Angelo Bassini was an Italian . Commissioned into service in the Italian ("Royal Navy") in 1918, she served in the final months of World War I, participating in the Adriatic campaign. During the interwar period, she was reclassified as a torpedo boat in 1929. During World War II, she took part in the Adriatic campaign, operations in support of the Greco–Italian War, the Mediterranean campaign, and the Tunisian campaign until she was sunk in 1943.
Construction and commissioning Angelo Bassini was laid down at the () in Sestri Ponente, Italy, on 2 October 1916. She was launched on 28 March 1918 and completed and commissioned on 1 May 1918.
Service history World War I Angelo Bassini entered service in time to take part in the final months of World War I. She participated in the Adriatic campaign but not in any significant operations before the war ended in November 1918.
Interwar period In 1922, the city of La Spezia awarded battle ensigns to Angelo Bassini, the scout cruisers and and the torpedo boat .Collezione Online - La Domenica del Corriere
In 1929, Angelo Bassini and her sister ships and formed the 5th Destroyer Squadron, which together with the five-ship 6th Destroyer Squadron and the scout cruiser constituted the of the a component of the based at Taranto, Italy.Collezione Online - La Domenica del Corriere Angelo Bassini was reclassified as a torpedo boat on 1 October 1929.Marina Militare - Angelo Bassini Cacciatoperdiniere
Capitano de vascello (Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant) Giovanni Barbini took command of Angelo Bassini in November 1939. He left her about a year later to take command of Nicola Fabrizi, a role in which he received the Gold Medal of Military Valor for his actions during the Action in the Strait of Otranto in November 1940.Giovanni Barbini sul sito della Marina Militare (in Italian).La torpediniera Nicola Fabrizi (in Italian).
World War II 1940 June–October World War II broke out in September 1939 with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Fascist Italy joined the war on the side of the Axis powers with its invasion of France on 10 June 1940. At the time, Angelo Bassini was based at Brindisi, Italy, as part of the 7th Torpedo Boat Squadron, which also included Nicola Fabrizi and the torpedo boats and She operated on escort duty along the shipping routes in the southern Adriatic Sea and between Italy and Greece.Trentoincina (in Italian).
On 20 August 1940 the Regia Marina established the Comando Superiore Traffico Albania (Maritrafalba, the Albanian Higher Traffic Command), responsible for convoy escort services between Italy and the Italian protectorate of Albania. Based at Brindisi, Angelo Bassini was assigned to Maritrafalba along with two elderly destroyers, nine other torpedo boats, three auxiliary cruisers, and the motor torpedo boats of the 13th MAS Squadron.Pier Filippo Lupinacci, Vittorio E. Tognelli, La difesa del traffico con l'Albania, la Grecia e l'Egeo, pp. 18, 27, 47, 123, 129–130, 176–178, 180–181, 196, 200–201, 203, 205–207, 209–212, 214–215, 224–227, 229, 236, 241–243, 245–248, 250–251, 253–254, 256–265, 357–359, 369, 373, 393, 396–397, 402–403, 406, 408, 412, 415, 417, 419, 466–467, 470–472, 474, 476, 478, 487, 499. Maritrafalba became active on 5 September 1940, and on 17 September 1940 Angelo Bassini escorted the motor ship , operating as a postal vessel, from Brindisi to Durrës (known to the Italians as Durazzo), Albania, and later the same day she escorted Filippo Grimani′s sister ship from Durrës to Brindisi. On 18 September she again escorted Piero Foscari, this time from Brindisi to Durrës, and then escorted Filippo Grimani from Durrës to Brindisi. On 19 September she escorted Filippo Grimani from Brindisi to Durrës and then Piero Foscari on the opposite route. On 20 September she escorted Piero Foscari from Brindisi to Durrës and then Filippo Grimani from Durrës to Brindisi. She continued this pattern over the next two days, escorting Filippo Grimani from Brindisi to Durrës and then Piero Foscari and the motor ship from Durrës to Brindisi on 21 September, and Piero Foscari from Brindisi to Durrës and then Filippo Grimani from Durrës to Brindisi on 22 September.
On 25 September 1940 Angelo Bassini escorted the steamers , , and , carrying a combined load of 395 cattle, 1,079 draft animals, and of supplies, from Bari, Italy, to Durrës, while on 29 September she again escorted Filippo Grimani from Brindisi to Durrës and then Piero Foscari from Durrës to Brindisi. On 30 September she escorted Piero Foscari from Brindisi to Durrës. She got back underway from Durrës the same day to escort Filippo Grimani to Brindisi, but the two ships encountered very heavy seas that forced them to return to Durrës. After the weather improved, the two ships made their voyage to Brindisi on 1 October. Maritrafalba was disbanded on 12 October 1940 but reconstituted on 21 October, and Angelo Bassini again was placed under its control along with the two elderly destroyers, nine other torpedo boats, four auxiliary cruisers, and the 13th MAS Squadron for convoy escort and antisubmarine patrol duty.
Greco-Italian War
Angelo Bassini then was assigned temporarily to the Forza Navale Speciale (Special Naval Force). Tasked with occupying Corfu, the force, commanded by Ammiraglio di squadra (Squadron Admiral) Vittorio Tur, also included the light cruiser (Tur's flagship), the light cruiser , the destroyers and the torpedo boats , , , , Giacomo Medici, and Nicola Fabrizi, and the tankers Garigliano, Sesia, and Tirso. Plans called for merchant ships to land the Italian Royal Army's 47th Infantry Division "Bari" and a battalion of the Regia Marina′s Regiment "San Marco" on Corfu on 28 October 1940 — the day the Greco–Italian War broke out with Italy's invasion of Greece — but the amphibious landing was postponed due to rough seas, first to 30 October, then to 31 October, and then again to 2 November before it was cancelled because of the disappointing performance of Italian forces on the Greek front. The 47th Infantry Division "Bari" was reassigned to operations on the front in Epirus, and the merchant ships proceeded to Vlorë to disembark the division there.
