HMS Azalia D’Orio (BB-AC-002)
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 HMS Azalia D’Orio as camouflaged at the start of the Siduri War in 1934
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| History | |
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 Cacerta
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| Name: | HMS Azalia D’Orio |
| Namesake: | Admiral Azalia D’Orio |
| Ordered: | 17 January 1930 |
| Builder: | Royal Shipbuilders of Cacerta |
| Laid down: | 20 July 1930 |
| Launched: | 10 October 1932 |
| Commissioned: | 14 December 1932 |
| Struck: | 15 May 1936 |
| Motto: | “Strength from the Sea” |
| Nickname(s): | Grand Lady |
| Honors and awards: | Siduri War: 7 |
| Fate: | Scuttled after suffering incapacitating damage during the Battle of the Sabri Sea, 25 November 1935 in the Sabri Sea |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Amika Carpio-Class Battleship |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 25 meters |
| Beam: | 36 meters |
| Draft: | 10.4 meters |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 34 knots (63 km/h) on light load |
| Range: | 8,800 nautical miles at 19 knots |
| Complement: | 1,818 officers and crew |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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HMS Azalia D’Orio (BB-AC-002) was the second of only two Amika Carpio-class battleships built for the Cacertian Royal Navy in the early 1930s. Along with her sister ship, HMS Amika Carpio, the Azalia was one of the heaviest warships in Tyran when she was put to sea in 1932.
She served as the flagship for Admiral Marzia Triola while she was in command of the Task Force Andria based out of Paviolo and served during the Siduri War. In early 1935, she was torpedoed by a Syaran submarine and forced to make port in Andria for repairs and returned for service that same month.
Present at the Battle of the Sabri Sea, she served as the lead ship for Formation 3—which consisted primarily of ships of the Andria Fleet—and was one of the first warships to contact Syaran surface forces during the combat. The Azalia suffered several hundred hits from gunfire and torpedoes and was so heavily damaged by the end of the battle that she was deemed combat ineffective. Her double-hull construction alongside her well-trained damage control crew and water-tight compartments, however, prevented her from sinking. After attempts to place her under tow failed, she was scuttled with minimal loss of life.
Design
The construction of the Azalia D’Orio was closely observed and supervised by her designer, Eugenia Davion. Her keel was laid down not long after that of her sister ship and many of the lessons learned during the construction of the Amika Carpio were later used to speed up and smooth the production of the Azalia. Despite this, however, the construction of the Azalia still required lengthy inspection and testing of the integrity of her complex double-hull and armor design.
With the exception of a few minor characteristic changes, the Azalia was a near copy of her sister ship at a length of 250 meters and a beam of 36 meters. Her hull was very heavily armored and, after her adoption as the flagship of the Andria Fleet, she was later given the nickname ”Grand Lady”.
Although she closely matched the Amika in terms of power generated and average speed, she was not able to beat the Amika’s top speed of 34 knots on a light load. Her powerplant was also made up of sixteen Andura superheated boilers powering CNRC geared turbines. Her average fuel load was 5,000 tons with an estimated service range of 8,800 nautical miles at a stead speed of 19 knots.
Armament
The Azalia was armed with eight 405mm RN-MBII naval guns in twin hydraulically power gun turrets in an unconventional, aggressive configuration. Three of the turrets were located on the ship’s bow with turrets II and III in a superfiring configuration and turret I located in front of turret II. The ship’s gun were capable of depressing -5° and elevating to +45°, with the exception of turret III whose guns were locked to depressing 0° as a result of its position above turret II. The turrets aboard the Azalia had a turn rate of 4° per second for a 180° turret traverse of 45 seconds. Each turret could be trained independently of the fire-control system as each had their own range-finders. This ability, however, was never used in combat as Cacertian naval doctrine believed in focusing combined firepower rather than attempting to engage multiple targets at the same time.
