Italian destroyer Ardente

The ships of the Ardito class were 74.8 m (245 ft 5 in) long at the waterline and 73 m (239 ft 6 in) long overall, with a beam of 7.3 m (23 ft 11 in) and a draft of 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in). They displaced 695 long tons (706 t) standard and up to 790 long tons (800 t) at full load. They had a crew of 4 officers and 65 enlisted men. The ships were powered by two Parsons steam turbines, with steam provided by four Thornycroft water-tube boilers. The engines were rated to produce 16,000 shaft horsepower (12,000 kW) for a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), though in service they reached as high as 33.4 knots (61.9 km/h; 38.4 mph) from 15,733 shp (11,732 kW). At a more economical speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), the ships could cruise for 1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,400 mi).[1]

The ship carried an armament that consisted of a single 120 mm (4.7 in) gun and four 76 mm (3 in) guns, along with two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes. The 102 mm gun was placed on the forecastle and the two of the 76 mm guns were mounted abreast the funnels, with the remaining pair at the stern. The torpedo tubes were in single mounts, both on the centerline.[1]

Ardente was built at the Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando shipyard in Livorno, and was launched on 15 December 1912.[2]

After the end of the war, the ship had her armament revised to five 102 mm (4.0 in) 35-cal. guns, a single 40 mm (1.6 in) 35-cal. gun, and a pair of 6.5 mm (0.26 in) machine guns. The work was completed by 1920. Ardente was reclassified as a torpedo boat on 1 October 1929. She served well into the 1930s, before being struck from the naval register on 11 March 1937 and thereafter discarded.[2]

• Fraccaroli, Aldo (1985). "Italy". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 252–290. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5.