- Warning Spoilers Through Blood in the Water.
| Leopardo | |
|---|---|
| Seen | Blood in the Water |
| Status | Afloat |
| Type | Leone-class esploratori (destroyer leader) |
| Loyalty | League of Tripoli (Italian) |
_class_DD.jpg){kind=link}
Photo of Leone first of class from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leone-class_destroyer
Leopardo - "Leone"-class esploratori (basically large destroyer/destroyer leader) of Italian design, on the service of League of Tripoli Navy.
- 372 feet (109,4m) long by 34 feet (10 m) beam, draught 10'2" (3,1m)
- Displacement 2648 tons full load, 1743 tons standard
- 2 shaft geared turbines, 4 Yarrow type boilers, 42,000 hp
- maximum speed of 34+ knots.
- Armament : 8 x 120 mm (4.7"), 2 x 40mm AA Guns, 4 x 20mm (0.8"), and 4 x 21" Torpedo Tubes.
- Complement: 210 officers and men. [BITW Hb. p. 420]
Trivia[]
In 1917, the Italian Navy designed the special type of large destroyers/scout cruisers - "esploratori" - for scouting purpose and protection of the battleline from enemy destroyers. By the standards of 1910s-1920s, those ships were very heavily armed with four dual 4,7-inch (120-mm) guns in powered turrets. Due to the lack of resources, the construction of five planned units were delayed, and eventually only three were laid up in 1921-1922. They were the largest destroyers in the world until USN " Porter" class destroyers of late 1930s.
All three "Leone"-class esploratori were named after feline predators. Two cancelled units of this class were supposed to be named Lince and Leopardo. It could be speculated, that in League's Origin World, at least one additional unit of this class was completed and eventually transferred into Destroyermen World.