Angelo Bassini resumed escort service on the Albanian shipping routes on 22 November 1940, when she left Brindisi at 06:30 as escort to the steamer , carrying civilian cargo, arriving at Vlorë at 12:00. She diverted from escort duty on 28 November when she participated along with the torpedo boat and the destroyers of the 15th Destroyer Squadron (, , , and ) in a bombardment of Greek positions on the northeastern coast of Corfu. During the action, the Italian ships fired over 1,600 and rounds.German Raiders, November 1940Seekrieg 1940, November (in German).
On 1 December 1940 Angelo Bassini left Vlorë at 10:30 headed for Brindisi, escorting two merchant ships — the mixed motor vessel Città di Trapani and the cargo steamer , both — with which she arrived at Brindisi at 19:10. On 5 December, she departed Bari with the auxiliary cruiser , escorting the steamers and and the motor ship — carrying 2,674 soldiers and of supplies — to Durrës. On 9 December at 01:10, she got underway from Durrës to escort Città di Marsala, Firenze, and Milano, which returned in ballast to Bari, where they arrived at 17:30. At 20:00 on 15 December Angelo Bassini and Francesco Morosini left Bari escorting Città di Marsala and the steamers and , transporting a combined 861 soldiers, 198 draft animals, and 504 motor vehicles, to Durrës, where they arrived at 13:35.
At 18:25 on 18 December 1940, Angelo Bassini left Durrës bound for Bari, escorting Zena and the steamer , both in ballast, arriving at 10:40 on 19 December. On 20 December at 15:00, Angelo Bassini left Bari escorting the steamers , , , and — all carrying civilian cargo — for Durrës, where the ships arrived at 06:00 on 21 December. Angelo Bassini got back underway at 05:30 on 24 December, departing Durrës to escort the steamers and , both in ballast, to Bari, which they reached at 20:30.
At 03:00 on 26 December 1940 Angelo Bassini left Bari with the auxiliary cruiser to escort Milano, the steamer , and the motor ships and , with 3,433 soldiers, 157 draft animals, and of supplies on board, to Durrës. The destroyers , , and operated in distant support of the convoy, which arrived at 16:00. On 27 December at 18:30, Angelo Bassini set off from Durrës escorting Milano, Puccini, and Verdi, all in ballast, arriving at Bari at 09:45 on 28 December. At 20:00 on 29 December she left Bari escorting the steamers and — which had a combined 103 men, 716 draft animals, 105 motor vehicles, and of supplies on board — arriving in Durrës at 11:40 on 30 December. At 17:45 on 30 December, she departed Durrës escorting Aventino, the motor ship , and the steamer , arriving at Bari at 07:40 on 31 December 1940.
1941 Greco-Italian War On 1 January 1941 at 02:00, Angelo Bassini left Bari with the auxiliary cruiser to escort Aventino, Quirinale, and the motor ship — with a combined 2,884 soldiers, 72 draft animals, and of supplies on board — to Durrës. The convoy arrived at 15:50. At 18:00 on 2 January she left Durrës escorting Aventino, Città di Savona, and Quirinale as they returned in ballast to Bari, where they arrived at 10:00 on 3 January. On 24 January she escorted the steamers and , carrying a combined of fuel and of artillery, ammunition, provisions, and other supplies, and the military tanker , loaded with fuel oil destined for the Regia Marina, from Brindisi to Durrës. On 25 January at 09:30 Angelo Bassini got underway from Durrës escorting the steamer , in ballast, and the steamer , in postal service, with which she arrived at Brindisi at 17:20, while on 26 January at 23:00, she left Brindisi escorting the steamers , , , and , which transported gasoline (petrol), ammunition, fodder, and other supplies to Vlorë, where they arrived at 10:30 on 27 January. On the same day at 17:30, Angelo Bassini left Vlorë escorting the steamers and and the steam tanker , all in ballast, arriving at Brindisi at 08:00 on 28 January. On 30 January Angelo Bassini, Nicola Fabrizi, and the auxiliary cruiser left Brindisi at 02:00 to escort Argentina and Città di Marsala — carrying a combined 1,230 men, 12 motor vehicles, and of artillery pieces, clothing, ammunition, military supplies, and other supplies — to Vlorë, where they arrived at 09:30.
On 12 February 1941 at 00:15, Angelo Bassini left Brindisi with the tug Portofino to escort the steamers , , and — carrying a combined of ammunition, gasoline (petrol), and other fuels — and and — all with civilian cargo — to Durrës, which the convoy reached at 13:00. At 06:00 on 22 February, Angelo Bassini left Durrës escorting the postal steamer Merano, with which she arrived at Brindisi at 15:15. At 22:00 on 23 February, Angelo Bassini and the auxiliary cruiser departed Bari to escort Aventino, Milano, Narenta, and Rossini, which were carrying 2,827 soldiers, 174 draft animals, and of supplies, to Durrës, where they arrived at 09:25 on 24 February. On 26 February at 03:45, Angelo Bassini set off from Durrës escorting Aventino, Milano, and Rossini, all in ballast, on a voyage to Bari, where the ships arrived at 15:15.