Italian destroyer Francesco Crispi

Francesco Crispi was one of four Sella-class destroyers built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) in the 1920s. Completed in 1927, she served in World War II.

Design and description
The Sella-class destroyers were enlarged and improved versions of the preceding Palestro-class destroyer and Curtatone-class destroyeres. They had an overall length of 84.9 m, a beam of 8.6 m and a mean draft of 2.7 m. They displaced 970 t at standard load, and 1480 t at deep load. Their complement was 8–9 officers and 144 enlisted men.

Unlike the Parsons geared steam turbines used by her sister ships, Francesco Crispi used a pair of Belluzzo turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by three Thornycroft boilers. The turbines were rated at 36000 shp for a speed of 33 kn in service, although the ship reached a speed of 38.6 kn from 35540 shp during her sea trials while lightly loaded. The Sellas carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1800 nmi at a speed of 14 kn.

Their main battery consisted of four 120 mm guns in one twin-gun turret aft of the superstructure and one single-gun turret forward of it. Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the Sella-class ships was provided by a pair of 40 mm AA guns in single mounts amidships and a pair of 13.2 mm machine guns. They were equipped with four 533 mm torpedo tubes in two twin mounts amidships. The Sellas could also carry 32 mines.

Construction and career
Francesco Crispi was laid down by Pattinson at their Naples shipyard on 21 February 1923, launched on 12 September 1925 and commissioned on 29 April 1927.