A destroyer able to carry more depth charges would have answered a major Italian wartime problem. Accounts of submarine warfare often concentrate on the Atlantic campaign against German U-boats or the American campaign against Japan. The Mediterranean struggle between Allied submarines and the Regia Marina received less attention because it lacked one defining fleet action. Three Italian cruisers were lost at Cape Matapan. Royal Navy U-class submarines also accounted for three Italian cruisers, one in 1941 and two in 1942. Allied submarines sank Italian torpedo boats and submarines as well. A continuous theatre campaign can shape ship requirements even without a famous fleet action.
Chapter · 30:17-32:59
The overlooked Mediterranean submarine war
Allied submarines imposed a continuous Mediterranean threat that helps explain the proposed destroyer's large depth-charge capacity.