Name Cristoforo Colombo Commissioned 1 July 1928 Acquired 1949 | Laid down April 15, 1926 Name Dunay Launched 4 April 1928 | |
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Fate Ceded to the Soviet Union as war reparation, March 1949 | ||
The Dunay was a tall ship serving with the Soviet Navy, first launched as the Cristoforo Colombo, laid at the Castellammare yards on April 15, 1926. It was destroyed in a fire in 1963.
History
In 1925, the Regia Marina ordered two school ships to a design by General Lieutenant Francesco Rotundi of the Italian Navy Engineering Corps, inspired by the style of large late 18th century 74-cannon ships of the line. The first, the Cristoforo Colombo, was put into service in 1928 and was used by the Italian Navy until 1943. After World War II, the ship was handed over to the Soviet Union as part of the war reparations demanded by the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty, and was decommissioned in 1959.
The second ship was the Amerigo Vespucci, launched in 1931 and is still in service.