Durand de la Penne gained substantial displacement, internal space, and generating capacity over Impavido and Audace. The larger hull supported more systems and corrected a specific weakness in the earlier 76 mm layouts. Waist-mounted guns could cover the beams but left blind arcs directly ahead and astern. The new class put two mounts forward and one atop the hangar. The aft gun covered roughly 270 degrees, while the forward pair overlapped across the bow and along the sides. The total fell from four mounts to three, yet all-round coverage and redundancy improved.
Notable Point · 16:14-18:04
A larger hull fixes the 76 mm coverage problem
Extra displacement, electrical power, and a revised three-gun arrangement gave the new class better firing arcs and redundancy than its four-gun predecessors.