Italian destroyer Espero (1927)
Italian destroyer Espero was one of eight s built for the (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. Design and description The Turbine-class destroyers were enlarged and improved versions of the preceding . They had an overall length of , a beam of and a mean draft of . They displaced at standard load, and at deep load. Their complement was 12 officers and 167 enlisted men. The Turbines were powered