The Ariete class torpedo boats were a group of destroyer escort

Destroyer escort

A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

s built for the Italian Navy

Regia Marina

The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...

 during World War II. They were enlarged versions of the s and designed to escort convoys to North Africa. Of the 42 units planned, sixteen ships were eventually ordered but only one was completed by the time of the armistice

Armistice with Italy

The Armistice with Italy was an armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were then occupying the southern end of the country, entailing the capitulation of Italy...

, the Ariete, built in the Sestri Ponente

Sestri Ponente

Sestri Ponente is an industrial suburb of Genoa in northwest Italy. It is part of the Medio Ponente municipio of Genoa.-Geography:It is situated on the Ligurian Sea to the west of the city, between Cornigliano and Pegli...

 shipyards and commissioned on 5 August 1943. The namesake ship was also the only one to survive the war. After the war it was ceded to the Yugoslav Navy

Yugoslav Navy

The Yugoslav Navy was the navy of Yugoslavia. It was essentially a coastal defense force with the mission of preventing enemy landings along the Yugoslavia's rugged 4,000- kilometer shoreline or coastal islands, and contesting an enemy blockade or control of the strategic Strait of Otranto...

 (1949), and renamed Durmitor.

Most of the other ships were completed by the Germans, entered service with the Kriegsmarine as Torpedoboot Ausland

Torpedoboot Ausland

The Torpedoboot Ausland were small destroyers or large torpedo boats captured by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Kriegsmarine. They were assigned a number beginning with TA-TA 1 to TA 6:...

 and eventually sunk in the course of operations across the Aegean

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

 and the Adriatic. The Fionda (renamed TA 46 by the Germans) was sunk in the Port of Rijeka

Port of Rijeka

The Port of Rijeka is a seaport in Rijeka, Croatia, located on the shore of the Kvarner Gulf in the Adriatic Sea. The first records of the port date to 1281. It was the main port of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, of Yugoslavia between World War II...

 by an Allied bomber on 20 February 1945, together with her twin Balestra/TA 47. Both ships at the time were unfinished. Recovered by the Yugoslavians in 1947, it was used to complete the TA 47, which entered service in the Yugoslavian Navy as Učka. It was decommissioned in 1971.

Ships

Italian Name	German Number	Builder	Launched	Operational History
Alabarda	TA 42	CRDA Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico was an Italian manufacturer in the sea and air industry which was active from 1930 to 1966. This shipyard is now owned by Fincantieri....  Trieste Trieste Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...	7 May 1944	Sunk 21 March 1945 by air strike in Venice Venice Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Ariete	n/a	Ansaldo Gio. Ansaldo & C. Ansaldo was one of Italy's oldest and most important engineering companies, existing for 140 years from 1853 to 1993.-From foundation to World War I:... , Genoa Genoa Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....	6 March 1942	She was the only unit to be completed before the armistice. She escaped from the Germans and summited to the Allies in September 1943. She was transferred as war reparation to Yugoslavia in 1949.
Arturo	TA 24	Ansaldo, Genoa	27 March 1943	One of the units which took part of the bombardment of Bastia on 1 March 1944. Sunk 18 March 1945 in battle with the British destroyers HMS Meteor L and M class destroyer The L and M class was a class of sixteen destroyers which served in the British Royal Navy during World War II. The ships of the class were launched between 1939 and 1942.-Design details:...  and HMS Lookout
Auriga	TA 27	Ansaldo, Genoa	15 April 1943	Lost 9 June 1944 to air attack by P-47 P-47 Thunderbolt Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to... s of the U.S. 332nd FG
Balestra	TA 47	CNQ Fiume		Not completed during the war, damaged by air raid on slipway, subsequently completed for the Yugoslav Navy in 1949 as the Učka scrapped in 1971
Daga	TA 39	CRDA Trieste	15 July 1943	Along with Spada took part in the sinking of British motor boat ML-1227 on 5 October 1944. Sunk 16 October 1944
Dragone	TA 30	Ansaldo, Genoa	14 August 1943	Sunk 15 June 1944 by US PT boats
Eridano	TA 29	Ansaldo, Genoa	12 July 1943	Sunk 18 March 1945 in battle with the British destroyers HMS Meteor and HMS Lookout.
Fionda	TA 46	CNQ Fiume		Lost 20 February 1945 in Fiume, when still under construction. Scrapped after the war.
Gladio	TA 37	CRDA Trieste	15 June 1943	Badly damaged by French destroyers Le Terrible and Le Malin in February 1944. Sunk 7 October 1944
Lancia	TA 41	CRDA Trieste	7 May 1944	Sunk 17 February 1945, scuttled after being hit by an aerial bomb in Trieste
Pugnale	TA 40	CRDA Trieste	1 August 1944	Scuttled 4 May 1945 at Monfalcone
Rigel	TA 28	Ansaldo, Genoa	22 May 1943	She took part in the shelling of Bastia Bastia Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department....  on 1 March 1944. Sunk 9 June 1944
Spada	TA 38	CRDA Trieste	1 July 1943	Sank British motor boat ML-1227 on 5 October 1944. Sunk 13 October 1944, scuttled after being damaged by air strike
Spica	TA 45	CNQ Fiume		Lost 13 April 1945 to British MTBs
Stella Polare	TA 36	CNQ Fiume	11 July 1943	Towed damaged TA 37 to safety after a battle with French destroyers Le Terrible and Le Malin in February 1944. Sunk 18 March 1944 by German mine