Italian minesweeper RD 36
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| History | |
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 Regia MarinaKingdom of Italy
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| Name: | RD 36 |
| Owner: | Guardia di Finanza |
| Builder: | Cantiere Navale di Castellammare di Stabia, Castellammare di Stabia |
| Laid down: | 27 March 1919 |
| Launched: | 11 August 1919 |
| Commissioned: | 6 November 1919 |
| Fate: | Sunk in battle, 19 January 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | RD 31-class minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 207 tonnes (204 long tons) |
| Length: | 35.35 m (116 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 5.8 m (19 ft 0 in) |
| Draught: |
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| Speed: | 13 knots |
| Complement: | 21 |
| Armament: |
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| Notes: | Recipient of the Gold Medal of Military Valor "to the flag" |
RD 36 was a minesweeper built for the Regia Marina in 1919 and later transferred to the Regia Guardia di Finanza. She saw action during World War II and, for the action that led to her sinking, she became one of the three Italian warships to be awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor "to the flag" (the other two being the armoured cruiser San Giorgio and the submarine Scirè).
Built in Castellammare di Stabia, the ship was launched in August 1919 and commissioned in the Regia Marina in November of the same year, but was later transferred to the naval branch of the Guardia di Finanza (GdF). On August 19, 1939, RD 36 was mobilized and assigned to the 11th Squadron of the 7th Minesweeping Flotilla, based in Porto Empedocle, Sicily.
During World War II, RD 36 carried out 317 minesweeping and transport missions (besides minesweeping, she was also used in the transport of men and materials to the Aegadian Islands), spending 2,776 hours at sea.
At 6:30 on August 21, 1941, during a minesweeping mission off Pozzallo together with the auxiliary minesweeper R 189 Santa Gilla, RD 36 was strafed by Allied planes and severely damaged; her commander, GdF Brigadier Francesco Mazzei, and two crewmen were killed, but the ship was able to return to the harbor.
On September 4, 1942, RD 36 was assigned to the 40th Minesweeping Flotilla and transferred to Tripoli, where she carried out minesweeping, anti-submarine and escort missions till the fall of the city, in January 1943.
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