Sella Class Cacciatorpedoniere (Destroyer) RN Quintino Sella (1942)

[Conte_Baracca 4,547]

Based on the preceding Palestro and Curtatone class cacciatorpedoniere the Sella class was a group of four ships that were enlarged and improved through more powerful machinery and a heavier main battery.  Laid down in 1922-1923 and completed in 1926-1927 there were four ships of the class, the  Francesco Crispi, Quintino Sella, Bettino Ricasoli,  and the  Giovanni Nicotera.   The increase in size gave the Sella's greater length, beam, and tonnage, the improved machinery allowed the class a max speed of 35 kts.  However, the biggest improvements were in the armament.  The Sellas went from the preceding class's 102 mm guns to 120mm guns and 450mm torpedos to 533mm torpedos.

In March of 1940 the Ricasoli  and  Nicotera  were sold to the Swedish Navy (The  Ricasoli  was renamed the  Puke  which is a must for when the Swedish Navy comes to the game, but I digress).  However, the  Sella  and the  Crispi  served in the Regia Marina during World War 2.  The  Sella  was sunk by German torpedo boats in 1943 and the  Crispi  was captured by the Germans after the Armistice and used by them until sunk by British aircraft off of Crete in 1944.

 

The four Sellas.

 

As built the Sellas had the following specifications:

Displacement (full): 1457 tons

Length: 84.9 m

Beam: 8.6 m

Draft: 2.7 m

Machinery:   Crispi  2  Beluzzo steam turbines, others 2 Parsons steam turbines, ALL 3 Thornycroft boilers generating 36,000 h.p.

Max Speed:  35 kts

Armament: 1 x 2 - 120/45 Schneider-Canet-Armstrong 1918, 1 x 1 - 120/45 Schneider-Canet-Armstrong 1918, 2 x 1 - 40/39 Vickers-Terni 1917, 2 x 1 - 13.2/76, 2 x 2 - 533 Torpedo Tubes

Crew: 152

 

In 1929 the single mount 120/45 was replaced with a dual mount 120/45 OTO 1926 on all vessels.  In 1938 the single 13.2mm MGs were replaced with dual mount 13.2mm MGs.  In 1942 the two Sellas remaining in Italian Service the Vickers 40mm were removed and four single 20/70 Scotti-Isotta Fraschini 1939.

 

For War Thunder I am proposing the  Quintino Sella  in her 1942 configuration.  1 X 2 -120/45 Schneider-Canet-Armstrong 1918, 1 x 2 - 120/45 OTO 1926, 4 x 1 - 20/70 Scotti-Isotta Fraschini 1939, 2 x 2 13.2/76, 2 x 2 - 533mm TT.  In this configuration she would have a unique blend of main guns and a powerful AA armament for a 3.3 destroyer.  She would fit nicely into the Italian Blue Water Tech Tree with these attributes.  Furthermore I believe it would be nice to have every class of Italian ship represented and the 1942 Sella  is the most unique version of the class.  

 

The RM Quntino Sella  was laid down in October of 1922, launched In April 1925 and Commissioned in March of 1926.  She was the first Italian cacciatorpedoniere (destroyer) to have two turbine groups with different pressures, coupled to two different engines and using reducers.  Furthermore, as explained earlier, she introduced the "modern" Italian armament scheme which was significantly heavier.  Consequently, she suffered many problems with stability, seakeeping, and strength of superstructure.  This lead to modifications in 1928 to improve those issues.  In 1936 she would get new boilers, and in 1939 her rear funnel would be lowered.  Despite all these teething issues the ship proved capable and in world War II, she would conduct over 116 escort missions.  Furthermore, she would be set up as a support unit for MAS boats and was part of the hugely successful Suda Bay raid conducted by the Regia Marina in March of 1941.  Notably, in October of 1942 the  Sella  sank the British submarine  Taku  while on convoy escort duty in the waters off of Chios.  In 1943 the armistice saw the  Sella  in Venice.  She would immediately flee Venice after taking aboard 300 refugees.  Unfortunately she would be spotted by German forces and sunk by torpedoes from the German torpedo boat S54 .  

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com/ww2/Italy/italian-destroyers-of-ww2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sella-class_destroyer

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintino_Sella_(cacciatorpediniere)

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classe_Quintino_Sella

 

Respectfully Submitted,

                       Conte Baracca

[leroyonly 4,311]

Open for discussion. 

[Milocat 4,857]

+1, would be an awesome addition to the Italian naval tree!

[Nicholas_Concu 2,636]

Great work as always conte. +1

Hopefully more people will pay attention to the suggestions you're making. 

[kamina_sama 139]

+1

[OpusAudereSemper 80]

+1 needed ASAP, awesome research

[LukTroy 124]

+1 It would be a decent br3.3 destroyer

[Conte_Baracca 4,547]

I would just like to see each ship get represented and it would be great in a lineup.

[LukTroy 124]

20 hours ago, Conte_Baracca said:

I would just like to see each ship get represented and it would be great in a lineup.

I believe the Sella will act like a better Turbine with good AA.