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Hello, I would like to suggest probably one of my favorite vessels, Italian colonial ship (sloop) called Eritrea. In the game it would be an unusual ship with a rather big displacement, but not well-armed featuring armament similar to starter destroyers.
History
Spoiler
Eritrea was designed in 1934 by Major General of the Naval Engineers Icilio d’Esposito for service in the hot climates of the colonies. She was built by Navalmeccanica in Castellammare di Stabia Shipyards near Naples. She was laid down in 1936, launched in 1936 and fully completed in 1937. On June 28th of the same year she entered into service with Italian Naval Forces - Regia Marina as “Nave coloniale” or colonial ship.
With a start of Spanish Civil War, Eritrea was sent to Western Mediterranean and later moved to Pola.
From the beginning of 1938, Eritrea was assigned to the port of Massawa in the Red Sea, her mission was to support the submarines of the base (she had an extensive engineering workshop on board and could provide repair support).
She was stationed there until 18 February 1941, when, with the fall of the region into British hands, Italian command gave the order to break through the British blockade and reach Far East ally - Japan.
Next night, the unit, under command of Captain Marino Iannucci, left Massawa and easily passed the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, evading British aerial reconnaissance based in Aden. On the path there were a few encounters with British ships, but Eritrea managed to avoid clashes and escaped with a help of smoke bombs and night.
Together with the Eritrea, two other ships departed from Massawa, RAMB II, which also managed to escape and Ramb I, which was sunk on 27 February by the New Zealand cruiser HMNZS Leander.
Continuing the journey, having to transit Malaysian waters through the Strait of Malacca to pass from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific and avoid being hunted by enemy vessels, the crew camouflaged the ship, making it almost completely identical to Portuguese escort vessel Pedro Nunez, which looked very similar to Eritrea. Portugal owned the eastern half of the island of Timor and as a non-belligerent nation it could send any military vessel into those waters without the Royal Navy being too concerned.
On March 16, the Eritrea reached an area under the control of the Imperial Japanese Navy, a few days later she arrived in Kobe, Japan.
In Japan, the ship underwent much-needed maintenance at the Mitsubishi shipyards, and then was transferred to Shanghai until June 1943, when, she was ordered relocate to Singapore to provide logistical support to Italian submarines operating between Bordeaux and Singapore. In July 1943, Eritrea moved first to Penang, then to Sebang, where German Forces were stationed.
On September 9, 1943, the ship’s crew, which was sailing in the Strait of Malacca, heard by radio about the signing of the armistice. Eritrea, still under the command of Marino Iannucci, managed to escape again, this time evading the naval blockade of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which deployed surface units and submarines in those waters. Following September 14, she reached Colombo, on the island of Ceylon, handing itself over to the British maritime authorities.
Eritrea was then actively used to support Allied submarines and sometimes to escort merchant ships. She participated in such missions in the Far East up until the end of the war against Japan, with a short break for overhaul in Taranto port in 1944 (after which there new captain was assigned - Ugo Giudice).
In 1946 Eritrea returned to Taranto, but then left to Far East again, this time to return Italians from who were previously seized in Asian concentration camps.
In 1948 she was decommissioned from the Italian Navy and transfered to France as a part of compensations for war damages, where it served under Francis Garnier name, until it was destroyed in 1966 as a target for nuclear tests.
The bell of the Eritrea ship is still preserved at the Naval History Museum in Venice.
Specifications
Spoiler
Displacement:
Normal: 2,969 Tons;
Full: 3,117 Tons.
Dimensions:
Length: 96.9 m;
Beam: 13.3 m;
Draft: 4.7 m.
Power unit:
2 boilers;
2 diesel engines;
2 propellers;
Power: 9,100 HP;
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h);
Fuel: 283 tons of naphtha;
Autonomy: 6950 miles at 12 knots;
Armament:
4 pieces of 120/45 mm Schneider-Canet-Armstrong;
2 pieces of 40/39 Vickers-Terni;
4 13.2 mm machine guns.
Crew: 234.
Photos
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