Italian minelayer Lepanto

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History
Lepanto at Yokohama in 1938
Italy
Name	Lepanto
Namesake	Battle of Lepanto
Builder	Cantieri Navali Riuniti (CNR), Ancona
Laid down	1925
Launched	22 May 1927
Commissioned	1927
Fate	Scuttled 9 September 1943 at Shanghai
Japan
Name	Okitsu (興津)
Namesake	Okitsu-juku
Builder	Navy 1st Construction Department at Shanghai
Acquired	8 November 1943
Commissioned	1 March 1944
Decommissioned	30 September 1945
Fate	Surrendered to Republic of China on 15 September 1945
Republic of China
Name	Hsien Ning (咸寧)
Namesake	Xianning
Acquired	15 September 1945
Commissioned	1946
Decommissioned	1956
Identification	Pennant number: 79
Fate	Scrapped in 1956
General characteristics as Lepanto
Class and type	Azio-class minelayer
Displacement	615 long tons (625 t)
Length	66.0 m (216 ft 6 in) (overall)
Beam	8.7 m (28 ft 7 in)
Draft	2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
Propulsion	2 × Yarrow three expansion stages reciprocating engines 2 × water tube boilers 2 shafts, 1,500 shp
Speed	15.0 knots (27.8 km/h; 17.3 mph)
Complement	66
Armament	2 × 102 mm (4.0 in) naval guns 1 × 76 mm (3.0 in) 76/40 Ansaldo Mod. 1917 AA gun 2 × machine guns 80 × naval mines
General characteristics as Okitsu
Class and type	Gunboat
Displacement	700 long tons (711 t) standing
Length	62.18 m (204 ft 0 in) Lpp
Beam	8.69 m (28 ft 6 in)
Draft	2.60 m (8 ft 6 in)
Speed	13.7 knots (25.4 km/h; 15.8 mph)
Complement	approx. 80
Armament	2 × 76.2 mm (3.00 in) L/40 AA guns 10 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns 36 × depth charges 2 × Type 94 depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge throwers 1 × Type 93 active sonar 1 × Type 93 hydrophone
General characteristics as Hsien Ning
Type	Frigate
Armament	in 1950 2 × 3-inch/50-caliber guns 2 × 1.1-inch/75-caliber guns 4 × 20 mm AA guns

Lepanto was an Azio-class minelayer of the Italian Navy. She was reclassified as gunboat in 1934 and remained in Italian service in the far east from 1933 to 1943, when she was scuttled in China, during World War II. She was then recovered by the Imperial Japanese Navy and taken into service as Okitsu, spending the remainder of the war escorting convoys. She was surrendered to the Republic of China after the end of the war and served for a further ten years with its navy as the Hsien Ning.

Italian Navy service (1927 – 1943)

After remaining inactive at the Italian naval base in Tianjin^[1] since 1940, Lepanto was scuttled at her moorings by her own crew on 9 September 1943, after Italy's surrender to the Allies.^[2]

Imperial Japanese Navy service (1943 – 1945)

On 8 November 1943, Lepanto was refloated by Naval 1st Construction Department (海軍第一工作部, Kaigun Dai-1 Kōsaku-Bu) of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). By 1 March 1944 repairs were completed, and she was registered in the IJN, and renamed Okitsu. She was sent to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to have her armament fitted, which was finished by 14 May.

Starting 5 June, she started escorting convoys in the Shanghai area. She was fitted with radar at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal in April the following year. On 17 July 1945, she shot down three North American P-51 Mustangs and one North American B-25 Mitchell at Shanghai.

On 15 September 1945, her crew surrendered to the Republic of China, being decommissioned on 30 September.

Republic of China Navy service (1945 – 1956)

In 1946, the vessel was renamed Hsien Ning (咸寧). Her known career in the Republic of China Navy from that point was fairly uneventful, except for the capture of a British merchant ship in July 1950. Some time in 1956, she was decommissioned.

Gallery

IJN Okitsu on 18 June 1945
ROCS Hsien Ning around 1956

Footnotes

^ Samarani, Guido (2010-09-01). "An historical turning point: Italy's relations with China before and after 8 September 1943". Journal of Modern Italian Studies. 15 (4): 590–602. doi:10.1080/1354571X.2010.501979. ISSN 1354-571X. S2CID 145266991.
^ Rastelli, Achille (2011). Italiani a Shanghai: la regia Marina in Estremo Oriente. Mursia, pp. 127-134. ISBN 8842544140 (in Italian)

Bibliography

"Rekishi Gunzō"., History of Pacific War Vol. 51, The true histories of the Imperial Japanese Vessels Part 2, Gakken (Japan), June 2002, ISBN 4-05-602780-3
Ships of the World special issue Vol. 47, Auxiliary Vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy, "Kaijinsha"., (Japan), March 1997
The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No. 45, Japanese gunboats, "Ushio Shobō". (Japan), November 1980

External links

Lepanto (1927) Marina Militare website

Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in September 1943

Shipwrecks

3 Sep: I-25
4 Sep: USS LCI(L)-339
5 Sep: USS YP-279
7 Sep: Maloja, Velella
8 Sep: Calitea II, Etna, U-983, Vesuvio
9 Sep: Antonio Bajamonti, Cattaro, Conte Verde, Ermanno Carlotto, FR 22, FR 118, Lepanto, USS Nauset, Roma, Taranto
10 Sep: HMS Abdiel, Argo, Piero Foscari
11 Sep: Conte di Savoia, Giuseppe La Masa, Pegaso, USS Rowan
12 Sep: Ametista, USS Navajo, U-617
13 Sep: Terra Nova
14 Sep: Giuseppe Sirtori, Katsonis, Newfoundland
15 Sep: Ro-101
16 Sep: Heisternest
18 Sep: Francesco Rismondo
19 Sep: Kansai Maru, U-341
20 Sep: HMCS St. Croix, U-338, U-346
21 Sep: HMS Polyanthus
22 Sep: U-229
23 Sep: Gaetano Donizetti
24 Sep: Francesco Stocco
25 Sep: Giuseppe Sirtori, USS Skill
26 Sep: HMS Intrepid, Vasilissa Olga
27 Sep: Ardena, Enrico Cosenz, U-161, U-221
28 Sep: USS Cisco
30 Sep: Sanct Svithun
Unknown date: HMS Gallant, USS Grayling, I-20, I-182, USS LCT-209, K-1, USS Pompano, Sebastiano Caboto, U-669