Soldato-class destroyer

The Soldato class, also called the Soldati class, was a class of destroyers of the Italian Regia Marina built by Ansaldo of Genoa before the First World War. Ten were built between 1905 and 1910, in two groups: the coal-burning Artigliere group of six ships and the oil-burning Alpino group of the rest, and an eleventh ship ordered by China in 1910 was bought by Italy before completion and renamed Ascaro. The design improved on the Nembo class with four 76 mm guns and three 450 mm torpedo tubes. Two sets of triple expansion steam engines rated at 6,000 indicated horsepower gave 28.5 knots. The ships fought in the Italo-Turkish War, including the battles of Preveza and Kunfuda Bay. Garibaldino was lost in a collision in 1918, all were reclassified as torpedo boats in 1921, and the last was stricken in 1932.