929. On 2 October 1931, she was struck from the naval register. She subsequently was discarded and scrapped.