Italian destroyer Espero (1927)

Espero, passing through Taranto
History
Kingdom of Italy
Name	Espero
Namesake	Westerly wind
Builder	Ansaldo, Genoa-Sestri Ponente
Laid down	29 April 1925
Launched	31 August 1927
Commissioned	30 April 1928
Identification	ES
Fate	Sunk by gunfire, 28 June 1940
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Turbine-class destroyer
Displacement	1,090 t (1,070 long tons) (standard) 1,700 t (1,670 long tons) (full load)
Length	93.2 m (305 ft 9 in)
Beam	9.2 m (30 ft 2 in)
Draught	3 m (9 ft 10 in)
Installed power	3 Thornycroft boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines
Speed	33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range	3,200 nmi (5,900 km; 3,700 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	179
Armament	2 × twin 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 2 × single 40 mm (1.6 in) AA guns 1 × twin 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns 2 × triple 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes 52 mines

Italian destroyer Espero was one of eight Turbine-class destroyers built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the 1920s. She was named after a westerly wind, Espero, or Ponente, common in summer in the Mediterranean. Completed in 1928, Espero was sent to Shanghai after the Shanghai Incident on 28 January 1932. After encountering heavy seas, she had to stop at Saigon, French Indochina, then stayed in the Far East even after a truce had been negotiated between China and Japan.

After Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940, Espero was part of the 2nd Destroyer Squadron, based at Taranto. Only seventeen days after Italy's entry into the war, Espero was sunk during the Battle of the Espero Convoy as she covered the convoy's retreat, the first surface engagement between Allied and Italian warships. The ship was the first Italian destroyer to be lost in World War II.