Builders Pattison, Naples Completed 4 Retired 2 | In commission 1926–1940s Lost 2 | |
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Operators Regia Marina
Swedish Navy | ||
The Sella-class destroyers were a ship class of destroyers built for the Italian Regia Marina in the 1920s. Two of these ships fought in World War II and both were sunk after the Italian capitulation to the Allies. Two more ships were sold to the Swedish Navy in 1940 and were scrapped in the late 1940s.
These ships formed the basis for most subsequent destroyers built by the Italians, but were disappointing in service with unreliable machinery.
During the War, the destroyers were based at the island of Leros, in the Dodecanese. They took part in the Italian retaking of Kastelorizo (named Operation Abstention by the British) on 27 February 1941, and were used as mother ships for the attack by explosive motor boats on HMS York on 25 March. Crispi led the landing of an Italian division on Sitia, Crete, on 28 May 1941, in the course of the battle of Crete.
Ships
All four ships were built by the Pattison shipyard in Naples