Lanzerotto Malocello was one of a dozen s built for the (Royal Italian Navy) in the late 1920s. Completed in 1930, she served in World War II.
The Navigatori-class destroyers were designed to counter the large French destroyers of the and es. They had an overall length of , a beam of and a mean draft of . They displaced at standard load, and at deep load. Their complement during wartime was 222âÂÂ225 officers and enlisted men.
The Navigatoris were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by four Odero-Terni-Orlando water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce and a speed of in service, although the ships reached speeds of during their sea trials while lightly loaded. They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at a speed of .
Their main battery consisted of six guns in three twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and the third amidships. Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Navigatori-class ships was provided by a pair of AA guns in single mounts abreast the forward funnel and a pair of twin-gun mounts for machine guns. They were equipped with six torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships. The Navigatoris could carry 86âÂÂ104 mines.
Lanzerotto Malocello was laid down by Gio. Ansaldo & C. at their Genoa-Sestri Ponente shipyard on 30 August 1927, launched on 14 March 1929 and commissioned on 18 January 1930.
In early August 1936 the Republicans captured the islands of Formentera (August 7), Ibiza (August 8) and Cabrera (August 13) through a series of landings by the troops from Catalonia. On August 16 the Republican forces also landed on Mallorca, where they have met stiff opposition from the Nationalists. The Italian government decided to provide assistance to Franco, and in early August 1936, Lanzerotto Malocello under command of capitano di fregata Carlo Margottini, was dispatched to Mallorca. She arrived there on August 16, immediately raising the morale of local Nationalist forces. The destroyer was involved in support and reconnaissance missions around the Balearic Islands until Mallorca was secured and the remaining smaller islands were reconquered. With Nationalists now firmly in control, she left for Italy on October 3, finishing her initial deployment of the Spanish Civil War.