Italian aircraft carrier Sparviero

History
Italy
Name
  • 1941: Falco
  • 1941-1951: Sparviero
BuilderAnsaldo, Genoa
Launched13 December 1926 as ocean liner Augustus
Out of serviceAugustus Laid up from 1940 to 1942
Renamed1941
RefitRoyal Italian Navy began conversion work in 1942, incomplete due to 1943 surrender of the Kingdom of Italy
Captured1943 by National Republican Navy of the Italian Social Republic
FateTaken over by occupying German troops in 1944 and scuttled as blockship. Raised in 1947 and scrapped in 1951
General characteristics
TypeEscort carrier
Displacement30418 tons
Length232.5 m (762 ft 10 in)
Beam29.4 m (96 ft 5 in)
Draught7.39 m (24 ft 3 in)
Installed power28,000 horsepower (21,000 kW)
Propulsiondiesels
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Capacity1,420 men (including 107 officers)
Armament
  • 8 × 135/45 mm
  • 12 × 65/64 mm
  • 22 machine guns 20/65 mm
Armour
  • 70 mm (vertical)
  • 80 mm (horizontal)
Aircraft carried

Sparviero (Italian: "Sparrowhawk") was an Italian aircraft carrier designed and built during World War II of the Regia Marina. She was originally the ocean liner MS Augustus built in 1926 for Navigazione Generale Italiana, but was transferred to the new Italian Line after the merger of Navigazione Generale Italiana with the Lloyd Sabaudo and the Cosulich Line. The conversion was started in 1942 originally under the name Falco but was never completed, and the ship was never delivered to the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy). She began to be scrapped in 1947, a process completed by 1951.