Similar to her sister ship, the Azalia also possessed a secondary armament of sixteen 150mm RN-SBI guns in wing-mounted dual gun turrets with four on the port and starboard. The maximum engagement distances of the Azalia’s secondary battery was 23 kilometers at maximum gun elevation. There were initial plans to include six 550mm torpedo tubes on board the Azalia, but these plans were later scrapped as it was thought that the she would never within close enough range to engage with a torpedo armament.
The secondary battery was also supplemented with sixteen dual-purpose 105mm RN-DPVI cannons that were capable of engaging surface targets up to 17.5 kilometers away. These cannons were also equipped with air-burst shell that had a service ceiling of nearly 10 kilometers when engaging aircraft.
The Azalia’s anti-air defense was comprised of twenty 40mm RN-AAIV anti-aircraft guns alongside sixteen 20mm RN-AAIII guns.
Fire Control
The Azalia’s fire control system consisted of two fire-control directors located on the fore and aft of the superstructure with the first mounted directly above the bridge and the second near the rear, just behind the fourth turret. As with the Amika, her directors were fitted 5-meter range-finders alongside the 10-meter range-finders equipped per turret.
Construction
The Azalia’s keel was laid down on 20 July 1930, approximately two months after the construction of the Amika Carpio had already begun. As with her sister ship, her construction was closely observed by Eugenia Davion with the same hull integrity tests taken at length prior to the next stage of construction. The main hull was finished in the first months of 1936 and the superstructure was constructed and completed by November of the same year.
Construction was delayed in order to re-evaluate the structural integrity of her turrets as it was discovered that the intended 405mm guns built for the main battery put too much stress on internal structure. Following the construction of the new turret housings, construction resumed in 1937.
On 10 October 1932, Azalia was launched with Admiral D’Orio’s son in attendance as she was currently deployed in Andria. She closely followed her sister ship to Paviolo where she completed in fitting-out before the start of her sea trials in late November. Azalia was officially commissioned on 14 December 1932 and was assigned to the Andria Fleet with which she would serve for her entire career.
Service History
Sabri Sea Campaign (1935)
Battle of the Sabri Sea
Wreckage
Discovery by Iwao Harada
The wreckage of the Azalia D’Orio was discovered on 22 June 1992 by oceanographer Dr. Iwao Harada of Akashi’s Hirakawa University. She was found to be resting upright at a depth of approximately 3,772 meters and nearly 452 kilometers north of the city of Mantua. The Azalia was observed as being heavily embedded into the abyssal plain and—despite a severely damaged prow as a result of sinking bow first—Harada noted the overall structural integrity of the ship had been preserved.
Harada’s subsequent inspection of the ship’s armored citadel found no underwater penetrations. Extensive damage was inflicted on the overall ship, however. Eleven holes were found on the hull all of which were above the waterline; eight on the port side and three on the starboard. Two holes were found on the ship’s deck forward of the superstructure, one forward of Turret I and the other penetrating close to the portside of Turret III’s structure although it failed to penetrate the turret’s armored housing. Significant denting was recorded on the ships belt armor, with many of these shots failing to penetrate.
The Azalia’s hull had no evidence of internal implosions often caused when a vessel that has not fully flooded sinks. Since the hull was found in good condition, the expedition supports the Cacertian battle report that claimed the ship had been scuttled instead of sunk by enemy fire. The exact location of the wreck has been kept secret by Harada and his expedition to prevent freelance divers from taking artefacts from the ship’s remains.
Analysis of the Wreckage
Utilizing the information provided by Harada, experts agree that the Azalia could have been successfully towed back to Cacerta to be salvaged or repaired as the vessel had not received significant damage below the waterline. A second expedition conducted jointly by Akashi and Cacerta found that no shells had managed to penetrate the second layer of armor protecting the inner hull. It is generally assumed that the decision to scuttle the ship was to prevent her from being captured. By the time the Battle of Varano had concluded, significant numbers on both sides had been heavily damaged and all Cacertian vessels that would have been capable of towing the Azalia were either low on fuel or were in dire need of repair.
Battle Honors
Azalia earned a total of seven battle crosses for her service during the Siduri War and received a number of additional awards, several of which were awarded posthumously at the end of the conflict.
Siduri War Service Crosses