The Italian CRDA 60 and Mediterranean flexibility

The CRDA 60 drew on ideas from captured Yugoslav Schnellboote but was not simply a German copy. In Mediterranean conditions it offered Italy a practical strike craft with mixed torpedo, gun, and depth-charge armament. The class sank HMS Manchester, a Town-class light cruiser described here as the largest warship sunk by motor torpedo boats during World War II. Later changes removed the 21-inch tubes, added a 40 mm Bofors, and allowed mines or smaller 18-inch torpedoes, following the same pressure toward adaptable firepower seen in British coastal forces. Only 36 were completed and 22 were lost, several during the Sicilian campaign or in encounters where Allied destroyers held the numerical advantage. A flexible design could not fully compensate for late arrival and an unfavourable force ratio.