Italian destroyer Zeffiro (1927)

Zeffiro was one of eight Turbine-class destroyers built for the Regia Marina in the 1920s, named for the westerly wind Zeffiro that is common in summer in the Mediterranean. Gio. Ansaldo & C. laid her down at its Genoa-Sestri Ponente shipyard on 29 April 1925, launched her on 27 May 1927 and completed her on 15 May 1928. Two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft with steam from three Thornycroft boilers, gave the class 40,000 shaft horsepower, and her fuel oil gave a range of 3,200 nautical miles at 14 knots. She served in the 1st Squadron of the I Destroyer Flotilla at La Spezia and played a minor role supporting the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. In June 1940 she sailed with Espero and Ostro on her first war mission. At Tobruk a torpedo from a British aircraft hit her in the bow near the ammunition depot, the explosion broke her in two and she sank within half an hour, with ten of her crew killed and eleven missing.