They were all more or less sisterships, but built by different shipyards.
LERICI: OTO Muggiano yard no. 254, 6070 grt, compl. 23.12.1941, owner GioBatta Bibolini of La Spezia, torpedoed by HMS PORPOISE 15 Aug.1942 (Brindisi-Benghazi trip, 120 mi. N of Ras Ahmer), sunk with gunfire by her escorts 16 Aug.
UNIONE: OTO Muggiano yard no. 255, 6070 grt, compl. 15 or 25.1.1942, owner Soc.An. Ligure di Armamento (Alberto T. Rosasco), Genova, in German hands 9 Sept. 1943 at La Spezia, scuttled there as a blockship 17.6.1944. Broken up in situ 1950.
NAPOLI: Cant.Nav. Riuniti Palermo yard no. 139, 6142 grt, compl. 5.1941, owner Achille Lauro of Naples, damaged off Tagiura by air attack while en route for Tripoli on 18 Dec. 1941, towed there on 19.12. by the destroyer DA NOLI. On 30 Jan. 1942, while en route back from Tripoli for Trapani, crippled by a shaft failure 30 mi. off Sousse; on 31 Jan. towed to Mehedia roads, torpedoed there by HMS UMBRA on 3 Feb., beached 4 Feb. 2 mi S of Mehedia and destroyed on 11 Feb. by air attack.
RAVELLO: Cant. Nav. Riuniti Palermo, yard no. 140, 6142 grt, compl. 3.10.1941, owner Achille Lauro; damaged by air attack 7/8 Aug. 1943 at Genova; 9 Sept. 1943 in German hands at La Spezia, operated by the Mittelmeer Reederei GmbH, 9.11.1944 sunk by partisan sabotage there, raised only to be used as a blockship, scuttled as such on 19.4.1945 in the middle of the Levant harbour entry channel. Cut into two halves 23.5.1945 to free the channel. Raised and salved from May 1946 to 22 July 1946, in service 20.4.1947 again with Achille Lauro as a mixed emigrant/cargo ship, 8806 grt; back to a cargo ship only from May 1955, 6166 grt, sold for scrap in 1971, broken up La Spezia from 28.5.1971.
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Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2011 11:41AM by de domenico.